Makes 2 medium dough balls about 275g, or 3 small dough balls about 180g
This is my go-to dough that has come from hours of experimenting with different recipes – taking inspiration from Naples to New York. It makes a versatile dough which works well in the home oven, whether you are cooking in a pan or on a pizza stone. The best pizzas come from resting the dough for longer times, where fermentation adds deeper flavors and the texture mellows. But this dough works suprisingly well at shorter rise times too – making great pizzas provided it cooks as fast as possible in a very hot oven.
In Naples they start with the water and dissolve the other ingredients in one by one. I let it rest for 25 mins which allows the flour to absorb water, and then only needs a minimal kneading phase. This keeps the dough perfectly soft on the inside, but crunchy on the outside when baked.
Flavor and texture are improved as the yeast ferments. It only contains a small amount of yeast which allows the dough to be kept at room temperature to develop slowly. While the dough can be used at the minimal rise times, it is better to rest it for 6-7 hours. Alternatively it can be put in the fridge, which slows down things even further – after 24 hours in the fridge it is at its optimum. Remember that warmer environments will cause to the dough to ferment faster and become soft and bubbly. Leaving it out of the fridge for longer than 7-8 hours will mean it becomes very weak.
Try mixing the dough in the morning and allow it to rise at room temperature to be used that evening. Alternatively, mix it in the evening and store it in the fridge for the next evening. After a few practices you’ll be churning them out like a pro.
Tips
Too sticky? Let the dough rest a bit longer to allow the flour to absorb the water fully.
Dough tearing? Weak dough could be from a flour with not enough protein, or a dough that was left to ferment for too long – especially if it’s warm.
Shrinks back when stretching? Give it more time to rest after it is balled into individual dough balls.
Can you freeze the dough? Yes you can. Freeze the individual dough balls after they have been divided up. See article how to freeze pizza dough.
Weighing the smaller ingredients is much more accurate than using volumes. Get yourself a digital scales like this one which makes things a lot easier.
How to cook it? I cook my pizzas with this pizza steel from Amazon which I really recommend. It gets hotter than a pizza stone for making extra crispy pizzas and it will never crack.
Bakers Ratios
Bakers ratios are calculated as percentages of the weight of the flour. From these you can multiply up or down. Need 4 pizzas? Just multiply the recipe by 2.
This recipe uses a fairly high amount of water at 66%, which stops the pizza drying out in the longer cooking of a home oven. As you advance, try push it to 70% which makes a crisp outer crust but a moist interior – but the dough is harder to work with.
It has olive oil as an optional ingredient as it also stops the pizza from drying out when baked for extended periods. If you are cooking pizza very quickly, say under 4 minutes, then it’s not needed.
Flour: 100%, water: 66%, yeast: 0.1%, salt: 2.5% and optional 2% oil.
Ingredients
- 330g Bread Or Pizza Flour with 11-13.5% protein (2 ½ cups)
- 218g Tepid Water (1 cup minus 1 tbsp)
- 8.25g Fine Sea Salt (1 ½ tsp)
- 0.33g Active Dry/Instant Yeast (⅒ tsp or 2 pinches)
- 6.6g olive oil (½ tbsp) - Optional but recommended for longer baking times to prevent drying.
Instructions
- Pour the water into a mixing bowl, add the salt and mix to dissolve. Add the yeast and let it hydrate on the surface for 30 seconds before mixing into the water. Then drop the flour on top but hold back on the oil if you are using it.
- Use your finger tips of one hand to stir the mixture and bring it together to a ball. To get all the flour wet, use the thumb and first finger like a pincer to cut the dough up a few times then bring back to a ball. Pinch and flip for 30 seconds until no dry flour remains. Add the olive oil if using and do this again for 30 seconds.
- Cover the dough and let it sit for 25 minutes. This lets the flour absorb the water fully and become smooth. It's important because the dough is too sticky to knead straight away.
- Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and give it a fine dusting of flour. Knead it for 1 minute with the base of your palm, pushing away and folding it back. It will be sticky but don't add too much extra flour - doing so will make the dough more dense. One minute of kneading is enough to build some gluten to become stretchy, but not make the pizza tough and bready.
- Wipe out the mixing bowl, add a few drops of oil and place the dough back inside. Coat the dough very lightly to prevent sticking, then cover again so it's air tight. Let it rise for 1-2 hours to get the yeast started - 2 hours is best unless your house is very warm.
- Push the air out of the dough with your hands but don't knead or tear the dough. Cut it into 2 equal pieces. Use scales if you want to be exact - about 275 grams each.
- Form a ball by taking two edges, stretching out slighting and bringing together. Spin it and repeat a few times. This forms a tight face on the top which makes for a good pizza later on, and a side with the seams which should be pinched closed. Transfer the ball to the worktop seam side down, place your hand on top and roll in circular motions to tighten the face and make it a perfect ball.
- Repeat with each ball and place them in a lightly floured, flat container for the second rise. An airtight box, a few dinner plates or sheet pan with plastic wrap work well. Ensure the balls are floured on top otherwise they will stick - they will increase in diameter so space a few inches apart. It's crucial to keep the balls as round as possible while they rise otherwise it's very hard to make a round pizza in the end.
- Let the dough balls rise at room temperature for 2-6 hours or 24-48 hours in the fridge - the cold slows down fermentation. They will have superior flavor and texture with a longer fermentation at either temperature. But at room temperature, the balls may become weak and gassy after a total of 7-8 hours, so move to the fridge to hold for any longer.
- Heat your oven to its highest setting for at least 30 minutes. Remember that cold dough balls need 1-2 hours to warm up to room temperature before use.
- Stretch or roll the dough very thin on a worktop with lots of flour. Add your favorite toppings and then transfer to the oven on a baking sheet, or better, use a preheated pizza stone/steel and peel. Cook until the crust is fully golden, usually 7-10 minutes depending on the oven. Rotate the pizza halfway if it browns on one side.
How did this recipe turn out for you? Let me know in the comments below.
haven’t tried this recipe yet… but it looks like too little yeast. is that number correct?
Hi Nina,
I can confirm it is correct. This recipe uses a small amount of yeast which allows the dough to be fermented for longer at room temperature without it bubbling over the container. This builds up a nice flavor and texture which you might find in artisan breads.
The yeast multiplies when it gets warm and I’ve tried it with just a 2 hour total rise and it still rose well and made good pizza. Just a little less taste.
Indeed, I am researching Neapolitan dough and the official regulation calls for very little yeast. Like 0.1 percent/flour. I used way too much yeast and it did rise well over 8 hours, but didn’t rise in the oven when baked at 550C. I’ve read this happens with too much yeast and a long ferment time. I have come to find that less yeast with longer rise in room temp is optimal for Naples style dough.
Hi Tom,
I just sent an email. But wanted to share my experience with an expert here also.
I use 60% hydration
Bread flour
2.5%salt
1.25% sugar
3% OO
1%yeast
I autolyse once all ingredients are incorporated 30 min.
48 hr CT
Ball up
2 hr RT 90° KITCHEN
NY style
Question:how can my pizza have 10X the yeast and sugar and still come out pretty well. The only issue is i get some bubbles or thin spots but rarely tears when i stretch out the dough, which i pop. Also, i cant get a window pane no matter how long i let it go in the mixer. (15 min.) Making the crust less than even. Ive tried half sugar and yeast and it can withstand a longer RT after balling without becoming weak. I will try your recipe today and let you know.
Wish i could include pics in these messages.
Stay crusty,
Justin
Thanks Justin! I didn’t receive an email – can I ask how you sent that? Maybe there is an error on my site.
With your 1% yeast dough, it should work fairly similarly when in cold temperatures. That’s because the yeast slows down so much its almost stopped. You would see a difference if you used warmer water to mix, or left it longer at room temperature. I remember using 1-1.5% yeast dough and sometimes in the fridge it would overflow the container – probably because it was warmer and more active going into the fridge.
