Sources
Every figure on this site resolves to a cited source; results from your own bakes belong in your own bake log. This page explains what counts as a source, how citations are handled, and how to check a specific claim.
How we test · Editorial standards
In short
Every work we cite is linked where the claim is made, so you can open it and check it yourself. What counts as a source is set out below, in order of weight, and a claim with no source behind it does not publish.
What counts as a source here
| Tier | Examples | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Primary specification | Protected designation specifications, published standards, official rules of trade bodies | Anything describing what a style or label formally requires |
| Manufacturer technical data | Flour data sheets with protein and W value, appliance specification sheets, compositional data | Ingredient and equipment specification claims |
| Public authority | Food safety and combustion guidance from recognised authorities | Safe temperature, handling, and appliance-safety claims |
| Peer-reviewed and reference literature | Published research and established technical reference works | Mechanism and process explanations |
| Your own bake log | Records you keep with the formula worksheet | A result you measured yourself |
| Reported consensus | Widely-held community practice | Described as consensus only, never asserted as fact |
Marketing copy is not a source. Where a manufacturer publishes no technical data, we say so — that absence is itself worth knowing before you buy.
How to check a claim
Find the figure on the page. Every number is rendered with the source or test it resolves to, so you can trace it without asking us.
If a claim carries neither, that is a defect: the rule is supposed to prevent it. Treat the claim as unsupported until you can check it elsewhere.
Retrieval dates and staleness
A citation is only as current as the last time someone read it. Specifications get revised, authorities update guidance, and manufacturers reformulate.
Pages that depend on regulatory, standards, or label-claim sources are re-checked at least annually. The date only moves when someone has genuinely re-read the source, never to make a page look fresh.
Where sources do not exist
For a good deal of pizza practice, there is no authoritative published figure at all. Many styles have never been formally specified, and much of what circulates as a rule is inherited convention with no documented basis.
In those cases the page says "no established convention" rather than inventing a figure. If you have measured it yourself, keep the dated result in your own log as your result, not as a standard.
When a source cannot be found
Where no citable source could be found for a claim, the claim is removed, narrowed to what the reasoning supports, or labelled as reported consensus. It is not left in place with a promise to source it later.
When a stronger primary source turns up, it replaces the weaker one, and any figure that changes as a result is logged as a correction.
Where to go next
Frequently asked questions
Why link the source at the point of the claim?
Because it lets you check the claim without taking our word for it. It also makes it obvious when a claim has no source behind it, which is exactly the failure mode we are trying to prevent.
Is a well-known pizza forum a valid source?
Not for a fact. Community practice is genuinely informative and we do report it, but it is labelled as consensus, not presented as an established figure.
Why is a manufacturer's own data sheet acceptable but their marketing not?
A technical data sheet is a specification the manufacturer stands behind and which is comparable across products. Marketing language is chosen for effect and is usually unfalsifiable.
What if a source contradicts a dated bake result?
Record both and say which is which. A published specification and a dated kitchen result are different kinds of claim, and collapsing them into a single number would hide the disagreement.
Do you paywall or hide any sources?
No. Where a source is itself behind a paywall we say so, so you can decide whether to pursue it, but we never obscure what we relied on.
What happens when a better source turns up?
It replaces the weaker citation. If a figure changes as a result, the change is noted on the page and logged on the corrections page.
Found a figure that looks wrong?
Open the source it cites first. A misattributed figure or a stale specification is a correction, and corrections are logged with dates.