Does pizza dough have to rise?

If you're expecting it to taste like pizza crust, yes, it needs to rise. With no rise, you'll essentially get matzoh (or communion wafers for the "jewish-imparied" 8-) ).

It will be flat and hard and more or less flavorless.

Are you trying to make pizza dough and having a problem?

Terry

 Sorry but that's not true. You can mix a quick yeast raised dough, scale it off into the size you need, roll it out and make the pizza. It goes right into a hot oven and WILL rise, in fact you can even make the crust filled with cheese the way Pizza Hut or Dominoes does.

The question wasn't about fast or slow rising or where it was done, the OP was asking if the dough had to rise at all.

Terry

And I replied....."no."

In Terry's defense, Chefross, you did say "no." But then you described a form of oven spring, which is a rising.

 

Virtually all flatbreads (other than unleavened ones, like Matzoh) go through a rise period. If not, what's the point of adding yeast?

The question was asked...."Does pizza dough have to rise?" My answer was "No."

 

What was inferred was that almost all pizza dough is made with yeast, so I was answering the question with that in mind.

 

I guess I assumed that everybody already knows that pizza dough contains yeast, so in my answer I was suggesting that a proof of the dough was not necessary. In that vein, I answered "no."

Pizza dough doesn't have to rise, the yeast will do their work as the dough heats up. But it improves tremendously if proofed once or twice before shaping then briefly after shaping.

letting the dough sit for a day makes a large improvement in flavor in my opinion.