They have designed a leavening process similar to that used to produce carbonation in fizzy drinks. This involves placing dough made from flour, water and salt into an autoclave – an industrial oven-like device that uses hot steam under pressure to kill harmful bacteria and viruses. Then raising the temperature and pressure inside and gradually releasing it as the dough cooks.

“The key to the process is to design the pressure release rate not to stress the dough, which likes to expand gently,” said the study’s co-author Prof Ernesto Di Maio, who has a yeast allergy himself.

“This new technology can drive the development of new products, new dough formulations, and specific recipes for food intolerance, hopefully helping people enjoy healthy and tasty food.”

So far, the team have only used the technique to make mini pizzas but now plan to use a larger autoclave to make more substantial creations and one day hope to see their technique being used in restaurants.

“We had a lot of fun applying things we know well to delicious polymers, instead of our typical and sometimes boring smelly plastics,” said co-author Prof Rossana Pasquino.

“The idea of approaching food samples with the same technologies and knowledge used for thermoplastic polymers was surprisingly successful!”

Read more about food science:

• The future of food: what we’ll eat in 2028
• Why is cheese so addictive?
• The artificial meat factory – the science of your synthetic supper