.jpg)
Most dough is made the same day it’s baked. Mix, proof for an hour, shape, bake. It works. It’s fast. But it produces a result that’s heavy, quick to go stale, and hard on digestion. We do something different. Our dough starts 72 hours before it ever touches heat — and the difference is in every bite.
What actually happens during 72-hour fermentation
When you mix flour, water, salt, and a live sourdough starter, fermentation begins immediately. The wild yeast in the starter starts consuming the sugars in the flour, producing carbon dioxide (which makes the dough rise) and organic acids (which give sourdough its flavour and keeping qualities).
Over 72 hours, something more significant happens: the enzymes naturally present in the flour begin breaking down the complex gluten proteins into simpler structures. The result is a dough that’s more extensible, more flavourful, and dramatically easier to digest. The long fermentation also lowers the glycemic index of the finished product — the same flour, processed very differently, produces a fundamentally different food.
Why it makes better pizza
A 72-hour fermented dough bakes differently. The extended fermentation creates a more open internal structure — bigger air pockets, a more irregular crumb. When the base hits a hot oven, those air pockets expand rapidly, creating the characteristic lightness of a well-made Roman al taglio: crispy on the bottom, pillowy inside, with a base strong enough to hold serious toppings without going limp.
Fast dough produces a flat, dense base. It’s fine when it’s fresh. It gets worse quickly. Long-fermented dough holds its quality. Reheat a slice of our pizza the next day and it’s still worth eating. That’s not an accident.
One dough. Everything.
What we don’t do is make separate doughs for different products. The same 72-hour fermented sourdough that goes into our Roman pizza base is the same dough we use for our sandwiches and our pastries. The cinnamon rolls, croissants, bomboloni — all built on the same live starter, all fermented the same way.
Most bakeries that make both bread and pastries use separate processes. We don’t. The starter is the constant. Everything branches from it. That’s why a cinnamon roll from our bakehouse has the same digestibility and lightness as a slice of our pizza — they come from the same place.
The honest trade-off
It’s slower. You can’t scale 72-hour fermentation by simply running more shifts. The dough needs time, and time can’t be compressed. That means we have to plan three days ahead, every day. If demand spikes unexpectedly, we can’t just make more dough tonight and use it tomorrow morning.
We accepted that trade-off on day one. The product it produces is worth it. You can taste it, and you can feel it — a lightness after eating that you don’t get from fast-made bread. That’s not marketing. It’s just what 72 hours of fermentation does.