Do you need to fold pizza dough? Most recipes say yes. We haven't folded a dough in years — and our results are better for it.
Have you ever watched a bread video and given up before you even started?
I'm going to say something that might get me in trouble with the baking community.
Stop folding your dough.
I haven't folded a pizza dough, a bread dough, or a ciabatta, stirato in years.
I rarely fold. And when I do, I question why.
Here's the thing about folding, it's a technique designed to build structure and tighten the gluten network. And it works. I'm not saying it's wrong. Thomas Keller folds. Serious Eats folds. Every culinary school in the world teaches it.
But here's what they don't tell you: time does the same thing. Better, actually.
When you give your dough 24, 48, or 72 hours to ferment, the gluten develops naturally. Slowly. Without you touching it. The long fermentation does everything folding is supposed to do, and then some. It breaks down the gluten, making the bread easier to digest. It builds flavor you simply cannot rush. And it creates that soft, pillowy, extensible dough that stretches without fighting you.
Folding is intervention. We've eliminated it.
Look at our stirato, Italian baguettes. Mix the dough, ferment 24-72 hours, dump it out, stretch into a rectangle, cut strips, bake. No folding. No shaping. No stress. Just a long ferment and a hot Baking Steel. Rustic, beautiful bread that looks like it came out of a Roman bakery.
Same with our pizza dough. Same with ciabatta. We ball the dough once at the end, one gentle shape, then we get out of the way.
If you watched a YouTube video showing stretch and folds every 30 minutes for 4 hours and thought, I can't do that, you were right to walk away. Skip it. Your dough doesn't need it. You don't need it.
Traditional vs. The Baking Steel Method
| Traditional Method | Baking Steel Method | |
|---|---|---|
| Folding | Every 30 min for 4+ hrs | None |
| Active Time | 4+ hours | 5 minutes |
| Scale | Required | Optional |
| Fermentation | 2-4 hours | 24-72 hours |
| Skill Level | Intermediate | Beginner |
| Result | Great | Great |
Same result. A fraction of the effort.
We took this philosophy all the way. No fold. No scale. Just add water.
That's exactly why we built our 72-Hour Pizza Dough Mix. We took our own recipe — the same one we've been making for years, and removed every barrier. No measuring. No scale. No folding. Just open the bag, add water, and let time do the rest. Organic flour, perfectly measured, ready to ferment. The easiest path to incredible homemade pizza dough we've ever found.
Remove the intimidation. Trust the process. Get incredible results.
Mix it. Leave it. Come back tomorrow. The dough knows what to do.
Make it yourself, our 72-Hour Dough:
500g organic bread flour 350g water, room temp, 1g active dry yeast 15g sea salt
Whisk the dry ingredients. Add water, knead until combined. Cover and rest at room temp for 24 hours, or refrigerate up to 72 hours. Remove from container, handle gently, and let the dough do the work.
No folds required.
About the Author
Andris Lagsdin
I invented the Baking Steel in 2012 after reading a single paragraph in the Wall Street Journal about Modernist Cuisine. I was standing in my family's steel fabrication plant in Hanover, MA and thought steel conducts heat 18 times better than ceramic. What would that do to a pizza?
Twelve years later I'm still in the kitchen, still obsessing over dough, and still convinced that the best results come from removing complexity, not adding it.
No folds. No scales. Just time, heat, and a really good steel.
