--- title: "Pizza Parlor & Pizzeria Dough & Proofing Checklist" canonical: "https://peakscaleops.com/checklists/pizza-dough-prep-checklist/" --- > Source: https://peakscaleops.com/checklists/pizza-dough-prep-checklist/ [Checklists](/checklists/) / [Pizza Parlor & Pizzeria](/checklists/pizza/) / Dough, Proofing & Cold Fermentation # Pizza Parlor & Pizzeria Dough, Proofing & Cold Fermentation Checklist Dough is the one product a Pizza Parlor & Pizzeria makes from scratch and **cannot mark down, bundle or recover** - a ball outside its window is 100% loss with a stockout attached. These 9 checks cover mixing to the recipe card, scaling every ball, holding the proof window, and counting what you discard. The numbers come from the AVPN rulebook (8–24 hours at 23°C/73°F, 200 g balls for a 22–24 cm pie) and from lab tests on how dough actually changes hour by hour. [Run this checklist - free](/run/pizza/?list=dough) [Download PDF](/checklists/pdf/peakscale-pizza-checklists.pdf)[Download Excel](/checklists/excel/peakscale-pizza-checklists.xlsx) The checklist · 9 checks ### Mix and weigh dough balls to spec **1\. Weigh flour, water, salt, and yeast to the recipe card every time you mix dough.** Water content between 55–62%, with salt and yeast measured per liter of water, is what makes a good bake happen again and again. Dough you guess at by eye is a different product every day. **2\. Weigh every dough ball. Use 200 g for a 22–24 cm pizza, and 280 g for a 28–35 cm pizza.** If every dough ball is 10 g too heavy across a thousand pizzas, you give away flour, work time, and oven time for free. If a ball is too light, you get a remade pizza. **3\. Label every dough box with the mix time and the time by which you must use it.** An unlabeled box means you are guessing when you pick up the dough. Guessing is how good dough gets thrown out, and over-proofed (blown) dough gets baked by mistake. ### Proof the dough within its time window **4\. Let the dough rise at room temperature for 8 to 24 hours, at about 23°C (73°F).** This is the set time window for Neapolitan-style dough. Outside this window, you are baking a different dough than your recipe expects. **5\. Write down the dough cooler (retarder) temperature at open and close. Keep it at 2–5°C (36–41°F).** If the dough cooler (retarder) temperature drifts overnight, it can push the whole day's dough past its safe window. One failure affects every dough ball. **6\. Always pull the oldest dough box first. Nothing skips ahead in line.** If you grab the newest box during a rush, the old box sits too long and goes bad. Using the oldest stock first (FIFO) is the only thing that stops a full rack from ending up in the trash. **7\. Test the dough by hand before service. If it is past its time window, use it for staff meals or throw it out. Do not put it on the peel.** The gluten in dough weakens after the time window passes. The dough gets slack, tears easily, and will not hold a topping load. Over-proofed dough tears, bakes flat, and comes back as a remade order. ### Track dough loss as a number **8\. Count the dough balls you throw away each shift. Write down why (over-proofed, torn, too old, or dropped).** No one publishes a dough waste rate for pizza shops. This log gives you your own number. Dough waste is the cheapest waste to cut. **9\. Base tomorrow's dough mix on how much dough you actually used today, not on habit.** Prep waste - not spoiled food or plate waste - makes up 45% of food waste in restaurants. Mixing too much dough is where a pizza shop's share of that waste starts. ## Frequently asked questions **How long should pizza dough be proofed?** The AVPN rulebook sets the second rise of balled dough at a minimum of 8 and a maximum of 24 hours at 23°C (73°F). In a lab test, Neapolitan dough at 22°C (72°F) and 80% relative humidity showed its firmness (compression work) rise roughly five-fold by 4 hours, while its springiness (relaxation) fell to 79.7%. By 48 hours, firmness had fallen back to 7.65 J and springiness had risen to 85.2% - a sign the gluten (the stretchy protein in dough) had measurably weakened past the window. Dough volume tripled at around 30 hours, and 16-hour dough handled heat the best. That window is a room-temperature rule at 23°C (73°F), and it is about quality, not food safety. For cold fermentation there is no published number at all: no regulator sets a maximum hold time for dough at 2–5°C (36–41°F), and no spoilage data exists for dough held 24–72 hours in a retarder, which this pack records as an open gap in the evidence. Set your own retarder window from your recipe and your own discard log, and label every box with it. **What temperature should a dough retarder be set to?