How long is too long at room temp for dough?

[BFB]

Yesterday morning I made some pizza dough and put it in the fridge.

Today, I need to go to a dance recital at about 2:30pm. It will last 3 hours... maybe 4 and I want to make pizza when we get home.

Is that too long of a time to leave my dough at room temp?

[Pete-zza]

Yesterday morning I made some pizza dough and put it in the fridge.

Today, I need to go to a dance recital at about 2:30pm. It will last 3 hours... maybe 4 and I want to make pizza when we get home.

Is that too long of a time to leave my dough at room temp?

BFB,

It will depend on your dough recipe, particularly the amount of yeast in relation to the amount of flour, and also the room temperature where the dough is to temper (warm up) while you are at the dance recital. If you can post your dough recipe, I think we may be able to give you a better answer.

Peter

[BFB]

Pete,

I made the Alton Brown dough recipe. The yeast I used was "active dry yeast"

This makes 2- crusts @10-12”

Ingredients
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon pure olive oil
3/4 cup warm water
2 cups bread flour (I used King Arthur Bread flour)
1 teaspoon instant yeast
 
Directions
Place the sugar, salt, olive oil, water, 1 cup of flour, yeast, and remaining cup of flour into the mixer's work bowl.
Using the paddle attachment, start the mixer on low and mix until the dough just comes together, forming a ball. Lube the hook attachment with cooking spray. Attach the hook to the mixer and knead for 15 minutes on medium speed.
Tear off a small piece of dough and flatten into a disc. Stretch the dough until thin. Hold it up to the light and look to see if the baker's windowpane, or taut membrane, has formed. If the dough tears before it forms, knead the dough for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.
Roll the pizza dough into a smooth ball on the countertop. Place into a stainless steel or glass bowl. Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil to the bowl and toss to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 18 to 24 hours.

[Pete-zza]

BFB,

It sounds like you used active dry yeast (ADY) without rehydrating it first. That is, you used it in the recipe dry just as you would have used IDY. Even then, one teaspoon of ADY is a lot of yeast relative to two cups of flour (I estimate around 1.6%). On the matter of the amount of salt, my recollection is that the use of one tablespoon of Kosher salt brought criticism from users of the Alton Brown dough recipe, and he later adjusted the amount because of the complaints. If you used the full tablespoon of Kosher salt, it would have the effect of slowing down the performance of the yeast. That, together with using the ADY dry, if that is what you actually did, leads me to believe that the dough should last for four hours at room temperature for the 3-4 hours that you will be away from home. It might last even longer.

I hope you will let us know how things turn out. I'd be especially interested in how the salt affects the taste of the finished crust.

Peter

EDIT: See http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pizza-pizzas-recipe4/index.html where AB addressed the salt issue.