How much yeast for pizza dough? Tables for same day, overnight, 24 and 48 hours

For a 24 hour cold ferment (1 hour at a 22 °C room temperature, 20 hours in a 4 °C fridge, 3 hours back at room temperature) use about 3.7 g fresh yeast or 1.2 g instant yeast per kilo of flour. A same-day dough of about 6 hours needs about 2.6 g fresh per kilo; a 48 hour cold ferment about 2.3 g.

Why time and temperature matter

Yeast is alive. It works roughly twice as fast for every 10 °C warmer, and much slower in the fridge: at 4 °C an hour counts for only about a tenth of an hour on a 22 °C counter. So 20 hours in the fridge does about as much as 2 hours on the counter, which is why a 24 hour cold dough needs about as much yeast as a same-day one, while a night on the counter needs far less. What the fridge adds is time: for flavour, and for the dough to relax and stretch easily.

The tables below add up every rest at its own temperature, then use a curve drawn through published Neapolitan fermentation tables. It's the same model the Pizza Night app uses to size the yeast in every plan.

24 hours in the fridge

24 h fridge: 1 h at room temperature, then 20 h in a 4 °C fridge, then a 3 h warm-up (longer in a cold kitchen).
Kitchen	Fresh yeast	Fresh per 1 kg flour	Instant per 1 kg flour
18 °C	0.40%	4.0 g	1.3 g
20 °C	0.40%	4.0 g	1.3 g
22 °C	0.37%	3.7 g	1.2 g
24 °C	0.38%	3.8 g	1.2 g
26 °C	0.37%	3.7 g	1.2 g

48 hours in the fridge

48 h fridge: 1 h at room temperature, then 44 h in a 4 °C fridge, then a 3 h warm-up (longer in a cold kitchen).
Kitchen	Fresh yeast	Fresh per 1 kg flour	Instant per 1 kg flour
18 °C	0.24%	2.4 g	0.8 g
20 °C	0.24%	2.4 g	0.8 g
22 °C	0.23%	2.3 g	0.7 g
24 °C	0.23%	2.3 g	0.8 g
26 °C	0.22%	2.2 g	0.7 g

Same day (about 6 hours)

Same day: 2 h at room temperature, then 4 h at room temperature.
Kitchen	Fresh yeast	Fresh per 1 kg flour	Instant per 1 kg flour
18 °C	0.37%	3.7 g	1.2 g
20 °C	0.31%	3.1 g	1.0 g
22 °C	0.26%	2.6 g	0.8 g
24 °C	0.21%	2.1 g	0.7 g
26 °C	0.18%	1.8 g	0.6 g

Overnight on the counter (about 22 hours)

Overnight on the counter: 2 h at room temperature, then 20 h at room temperature.
Kitchen	Fresh yeast	Fresh per 1 kg flour	Instant per 1 kg flour
18 °C	0.08%	0.8 g	0.3 g
20 °C	0.07%	0.7 g	0.2 g
22 °C	0.06%	0.6 g	0.2 g
24 °C	0.05%	0.5 g	0.2 g
26 °C	0.04%	0.4 g	0.1 g

Fresh, active dry or instant?

The tables give fresh (cake) yeast and instant yeast. To convert, 1 g of fresh yeast does the work of about 0.4 g active dry or 0.33 g instant yeast. Active dry is best dissolved in some of the water first.

A worked example

Four Neapolitan pizzas of 250 g each, with a 24 hour cold rest:

4 Neapolitan balls of 250 g, 24 h in the fridge, kitchen 21 °C, fridge 4 °C, plus 2% for the bowl.
Ingredient	Grams
Flour	617 g
Water (62%)	382 g
Salt (3%)	19 g
Fresh yeast	2.37 g
Dough	1020 g

Amounts this small are hard to weigh on a kitchen scale. A 0.01 g jewellery scale helps, or dissolve 1 g of fresh yeast in 100 g of the recipe's water and pour in the share you need.

Check the dough, not the clock

Kitchens, flours and yeasts differ, so treat the numbers as a starting point. The dough is ready when it has grown and a gentle poke springs back slowly. If it springs back fast, give it longer; if the dent stays, it's ready now.