My Pizza Looked Strange—Here’s What the Bubbles Really Were

If you’ve ever had this happen, you’re not alone. Those mysterious bubbles can feel like a baking failure. But the truth is much more reassuring: they’re actually a normal (and often desirable) part of the pizza-making process.

What Causes the Bubbles?

Those bubbles are the result of trapped gas expanding inside the dough as it bakes. When you make pizza dough, yeast ferments the sugars in the flour and produces carbon dioxide. This gas gets trapped within the dough’s gluten structure, creating tiny air pockets.

When the pizza hits a hot oven, a few things happen at once:

• The gas inside those pockets rapidly expands due to heat
• Moisture in the dough turns into steam
• The dough structure sets as it cooks

All of this causes certain areas to puff up more than others—resulting in those noticeable bubbles.