This pizza dough recipe sets the foundation for beautiful, flavorful pizzas. It works great in home ovens
as well as outdoor pizza ovens. No mixer is needed and you don’t need to proof your yeast.
300 g bread flour, plus more for dusting
1.5 g instant yeast (~1/2 teaspoon)
7 g fine grain sea salt (scant 1 teaspoon)
200 g ice-cold water
4 g extra virgin olive oil
1.Whisk the flour, yeast and salt together in a large bowl.
2.Add the cold water and olive oil and stir to combine.
3.Turn the dough out onto a counter, and knead for about three minutes. Allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes.
4.
Knead for another 3 minutes and then cut the dough in half. Shape each piece into a ball pulling the ball toward you to develop a bit of surface tension.
5.Rub a small amount of olive oil on each ball then transfer each to a small container or plastic sandwich bag. Refrigerate overnight. The dough can be used after the overnight rest and kept up to three days.
6.A couple hours before you’re ready to make pizza, bring the dough to room temperature, this usually takes about 2 hours. I look for bubbles and loftiness in the dough.
7.Shape your pizza dough (I talk through all my favorite tips up above), sauce, and arrange your toppings.
8.Bake in the hottest oven you have, preferably on a pizza stone. If you’re using a home oven 450F and a pizza stone will get you impressive results.
The best flour to make pizza dough with is the flour you have in your kitchen right now. Just go for it. Ideally it would be bread flour, but don’t be detoured if all-purpose flour is what you’ve got. If you think you want to go down a serious pizza-making rabbit hole, grab a bag of bread flour, make a few pies. And then compare those to ones made with some “00” pizza flour. Experimenting is half the fun. Bread Flour: With a higher percentage of protein compared to all-purpose flour, this is the flour I’d recommend starting with for a great crust. Bread flour is widely available, and you’ll get fantastic results. “00” Pizza Flour - A lot of people swear by a pizza dough made with a percentage of “00” flour. I sometimes go the extra mile and source this flour, but more times than not I’m out of it. I’m here to tell you, it’s okay, bread flour works really well on its own. Also, here’s the deal, there are multiple types of “00” flour. So you need to be extra careful. You’re looking for “00” pizza flour. Not the “00” for pasta. All the “00” flours are ground powder-fine, but you want one specifically for pizza. I include instructions below if you want to experiment in “00” world. Unbleached All-Purpose Flour: You can make really good pizza dough with all-purpose flour. In fact, the pizza dough recipe in my 1984 edition of Chez Panisse: Pasta, Pizza, and Calzone calls for unbleached all-purpose flour. You'll likely prefer results when using a flour with higher protein content - bread flour, and/or “00” pizza flour - but there are still a lot of APF fans out there.
There are a lot of variables, and a lot of questions related to the details of making dough at home. I'm going to talk through a bunch of them here. The main objective with this recipe was to create an easy-going pizza dough that is simple to make and easy to shape and handle. I wanted the resulting pizza crust to be a bit rustic, with some bubbles and topography and good texture when baking - even when pulled quite thin. I'll give you the ingredients as weight, so a basic kitchen scale is needed. I'm not requiring it to be difficult, it dials in your dough in accurately. You can really feel the difference if your flour or water are off.
Yes! It does great in dedicated pizza ovens, for example - when the weather is good- we use an Ooni 16. I’ve found the best results happen when we pre-heat the oven for 45 minutes on maximum heat. Launch your pizza onto the stone, and then dial back the heat to the lowest possible setting. Turn your pizza using a peel or tongs to avoid burning. It takes some practice, make extra dough when you're starting out!