DoughPlan

Same Day Pizza Dough: Yeast and Timing for 4 to 12 Hours

By Josep Mampel Marques, updated

For a same-day pizza dough, use about 0.10% instant dry yeast for 8 hours at 21 °C (0.51 g per 500 g of flour), 0.15% for 6 hours, or 0.27% for 4 hours. Warmer kitchens need less and cooler ones more. Mix in the morning, give the dough about a third of the time as one mass and two thirds as balls, and bake in the evening. The DoughPlan planner works this out from the time you want to eat; choose "Room temperature only".

Yeast for same-day dough

Instant dry yeast as a percentage of flour weight, with grams for 500 g of flour in brackets, from the DoughPlan model:

Total time19 °C21 °C23 °C25 °C
4 hours0.388% (1.94 g)0.268% (1.34 g)0.187% (0.94 g)0.133% (0.66 g)
6 hours0.221% (1.10 g)0.153% (0.76 g)0.107% (0.53 g)0.075% (0.38 g)
8 hours0.148% (0.74 g)0.102% (0.51 g)0.071% (0.36 g)0.051% (0.25 g)
10 hours0.108% (0.54 g)0.075% (0.37 g)0.052% (0.26 g)0.037% (0.19 g)
12 hours0.084% (0.42 g)0.058% (0.29 g)0.041% (0.20 g)0.029% (0.14 g)

For active dry yeast multiply by 1.3125, and for fresh yeast by 3.125. Or choose your yeast type in the planner and it converts for you.

A word on the 4 hour row: under 5 hours our formula is about 18% off its source table on average, against 3 to 6% for longer fermentations, and 0.388% at 19 °C is above the highest yeast amount in that table. Short doughs are where you most need to watch the dough rather than the clock.

A worked same-day recipe

Four 250 g Neapolitan-style balls (the planner's AVPN preset: 60% water, 2.8% salt), 8 hours at 21 °C:

IngredientGrams
Flour623 g
Water374 g
Salt17.4 g
Instant dry yeast0.64 g

To eat on Saturday at 20:00, the planner gives:

WhenStep
11:25Mix and knead (20 minutes)
11:45Bulk fermentation at 21 °C (2 hours 48 minutes, 35% of the time)
14:33Divide and shape into balls (15 minutes)
14:48Final proof of the balls at 21 °C (5 hours 12 minutes, 65% of the time)
19:00Switch the oven on to preheat
20:00Shape, top and bake

What published same-day recipes do

So a same-day dough is entirely standard. The longer you can give it within the day, the less yeast it needs, and the less an hour either way matters: an hour is an eighth of an 8 hour dough but a third of a 3 hour one.

Tips for same-day dough

  1. Measure your kitchen temperature and enter it in the planner. Between 19 and 25 °C the yeast changes by a factor of about three.
  2. Mind the water temperature. The model works with dough temperature. Very warm water makes the dough start warmer than the room.
  3. Weigh the yeast. At 0.5 to 1 g, a scale that reads to 0.01 g makes a real difference. The yeast guide shows how to dissolve and measure small amounts without one.
  4. Use the poke test. King Arthur: lightly flour a finger and press about an inch into the dough. If the indent stays, it is ready; if it pops back, give it more time.
  5. Running late? A warmer spot speeds things up. In our model, dough at 23 °C needs about 23% less time than at 21 °C.

Same day or overnight?

If you can start the day before, a cold ferment (compared in fridge or room temperature) lets you mix at a convenient time and fit the fermentation around your week. See how long to cold ferment pizza dough or the 48 hour pizza dough recipe. If you decide on the day, a same-day dough is the way.

Sources