Gluten Relaxation & Tempering before Stesura
A freshly kneaded or ice-cold panetto cannot be opened: only after sufficient relaxation and at a core temperature of 18–20 °C does it glide apart like silk.
Why does your pizza dough sometimes snap back stubbornly like a rubber band or tear in the middle when spreading? There are two reasons:
1. Missing gluten relaxation after shaping: Directly after rounding (Staglio), the disulfide bridges are under maximum mechanical tension. Only after at least 3–5 hours of bulk fermentation (Appretto) do the strands reorganize.
2. Too cold dough from the refrigerator: If you take the panetti directly at 4 °C from cold fermentation, the gluten is stiff and large black blistering occurs during baking («Cold Blistering»). Therefore, always take the box out of the refrigerator 2 to 4 hours before baking until the dough reaches 18–20 °C!