Troubleshooting
Dough Rescuer
Tell us what went wrong. Answer a few questions, get the fix.
What's wrong with your dough?
About the Dough Rescuer
Most dough problems have two or three plausible causes, and the difference between them is a detail you can check in the bowl: how the dough feels, how it smells, how it behaved after the last rest. The rescuer walks that difference instead of listing every possible reason.
Each answer narrows the tree until one fix remains, with concrete steps for the batch in front of you and a link to the article that explains the underlying mechanism for next time.
How it works
- Pick the symptom that matches your dough.
- Answer the follow-up questions about feel, smell and timing.
- Read the fix, steps for this batch, plus what to change next time.
- Start over any time to diagnose a second symptom.
Common dough problems
Why is my pizza dough so sticky?
Sticky dough is usually either too much water for the flour's absorption, or gluten that has not been developed enough yet. If it feels slack and tears, give it rest and folds before adding flour, extra flour lowers hydration and costs you crumb.
Why won't my pizza dough rise?
The usual causes are dead or under-dosed yeast, a room that is colder than assumed, or salt added directly onto the yeast. Cold dough is not broken dough, it just needs more time, so check temperature before you touch the recipe.
Why is my crust dense instead of airy?
Dense crumb points to under-fermentation, over-degassing during shaping, or an oven that is not hot enough to set the rise fast. The rescuer separates the three by asking how the ball behaved before baking.