Pizza dough ball weight by diameter

Two questions: which style, which diameter

The dough ball weight is the first decision of a batch: it sets the amount of dough, and so the flour and every other ingredient. It depends on two things: the diameter you want and the style of pizza. Within one style, the bigger the pizza, the heavier the dough ball.

My reference points by style

These values come straight from my protocols. The calculator makes no extrapolation: if you ask for a diameter outside these reference points, it tells you so instead of inventing a number. For biga dough, between 30 and 33 cm, it shows the two reference points around your diameter.

Traditional, contemporary, biga

Traditional Neapolitan is hydrated at 60 % and baked very fast, in 60 to 90 seconds. Contemporary is defined by a developed cornicione with a light, airy texture, a hydration of 65–70 % for direct dough and 70–75 % for indirect, and a bake of 90 to 110 seconds; its typical diameter is 30 to 33 cm. Its dough balls are clearly heavier: 240 to 265 g against 200 to 220 g. The two styles are compared in detail in traditional or contemporary.

Biga dough is the only one for which my protocols distinguish two diameters: about 10 g more to go from 30 to 33 cm.

From dough ball to recipe

Once the weight is chosen, the dough calculator finds the flour and every ingredient for the number of dough balls you need. For an indirect dough, use the biga calculator, which also starts from the dough ball weight.

Balling itself, and what happens inside the dough ball during the final proof, are explained in bulk fermentation, balling and final proof.

An example

For 6 contemporary 30 cm pizzas, I start from 250 g per dough ball, so 1,500 g of dough. For 6 traditional 32 cm pizzas, I start from 220 g, so 1,320 g. Everything else is calculated from there.