I’ve seen quite a few pizza recipes lately online that all differ slightly. Some say warm water, cold water, I've even seen a recommendation to use ice water.
Does it matter?
Have you noticed a difference?
Does it depend on the style of pizza you’re making?
Based on the recipes I have; NY style I’ve always used cold, for focacci I’ve always used warm.
by Responsible-Adagio78
2 Comments
For a long ferment and dry yeast I can’t see it making much of a difference. For a short ferment warm water to more quickly activate the yeast.
Depending on how you are mixing the dough, using cold water can allow you to mix the dough longer to get better gluten development, such as using a KitchenAid mixer, but when you use warmer water, the dough heat up faster and you generally don’t want it to be above like 75° F while you’re mixing the dough.
So I use cold water that way I can get a better mix before I ball for the fermentation