Good news: Italian scientists make the first real yeast-free pizza dough

Yeast is used to make traditional Italian pizza dough. They ferment the mixture, resulting in the air bubbles needed to create the right texture. But because of this, people with yeast allergies cannot eat the popular dish.

Potential solution to the problem found Ernesto Di Maio, scientist at the University of Naples with yeast intolerance. He was tired of explaining why, living in Naples, he constantly orders pasta and not pizza.

Ernesto is a materials scientist and decided to approach the problem from a professional point of view. He joined forces with Paolo Iaccarino, a student in his lab who moonlights as a pizzaiolo (in other words, he cooks pizza at a local restaurant) on the weekends. Later, two more researchers joined the work.

Together they figured out how to use an autoclave for their task, a machine typically used to sterilize instruments. A dough was placed in it, consisting of flour, water and salt, which was then “inflated” using a compressed gas (helium or carbon dioxide). The addition of gas required precision: if you introduce it when the dough is too dry or thin, it will spoil.

In the process, the scientists managed to make a dough that, according to them, fully corresponded to yeast dough in taste and texture. Although the preparation of such pizza requires less time, since you do not have to wait until the dough rises, it also has an obvious drawback: few people who want to cook an Italian dinner have access to autoclave.

So far, experiments have been carried out on small pieces of dough that are placed in a laboratory autoclave. Now the researchers are looking to buy a larger machine to make a full-size 25cm pizza.