If you read the description of any artisan pizza base, you’ll see the phrase “long fermentation” or “slow rise” mentioned prominently. Tindoro Prime ferments for up to 72 hours. High-end pizzerias boast about 48-hour dough. Even supermarket brands are starting to include fermentation times on their packaging.

But what does it actually mean? And why should you care?

Fermentation 101

Fermentation is the process where yeast eats the sugars in flour and produces carbon dioxide (which creates the air bubbles in your dough) and alcohol (which evaporates during baking). It’s what makes dough rise and gives bread its flavour.

In a typical quick-rise pizza dough (the kind most home recipes use), fermentation takes 1–2 hours at room temperature. The yeast works fast, the dough puffs up, and you bake it. Simple. But fast fermentation produces a dough that’s one-dimensional in flavour and harder to digest.

Long fermentation (also called cold fermentation or slow proofing) is different. The dough is placed in a refrigerator at 2–4°C for 24 to 72 hours — sometimes even longer. At these low temperatures, the yeast works much more slowly, producing CO2 gradually while simultaneously developing complex flavour compounds that short fermentation can’t achieve.

What Long Fermentation Does to Your Pizza

Better Flavour

During extended fermentation, enzymes in the flour break down starches into simpler sugars. These sugars caramelise during baking, creating the complex, slightly sweet, nutty flavour that defines great pizza crust. A 72-hour dough has a depth of flavour that a 2-hour dough simply cannot match.

Better Texture

Slow fermentation allows the gluten network to develop gradually and evenly. The result is a crust with better structure — airy, with large irregular bubbles, crispy on the outside, and soft on the inside. The gluten is fully relaxed, making the dough easier to stretch and shape without springing back.

Better Digestibility

This is the big one. During long fermentation, the yeast and beneficial bacteria break down complex carbohydrates and gluten proteins that many people find difficult to digest. The longer the fermentation, the more these compounds are pre-digested by the yeast — so your stomach doesn’t have to do as much work.

This is why many people who feel bloated or heavy after eating regular pizza report no discomfort after eating pizza made with long-fermented dough. It’s not gluten-free — but the gluten has been significantly reduced and modified by the fermentation process.

Better Browning

Those simple sugars created during fermentation also promote better browning (the Maillard reaction) in the oven. This is why long-fermented pizza develops those beautiful leopard-spot char marks — they’re caramelised sugars, not burnt flour.

Fermentation Time Comparison

Fermentation Time	Flavour	Digestibility	Texture	Typical Use
1–2 hours	Basic, bready	Can cause bloating	Dense, uniform	Quick home recipes
12–24 hours	Improved, some depth	Better	More open crumb	Better home recipes
48–72 hours	Complex, nutty, sweet	Excellent	Airy, irregular holes	Artisan bakeries, Tindoro Prime
72–120 hours	Very complex, tangy	Maximum	Very open, almost sourdough-like	Speciality pinsa, competition pizza

Why We Ferment for 72 Hours

At Tindoro Prime, we’ve found that 72 hours is the sweet spot — literally. It’s long enough to develop full flavour complexity and maximum digestibility, but not so long that the dough becomes overly tangy or difficult to work with. Our Neapolitan pizza chef has tested every fermentation window, and 72 hours consistently produces the best balance of taste, texture, and lightness.

When you bite into a Pizza Base Thailand product, the difference is immediate. The crust is lighter, the flavour is deeper, and you feel satisfied without feeling heavy. That’s not marketing — that’s science at work.