How much yeast for pizza dough? Doses for 8 to 72 hours
Per 1 kg of flour, using instant (fast-action) yeast: about 1 g for an 8-hour prove at 20–22 °C, 0.2–0.3 g for 24 hours at room temperature. For a cold prove at 3–4 °C: 1–1.3 g for 24 hours, 0.7–1 g for 48 hours, 0.5–0.7 g for 72 hours. Using fresh yeast, multiply by three. Aim for a dough at 23–25 °C when it leaves the mixer.
How much yeast per kilo of flour?
| Prove | Instant / fast-action | Fresh yeast | Typical use |
|---|---|---|---|
| 6 h at 20–22 °C | ≈ 2 g | 5–6 g | Mix in the morning, bake at night |
| 8 h at 20–22 °C | ≈ 1 g | ≈ 3 g | Same-day dough |
| 12 h at 20–22 °C | 0.5–0.7 g | 1.5–2 g | Mixed the night before |
| 24 h at 20–22 °C | 0.2–0.3 g | 0.5–1 g | Room-temperature Neapolitan |
| 24 h cold prove, 3–4 °C | 1–1.3 g | 3–4 g | Next-day dough |
| 48 h cold prove, 3–4 °C | 0.7–1 g | 2–3 g | The pizzeria standard |
| 72 h cold prove, 3–4 °C | 0.5–0.7 g | 1.5–2 g | Long maturation, lighter crust |
For cold-proved dough, give the bulk 1–2 hours at room temperature first, then ball and put the trays in the fridge; the times above include that bulk. One practical consequence: a standard 7 g sachet of fast-action yeast is enough for 7–10 kg of flour on a 48-hour cold prove. If a home recipe tells you one sachet per 500 g, that is a two-hour dough, not yours.
Most UK pizzerias work with instant yeast because fresh is hard to buy retail: you will find it at some supermarket in-store bakeries, Polish and Eastern European shops, or by the block from bakery wholesalers. Both work; instant is simply easier to keep consistent.
Why time and temperature matter more than the recipe
Yeast does not read recipes. It responds to warmth and time, and fermentation roughly doubles in speed for every 8 °C. A fridge running at 6 °C instead of 4 °C adds the equivalent of several hours of fermentation over a 72-hour prove. Two rules cover most of what you need:
- Double the time, roughly halve the yeast. It is a heuristic that holds between about 8 and 72 hours, less well at the extremes.
- Seasons change the dose. UK kitchens often sit at 18–20 °C outside summer, which slows a room-temperature prove noticeably. One professional on a French pizza forum uses 1 g of fresh yeast per kg in winter and 0.5 g in summer for the same ambient prove.
This is also why people argue about yeast online. Training sheets give doses by room temperature, while forum regulars say “2–3 g per kilo”. Both are right; they are answering different time-and-temperature combinations. For reference, the EU Pizza Napoletana specification (retained in UK law) uses 3 g of brewer’s yeast per litre of water, about 1.7 g per kg of flour, for a 6–8 hour rise at 25 °C.
Fresh, instant or active dry: the conversions
| To replace 3 g of fresh yeast | Amount | How to use it |
|---|---|---|
| Instant / fast-action (SAF, Allinson’s, Doves Farm) | 1 g | Straight into the flour |
| Active dry (larger granules) | 1.2–1.5 g | Rehydrate 10 min in water at 35–38 °C |
- Instant = fresh ÷ 3. Lesaffre puts SAF-Instant at around a third to 40% of the fresh weight. Do not dissolve it; mix it through the flour.
- Weigh tiny doses properly. Below 1 g you need a 0.01 g scale. Kitchen scales that read in 1 g steps will make your 48-hour dough a lottery.
- Check freshness. Fresh yeast keeps a few weeks in the fridge. An opened block three weeks old may be nearly dead, and the flour gets the blame.
- Keep salt off the yeast. Dissolve the salt in the water or add it late in mixing.
Control the dough temperature, not just the yeast
The same dose gives two different doughs depending on whether the dough leaves the mixer at 20 °C or 27 °C. Target a final dough temperature of 23–25 °C, nearer 23 °C for a three-day prove: the longer the maturation, the cooler the dough should be. Check it with a probe every batch.
Working out the water temperature
Bakers use a “base” or desired-temperature figure: water = base − flour temperature − room temperature. With a base of 60, flour at 20 °C and a room at 22 °C, the water goes in at 18 °C. The base depends on how much your mixer heats the dough: a spiral mixer adds more than a slow planetary. Some pizzerias use 65 or even 72. Calibrate yours by measuring: one pizzaiolo whose dough kept coming out at 19–20 °C instead of 23 °C, with pale rims, moved from 60 to 65 and the problem went away. In summer, use fridge-cold water or weighed ice.
Adjusting when it goes wrong
- Balls spread and merge in the tray: too much yeast or the fridge is too warm. Cut the yeast by 20–30% and check the fridge with a probe thermometer; displays can be out by a degree or more.
- Tight dough, blisters, pale rim after 48 hours: under-fermented. A little more yeast, a warmer dough off the mixer, or a longer warm-up out of the fridge: 90 minutes minimum, not 30.
- Dough behaves differently every day: almost always the dough temperature moving, not the yeast. Write it on the production sheet.
Sticky dough, pale rims, tearing: the full diagnosis
Planning a 48-hour dough around service
In a pizzeria the real yeast question is how many balls to mix 48 hours before Saturday. A simple schedule for a 7 pm service:
- Thursday 3 pm: mix with 0.7–1 g instant per kg, dough at 23–24 °C.
- Thursday 5 pm: ball and into the fridge at 3–4 °C, no more than about ten balls per tray so they chill quickly.
- Saturday 3–4.30 pm: out of the fridge for 1.5–4 hours depending on the kitchen, until relaxed and around 16–18 °C in the core.
Leftover balls can go into the next day’s service, or become old dough: about 10% of yesterday’s dough worked into today’s mix, with slightly less yeast.
Work out the yeast for 40 balls on a 48-hour cold prove
Storing dough balls: fridge, trays and freezing
FAQ
How much yeast for 1 kg of flour on a 48-hour cold prove?
About 0.7–1 g of instant yeast (2–3 g fresh), with balls at 3–4 °C and the dough at 23–25 °C off the mixer. If the balls spread, go lower; if they are tight after 48 hours, go higher.
How do I convert fresh yeast to instant?
Divide fresh by 3 for instant yeast, which goes straight into the flour. Divide by about 2–2.5 for active dry yeast, which is traditionally rehydrated in water at 35–38 °C first.
Can I use the same yeast for 24 and 72 hours?
No. A longer prove needs less yeast and a cooler dough. Roughly, doubling the time means halving the yeast.
How long should dough balls come out before service?
Usually 1.5–4 hours depending on the room, until they relax and reach about 16–18 °C in the middle. Thirty minutes is nearly always too short.