** 2–5°C (36–41°F), logged at open and close. That range sits inside the 0–5°C (32–41°F) range for keeping food cold (cold holding) that inspection data punishes most often - 826 of 1,607 pizza places in NYC records have been cited for cold food held above 41°F (5°C). A retarder that drifted overnight does not spoil one box, it ferments the entire next day's dough past its window: one equipment failure, every ball. **How much dough does a typical pizzeria waste?** Nobody knows, and that is a genuine gap. We searched for a published figure on the percentage of dough balls discarded for over-proofing, blowing or aging out of the cold-fermentation window, and found nothing - WRAP and ReFED report sector-level waste but never break out dough. What is measured is the size of the surrounding problem: preparation accounts for 45% of hospitality food waste, and UK restaurants wasted over 20% of the weight of food they purchased. Counting discards by reason each shift gives you your own number within about two weeks. ## More Pizza Parlor & Pizzeria checklists [Receiving Deliveries](/checklists/pizza-shop-receiving-checklist/)[Opening & Turning On the Oven](/checklists/pizza-oven-opening-checklist/)[Making Pizzas, Portioning & Baking](/checklists/pizza-make-line-checklist/)[Delivery, Carryout & Keeping Food Hot](/checklists/pizza-delivery-checklist/)[Closing, Waste & Food Cost](/checklists/pizza-closing-checklist/)[Weekly Checks](/checklists/pizza-weekly-checklist/) One free app has all of them: [open the Pizza Parlor & Pizzeria Checklists app](/run/pizza/) - offline, no account, add it to your home screen. ## Sources Every statistic on this page comes from public inspection and food-safety data: - [NYC DOHMH Restaurant Inspection Results, dataset 43nn-pn8j](https://data.cityofnewyork.us/resource/43nn-pn8j.json?$select=count\(distinct%20camis\)&$where=cuisine_description='Pizza'%20and%20violation_code='02G') - [FDA Report on the Occurrence of Foodborne Illness Risk Factors, 2017–2018](https://www.fda.gov/media/169390/download) - [FDA Report on the Occurrence of Foodborne Illness Risk Factors, 2013–2014](https://www.fda.gov/media/117509/download) - [Domino's Pizza, Inc. Form 10-K FY2025](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1286681/000119312526062321/dpz-20251228.htm) - [Domino's Pizza, Inc. Form 10-K FY2013](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1286681/000119312514066092/d661353d10k.htm) - [USDA AMS National Dairy Products Sales Report](https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/dywdairyproductssales.pdf) - [WRAP, Overview of Waste in the UK Hospitality and Food Service Sector](https://bfff.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/WRAP-Waste-in-the-UK-Hospitality-and-Food-Service-Sector-2012-Report.pdf) - [ReFED, Restaurant Food Waste Action Guide](https://refed.org/downloads/Restaurant_Guide_Web.pdf) - [Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana, Disciplinare AVPN 2022](https://www.pizzanapoletana.org/public/pdf/Disciplinare_AVPN_2022_en.pdf) - [Foods](https://www.mdpi.com/2304-8158/12/7/1407/htm) - [Pizza Today, State of the Pizzeria Industry full report 2022](https://pizzatoday.com/state-of-the-pizzeria-industry-full-report-2022/) - [CDC EHS-Net, Quantitative Data Analysis To Determine Best Food Cooling Practices in U.S. Restaurants](https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/47887) - [Intouch Insight, Pizza DELCO](https://www.intouchinsight.com/blog/pizza-trends-series-third-party-delivery) - [FDA Food Code §3-501.19 as codified in Washington Administrative Code 246-215-03530](https://lawfilesext.leg.wa.gov/Law/WAC/WAC%20246%20%20TITLE/WAC%20246%20-215%20%20CHAPTER/WAC%20246%20-215%20-03530.htm) - [Food Service Technology Center, Appliance Test Report - Edge EDGE-3240 Gas Conveyor Oven](https://caenergywise.com/report-library/conveyor-ovens/Edge_EDGE-3240_Gas_Conveyor_Oven.pdf) - [NC State Extension Food Safety, Home Delivered Foods & Meal Kits](https://foodsafety.ces.ncsu.edu/documents/849053/Home-Delivery-Meal-Kits-Feb-2022.pdf) - [USDA AMS Dairy Market News, CME Weekly Average Cash Cheddar 40-lb Blocks](https://www.ams.usda.gov/mnreports/dywacheese_cmebl.pdf) - [PMQ Pizza, Pizza Power Report 2026](https://www.pmq.com/pizza-power-report-2026-pizzeria-failure-rate-is-not-what-you-think/) - [Pizza Today, 2025 Pizza Industry Trends Report](https://pizzatoday.com/news/2025-pizza-industry-trends-report/148305/)