🫧 Poolish Pizza Dough Calculator
The method that turns a plain Neapolitan dough into something bakery-worthy. A wet pre-ferment does 80% of the flavor work overnight, so your final dough comes together in 15 minutes the next day with far deeper taste than any same-day recipe.
What a poolish actually does
Poolish is nothing more than flour, water, and a pinch of yeast mixed in equal parts (by weight) and left to ferment 16-20 hours. That simple step gives you three things that straight dough cannot match in the same timeframe.
First, flavor. Enzymes break starches into sugars, yeast produces organic acids and alcohol, and the combination gives you a bread-y, slightly tangy aroma that never comes from a 2-hour dough. Second, extensibility. The long fermentation makes the gluten network more stretchable, so you can shape a Neapolitan pizza without it fighting back. Third, browning. The extra fermented sugars caramelize faster in the oven, giving you those leopard spots on the cornicione.
I baked a side-by-side batch a few times to convince myself — same recipe, one with poolish, one without. The poolish version won every time. Not by a lot, but noticeable enough that I have not made a straight-dough Neapolitan since.
The calculator
Our pizza dough calculator handles the poolish math for you. Select Poolish from the preferment options, set your total dough amount, and it splits the flour and water correctly between the pre-ferment and the final dough. It also calculates yeast for both stages separately — poolish needs tiny amounts (0.1-0.3% of poolish flour weight), final dough needs a bit more.
Basic poolish recipe for 4 pizzas
Day 1, evening: Mix 300g flour (Tipo 00 or bread flour), 300g water, and 0.3g instant yeast. Stir with a spoon until no dry flour remains, cover loosely, leave at room temperature 16-20 hours. It should roughly triple in volume and have a bubbly surface with a slight dip in the center when ready.
Day 2, morning: Add 700g flour, 400g water, 25g salt, and 1g instant yeast to the poolish. Mix until combined, rest 10 minutes (autolyse), then knead 8-10 minutes or use a stand mixer. Bulk ferment 2 hours at room temperature. Divide into 4 balls of ~250g each, cold-ferment 24-48 hours, then stretch and bake.
The calculator will scale this for any number of pizzas and adjust yeast for different fermentation times.
Why use poolish instead of biga?
Poolish and biga are both pre-ferments, but they work differently. Poolish is 100% hydration (wet), biga is 50% hydration (stiff). Poolish develops more subtle, sweet flavors; biga produces a sharper, more assertive taste. Poolish is easier for beginners because the wet mixture is forgiving about small measurement errors. Biga requires a dough hook or a lot of hand-strength to mix properly.
For Neapolitan-style pizza, I reach for poolish. For a more rustic, bread-forward dough (closer to ciabatta territory), biga is the better choice. Our calculator supports both - swap the preferment option to see the different outputs.
Common mistakes with poolish
Too much yeast. If your poolish is flat when you wake up, it probably peaked and collapsed overnight. Use 0.1-0.3% yeast based on poolish flour weight — no more.
Poolish not active enough when mixed in. A proper poolish should have a bubbly, foamy surface and smell lightly alcoholic. If it looks the same as when you went to bed, either the room was too cold (under 18C) or there was not enough yeast.
Forgetting to adjust the final dough's water. The poolish already contains all its water, so the final dough only gets the remaining water. Calculator handles this automatically but if you do the math by hand, remember: if your poolish was 300g flour + 300g water, the final dough adds whatever gets you to your target total hydration.
Using the poolish at the wrong time. Not all bubbly poolishes are ready. The indicator is the dip in the center. Before the dip, it is still climbing. After the dip, it has collapsed and lost some of its lifting power. The window is about 2-4 hours long.
Ready to bake?
The calculator pre-configures itself for poolish with proven ratios. Enter your total flour, adjust the dough balls, and it gives you both-stage amounts plus a full timeline.
Common questions
What is poolish in pizza dough?
Poolish is a wet pre-ferment made from equal parts flour and water (100% hydration) with a small amount of yeast. You mix it the night before, let it ferment 16-20 hours at room temperature, then combine it with the rest of the flour, water, and salt for your final dough. The long fermentation adds flavor depth and produces a more open, airy crumb than straight dough.
How much poolish should I use for pizza dough?
Typically 25-40% of your total flour goes into the poolish. For a 1000g flour recipe, that means 250-400g of flour in the poolish, with an equal weight of water (250-400g). The rest of the flour, water, and salt goes into the final mix the next day. Higher poolish percentages give more flavor but require more planning.
How long does poolish need to ferment?
16-20 hours at room temperature (20-22C). You can go as low as 8 hours in a warm kitchen or as long as 24 hours in a cool one. The poolish is ready when the surface is covered with bubbles and the center starts to dip - that indicates maximum fermentation before collapse. If it is flat, it has either not risen yet or already peaked.
How much yeast for poolish?
Very little - 0.1% to 0.3% of the flour weight in the poolish, depending on ferment time. For 20 hours at room temperature, use 0.1g instant dry yeast per 100g flour in the poolish. Shorter ferments (8-12h) need slightly more (0.2-0.3%). Too much yeast and the poolish peaks before you are ready to use it.
Do I need to add more yeast in the final dough when using poolish?
Yes, a small amount. The poolish yeast has done its main work. For the final dough, add another 0.15-0.3% instant yeast based on the remaining flour weight. If you plan to cold-ferment the final dough 24-48 hours, use less yeast (0.1-0.15%). For a same-day bake, use more (0.3-0.5%).
Can I use a poolish with sourdough starter?
Technically you can, but the combination is unusual. Sourdough starter already provides wild yeast and bacteria; adding commercial yeast to a poolish made with starter can over-ferment the final dough. Most bakers choose one or the other. If you want both long fermentation AND sourdough flavor, use just starter with 48-72h cold fermentation instead.