Go Back
Fermented overnight pizza dough with large air bubbles.

Overnight Pizza Dough Recipe

Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour
Servings 2
Calories 582 kcal

Ingredients
  

Metric

  • 202 ml Water
  • 288 g AP Flour or Bread Flour
  • .35 g Instant Dry Yeast (active works fine as well)
  • 9 g Salt
  • 9 g Honey
  • 9 g Olive Oil

Imperial

  • 7 oz Water
  • 2 1/3 cup AP or Bread Flour
  • 1/8 tsp Dry Yeast
  • 1/2 tbsp Salt
  • 1/2 tbsp Honey
  • 1/2 tbsp Olive Oil

Instructions
 

  • Measure out the flour and salt, mix them together, and set them aside in a bowl for later.
    A white bowl of tipo 00 flour.
  • Add the water, yeast, and honey to a large mixing bowl. Stir until the yeast and honey have been completely absorbed into the water.
    Water, yeast, and honey in a mixing bowl.
  • Add (roughly) half of the flour/salt mixture to the water and mix thoroughly with a stiff spatula. It's easiest to add the flour gradually and mix as you go.
    A green spatula sitting in a mixing bowl with water, yeast, and sugar.
  • When half the flour has been added, add olive oil to the dough. Mix until all of the olive oil has been incorporated into the dough.
    Drizzled olive oil on pizza dough in a mixing bowl with a green spatula.
  • Add the rest of the flour/salt to the mixing bowl and mix until all of the dry ingredients have been hydrated. After a short time, you should be left with a wet, lumpy blob of dough. Cover up the bowl with plastic wrap (or a wet towel) and let it sit for 30 minutes.
    A shaggy lump of unkneaded pizza dough sitting in a covered mixing bowl.
  • After 30 minutes, give the dough another quick mix with a stiff spatula. You should notice that the dough is substantially smoother and less sticky than it was before. This is because a network of gluten is beginning to form.
    A green spatula poking pizza dough in a mixing bowl.
  • The dough is now ready to rest and ferment overnight. Cover the mixing bowl back up and let it sit at room temperature for 12-16 hours. Feel free to transfer the dough to a resealable container for convenience if you prefer, like I've done here. Note: If you live in a hot climate, find a cool spot in your house to leave it so it doesn't overgrow.
    What pizza dough looks like after it's been fermented overnight.
  • The following morning, the dough should have expanded noticeably in its container. See the air bubbles in the plastic container in the attached picture: this is proof of fermentation taking place.
    Fermented overnight pizza dough with large air bubbles.
  • At this point, you can place the dough in the fridge to slow the fermentation process down. Leave it in the fridge until approximately 3 hours before you're ready to make the pizza.
  • 3 hours before you're ready to start making the pizza, take the dough out of the fridge and divide it into individual pieces (250 grams in the case of this recipe). Form each piece into a tight ball and place it into a lightly oiled container for proofing. This step is absolutely crucial to making a proper pizza crust, so if you need help watch the instructional videos and posts I've linked to above.
    Two hands rolling a pizza dough ball on a brown table.
  • Approximately 3 hours later, drop the proofed dough ball into a semolina flour bath and begin shaping it by hand. If you need instructions on how to shape a pizza dough ball into a pizza crust, follow the link above to my tutorial videos.
    A proofed pizza dough ball sitting in a bed of semolina flour.
  • Top and bake the pizza on a hot pizza steel. Enjoy!
    A pizza with tomato sauce and cheese cooking on a pizza steel in a home oven.