Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe
AuthorDomenicCategoryPizza Dough Recipe, Pizza RecipeDifficultyIntermediateStep 1: In a large mixing bowl, add the water, yeast, and honey. Stir until all are combined equally.
Step 2: In another bowl, measure out the flour and salt.
Step 3: Add half of the flour and salt mixture to the mixing bowl and mix it into the water using a stiff spatula or wooden spoon. You can use your hands for this but I don’t recommend it because you’ll end up losing ingredients when it sticks to your fingers.
Step 4: Add olive oil to the mixing bowl and incorporate it fully into the dough.
Step 5: Add the rest of the flour and salt mixture to the mixing bowl and mix it with the spatula until all of the dry ingredients are hydrated and roughly mixed in with the rest of the ingredients.
Step 6: At this point, we’re going to cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for 20 minutes. During this time, gluten will begin to form while the water continues to hydrate the flour.
Step 7: After 20 minutes have passed, give the dough a very quick mix with the spatula to check its consistency. You should notice that the pizza dough is much smoother and less sticky than it was before. This means that autolyse is taking place and the recipe is working (if you’re a baker, you’ll know what this means).
Step 8: Next, cover the dough back up and let it sit for another 8-12 hours (or roughly overnight). During this time, gluten will continue to form and fermentation will occur, giving the dough a smooth consistency and a delicious taste. This step takes the place of traditional kneading.
Alternative: If you need to use the pizza dough today, you can go ahead and knead it and skip the following steps. Just make sure you increase the yeast by an appropriate amount—usually about 5 grams (1 packet) for a single batch of dough. But if you have the time, I don’t recommend doing this.
Step 9: The next morning, or after the dough has rested for 8-12 hours, place the dough in the fridge to slow down the yeast activity. This starts the cold-fermentation process of the pizza dough, which further improves the taste and texture of the crust after baking. You can transfer the dough to a plastic container for convenience at this point.
Alternative: If you want to use the dough shortly after the 8-12 hour rest, you can skip ahead and start dividing up the dough for balling and proofing. Keep in mind, though, that room temperature dough is stickier to work with and it won’t have the added flavor produced by cold fermenting it.
Step 10: Leave the dough in the fridge for another 24 hours to cold-ferment. This may seem like an unnecessarily long process (especially if you want to make pizza in a hurry), but trust me, once you get used to double-fermented pizza dough, you won’t go back to another dough recipe.
Step 11: The next day, take the dough out of the fridge about 6 hours before you plan on baking it. Divide the dough into equal parts (I recommend about 250g for a 12 inch pizza), shape each piece into a tight ball, then let it proof in a lightly oiled container for 6 hours. During this time, the dough will “heat” back up to room temperature, the gluten will relax, and the ball will puff out as gas builds up.
Step 12: When the dough is fully proofed it will be puffy and relaxed. Drop the proofed dough ball into a flour bath (basically a bowl or pile of semolina flour) and begin to shape and stretch it into a disk. If you need help with this step, please refer to my notes above for links to tutorial pages.
Ingredients
Directions
Step 1: In a large mixing bowl, add the water, yeast, and honey. Stir until all are combined equally.
Step 2: In another bowl, measure out the flour and salt.
Step 3: Add half of the flour and salt mixture to the mixing bowl and mix it into the water using a stiff spatula or wooden spoon. You can use your hands for this but I don’t recommend it because you’ll end up losing ingredients when it sticks to your fingers.
Step 4: Add olive oil to the mixing bowl and incorporate it fully into the dough.
Step 5: Add the rest of the flour and salt mixture to the mixing bowl and mix it with the spatula until all of the dry ingredients are hydrated and roughly mixed in with the rest of the ingredients.
Step 6: At this point, we’re going to cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit for 20 minutes. During this time, gluten will begin to form while the water continues to hydrate the flour.
Step 7: After 20 minutes have passed, give the dough a very quick mix with the spatula to check its consistency. You should notice that the pizza dough is much smoother and less sticky than it was before. This means that autolyse is taking place and the recipe is working (if you’re a baker, you’ll know what this means).
Step 8: Next, cover the dough back up and let it sit for another 8-12 hours (or roughly overnight). During this time, gluten will continue to form and fermentation will occur, giving the dough a smooth consistency and a delicious taste. This step takes the place of traditional kneading.
Alternative: If you need to use the pizza dough today, you can go ahead and knead it and skip the following steps. Just make sure you increase the yeast by an appropriate amount—usually about 5 grams (1 packet) for a single batch of dough. But if you have the time, I don’t recommend doing this.
Step 9: The next morning, or after the dough has rested for 8-12 hours, place the dough in the fridge to slow down the yeast activity. This starts the cold-fermentation process of the pizza dough, which further improves the taste and texture of the crust after baking. You can transfer the dough to a plastic container for convenience at this point.
Alternative: If you want to use the dough shortly after the 8-12 hour rest, you can skip ahead and start dividing up the dough for balling and proofing. Keep in mind, though, that room temperature dough is stickier to work with and it won’t have the added flavor produced by cold fermenting it.
Step 10: Leave the dough in the fridge for another 24 hours to cold-ferment. This may seem like an unnecessarily long process (especially if you want to make pizza in a hurry), but trust me, once you get used to double-fermented pizza dough, you won’t go back to another dough recipe.
Step 11: The next day, take the dough out of the fridge about 6 hours before you plan on baking it. Divide the dough into equal parts (I recommend about 250g for a 12 inch pizza), shape each piece into a tight ball, then let it proof in a lightly oiled container for 6 hours. During this time, the dough will “heat” back up to room temperature, the gluten will relax, and the ball will puff out as gas builds up.
Step 12: When the dough is fully proofed it will be puffy and relaxed. Drop the proofed dough ball into a flour bath (basically a bowl or pile of semolina flour) and begin to shape and stretch it into a disk. If you need help with this step, please refer to my notes above for links to tutorial pages.
