A slab of dough hits the counter with a soft slap. Hands stretch it outward – knuckles first, never a rolling pin – until it’s thin enough to see light through. Across the city, that same motion is happening in a dozen different kitchens: think pizza dough headed for a 450-degree blast, a sourdough loaf that’s been resting overnight, croissant dough being folded into itself for the fourth time, pita about to puff into its signature pocket. Kolkata has quietly become obsessed with a staple old, yet fancy new carb – not the everyday kind, but the kind that takes fermentation, patience and technique seriously. The question worth asking isn’t whether the city’s pizza is really Neapolitan, or its sourdough really long-fermented. It’s why, suddenly, every format of dough in the city seems to be having a moment – all at once.What ‘authentic’ actually meansWe asked city pizza-makers what Neapolitan means and got different, yet oddly compatible answers. At Sorano, co-founder Saket Agarwal calls it less a label than “an obsession with patience,” adding, “It comes down to Italian ‘00’ flour, water, yeast and salt. We slow cold ferment our dough for 48-72 hours before it’s blasted in a wood-fired oven at 450°C for 60-90 seconds.” At Fabbrica, owner Naman Dhandhania puts it gentler: “It’s really about respecting the tradition, process and ingredients,” not “ticking a checklist.” Andrea Lasorsa, executive chef and co-founder at Olio & Sale, calls his pizza Neo-Neapolitan: “We choose flour for the dough’s strength, control fermentation around Kolkata’s heat and humidity, and bake in a very hot oven.” Supper club Pizza Dojo’s Rahul Mall goes further, rejecting the wood-fired requirement altogether, baking electric by choice. “Ours is contemporary Neapolitan,” he says. Unbothered by leoparding, he says, “It’s not a stamp of authenticity. You can make an excellent pizza without ever chasing those spots.” Saket Agarwal says, “A pizza is, first and foremost, a piece of bread. It isn’t a plate meant to hold half a buffet.”48-72 hours is the average ferment time for most pizzerias and bakeries in KolkataWhat makes a pizza Neapolitan
- 00 or Tipo flour
- Minimum 24-hour fermentation (some go 48–72 hours)
- Oven temperatures of roughly 450–475°C
- Bake time of 60–90 secs
- Dough hand-stretched — never a rolling pin
- San Marzano tomatoes, fior di latte or buffalo mozzarella
Bread can contribute much more to a dish than simply accompanying it. Different breads can add texture, structure and even change how and when a dish is eaten
Shamsul Wahid
An old habitPushed on why any of this is happening at all, the city’s bakers and pizzaiolos keep arriving at the same answer, unprompted. “Kolkata has always appreciated the craft of making things with dough,” Naman says, “from luchi and kachori to its old-school bakeries.” Ritika traces it to the city’s “Anglo-Indian and colonial history,” pointing to double roti, the city’s own soft milk bread. Mall calls it simply “not some imported idea. It’s just part of how the city eats.” Saket puts it most plainly: “Kolkata’s love affair with dough isn’t new. It’s in our DNA — from the morning ritual of a hot, puffed kochuri or luchi to the historic loaves of Jewish and Anglo-Indian bakeries in New Market. Pizza and sourdough are just a contemporary continuation of that same ritual.” None of the city’s new dough — wood-fired or electric, cold-fermented or same-day, hand-laminated or pocket-punched — is being held to Naples’, or Paris’, or Beirut’s exact standard. It doesn’t need to be. Kolkata was already fluent in dough. It’s just speaking in a new accents now.The oven problemIf there’s a single sticking point across the city’s pizzerias, it’s the oven itself. Ritika Maity of Khamir Bakehouse says the biggest challenge in Kolkata isn’t ingredients — she can get good San Marzano tomatoes and quality flour without much trouble — it’s “licensing and practical restrictions” around running a wood-fired oven at all, which is why she bakes on a high-temperature electric oven with a thick baking stone instead. Only Sorano and Fabbrica insist on wood as non-negotiable – for the “living heat” and faint smoke an electric deck “simply can’t mimic,” as Saket puts it. What almost everyone agrees on, regardless of oven, is that Kolkata’s diners have changed. Naman remembers when the city wanted “heavily topped, crispy pizza” – now there’s “much more curiosity about the dough, fermentation and simpler toppings.” Saket recalls early guests calling his soft, blistered crust “undercooked.” Today, he says, “diners in Kolkata actively look for that airy, blistered crust.”
A long fermented sourdough should have a gentle sourness, and be made with only flour, water, salt and a pre fed starter
Priyanjali Ray
The starter cultureWith sourdough, instinct centres on fermenting flour and water. At Bread & Butter, Manjari Almal has kept a starter alive for ten years, feeding it twice daily and taking a loaf from mixing to baking in 24 hours. “For us, sourdough is not about taking shortcuts,” she says. “It is about giving the dough time, care and the right fermentation.” At Wild Yeast Stories, founder Priyanjali Ray’s seven-year-old starter needs 15 to 18 hours for a loaf and up to 48 for specialty ones.Sejal Jain of Vanilla Chilli says her 15-year-old starter travelled with her after a chance meeting with an Italian traveller. She puts the burden of proof on consumers: “the best way to know what you’re buying is to read the ingredients list,” since loaves with commercial yeast, sugar or preservatives “may not be the kind of naturally leavened sourdough people traditionally associate with the term.”Chef Andrea uses levain (an active flour-and-water culture containing naturally occurring yeast), adding, “We feed it before baking, then add it to the dough to help the bread rise and develop flavour.” At Bari Bakes, Avantika Jalan develops levain for 12 to 14 hours, folds it into heritage Paighambari wheat dough, then gives it a slow, overnight cold ferment. She says health is definitely part of why people are moving towards sourdough. She says, “The difference is understood through what the bread is made of and how it is made.”
Kolkata has always had a strong bread culture, influenced by its Anglo-Indian and colonial history. We even have our own double roti, our soft milk bread
Ritika Maity
Layered, but slowlyOf the city’s dough formats, laminated pastry seems to demand the longest apprenticeship. At Taj Bengal, executive chef Sumalya Sarkar names the same three variables every baker across formats keeps circling back to — “high-quality butter, strict temperature control, and adequate resting time between folds” — and the same warning about shortcuts: warm dough lets butter “blend into it rather than creating distinct layers,” and skipped resting time leaves the pastry “difficult to work with.” He says most bakers grasp the basic process within weeks, but producing “excellent and consistent croissants every day” takes months.Simran Agarwal at Butter Bakery describes nearly the same three non-negotiables in a sentence: “quality butter, controlled temperature and time are the three things you simply can’t cheat.” Both point to the same failure mode — losing distinct layers the moment butter overheats and melts into the dough — and both credit Kolkata’s growing interest partly to Instagram, while insisting it isn’t what keeps customers coming back. “Social media may bring people through the door,” Sarkar says, “but flavour, texture, freshness, and craftsmanship are what bring them back.” Avantika Jalan says a croissant takes three days from dough to bake. Time is part of the recipe, and there are no shortcuts around it.
