Pizza Today - December 2016 - 28

type usually consists of baking soda and
sodium aluminum phosphate (for the acid
component). It is much slower to react, so
more of the leavening gas is produced as
the pizza goes into the oven and during
the early stages of baking. This contributes
to increased/improved oven spring of the
dough during baking.
However, the same problems exist here
as with the double-acting baking powder:
the soda portion can be lost or significantly reduced by pre-reaction. From this
we can deduce that while common baking
powders can be used, they really don't
work very well in this specific intended
application (making pizza dough). Having
said that, if you want to see where they
are used most successfully, look no further
than the refrigerated "tube" dough section
at your local supermarket.
Still, there is another, newer type
of baking powder - a fat-encapsulated

chemical leavening system. While these

can be custom-tailored to meet specific
applications, the most common of this
type is made using a neutralizing blend
of soda and sodium aluminum phosphate
that has been fat encapsulated as a means
of protecting both the soda and acid portions from pre-reaction. The heat of the
oven/baking melts the fat off of the soda
and acid, allowing them to react in a much
more predictable manner and allowing
them to more fully react for complete
neutralization of the acid component. This
means that it will not have nearly the
impact upon the flavor of the finished
crust as a non-encapsulated leavening
system/baking powder.
It is possible to make a fully chemically
leavened pizza crust using a fat encapsulated leavening system. But since there
is no yeast for fermentation, the finished
crust will be devoid of the characteristic
fermented crust flavor. In research that
I conducted a good number of years ago
when I was studying the application of

chemical leavening in pizza crusts,
I found that with the right dough
formulation there might be an application for a fully chemically leavened crust in making certain types
of dessert pizzas where a different
flavor profile of the crust would not
be as objectionable and in some cases
might be desirable.
This brings us to the most popular use of chemical leavening in
making pizza crusts. You can use a
fat-encapsulated leavening system in
conjunction with yeast (remember
the fat encapsulation now inhibits the
reaction between the soda and acids
formed through fermentation). This
allows for a dough that will exhibit
all the advantages of yeast fermentation while still effectively retaining
the encapsulated leavening system
for reaction during the early baking cycle. The finished pizzas made
in this manner will typically have a
good fermentation flavor typical to
pizza dough with little or none of the
flavor characteristics common to the
residual, unreacted leavening acid.
We can see examples of this type
of dough/crust all around us today.
At the supermarket you see it in the
ever-popular "bake to rise" frozen
pizza category. You also will see it in
some of the "take and bake" pizzas
being offered by pizzerias. I've even
used it in the production of frozen
pizza dough.
The main takeaway here is that
chemical leavening can certainly be
used in making pizza dough. Having
said that, the dough application as
well as the type of leavening system
must be carefully considered. When
all is said and done, it's definitely not
the most ideal to make pizza dough
in a pizzeria setting. Q
TOM LEHMANN is a former director at
the American Institute of Baking in
Manhattan, Kansas and Pizza Today's
resident dough expert.

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Pizza Today - December 2016

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