Let me know if you tried my recipe!
thanks
Tom
Based on the your bakers percentage of 0.5% yeast and dough weight of 563g I calculate a yeast amount of 1.6g not .33g as stated in the recipe. .33g would be 0.06% which has to be a mistake.
When using baker’s ratios, you work out the percentages from the flour weight and not the overall dough weight. Flour is 330g and yeast 0.33g so its 0.1%.
Hi Tom,
I tried this recipe with the longer fermentation time in the fridge 24+ hours and the pizza was amazing. The base had a very nice taste. Thank you for sharing this recipe and the tips!!! Can’t wait to try it again.
Awesome, glad it went well! Enjoy.
Hi. Made this exactly as, best results yet ! Thank you, tried so many al usually bit bland or no stretch, rip easy, but finally a great result.
Quick questions if I may, how long can I keep in the fridge ? If I freeze how long does it take to defrost ?
Regards
Simon.
Hi Simon,
Great feedback, thank you!
Keeping it in the fridge I found that 48 hours and the dough started to get a bit weak to shape for me. The gluten starts breaking down. You can use higher protein flour to make it last longer, or use even less yeast to slow things down.
With defrosting, over night in the fridge is needed. Take it out and then leave at room temperature for 1-2 hours before stretching.
Tom
Hi Tom, I made pizza tonight and not happy with me dough and I found your site.
I typically use a Kitchen Aid mixer- – the crust is too stiff and maybe dry. Do you think using the Kitchen Aid mixer is the problem. Is your step 2 – ( 1 minute) and in step 2 are you mixing all ingredients together by hand? After cover and waiting for 25 minutes – step 4 is knead again for 1 minute? Thank you – and once you do a video that will be a great help
Hi Lisa,
You should be able to use your mixer fine, but just ensure you aren’t mixing it for too long (like 10 mins plus). If the crust is stiff then add a little more water – the water makes the dough have more steam and the crust will puff up more to be lighter. Remember to not add too much extra flour when mixing it etc otherwise it makes it too dry.
Thanks for the recipe – I have been experimenting for years. I have settled on a deep dish recipe but was in search of a good traditional crust. I gave this a try but after 48 hrs in the fridge it was too sticky to work with. Adding flour at this point to use it was hard to incorporate and basically turned it into a cracker crust, but I had no options. I will continue my search, I will probably make again with less water, and keep it in a ball shape in the fridge to see how that works. Thanks anyways!
Hi John,
Some things to try and ensure it doesn’t turn out too sticky:
– 48 hours is fairly long to hold the dough as the fermentation breaks the gluten structure down, so recommend using a high protein bread flour for more gluten (13-14% protein)
– Try 24-36 hours fermentation as it might be an easier starting point and still tastes fantastic
– You can also try bulk fermenting the dough for 24 hours in the fridge first, then ball it and store in the fridge for the remaining period. It holds its strength a little better than the whole thing as a ball.
– Also, mixing in flour isn’t possible at this point but you can still cover the outside of the dough balls with lots of flour to make it easier to shape.
This the best absolute best dough recipe and so very easy to do. I have arthritis and kneading is hard for me but this recipe is so amazing, very little kneading.
Can I freeze this dough?
Thanks!
Ann, so happy you found this recipe useful and the lovely feedback 🙂
Unfortunately the dough was tough to form as it warmed up to room temp. It was also dense/tough after cooking.
Not sure what happened?? Would love some guidance as I’ve tried this recipe to the T, 3 times now 🥺
Some things which might be wrong
– too much flour? Did you do anything to alter the balance of flour and water, like add too much when kneading? The dough should be fairly sticky. Maybe your flour needs more water as they are all different.
– did you use a pizza stone? That makes the dough puff up quick and the crust become nice and airy.
– it’s tight when it’s cold so that might be the tough feeling you get when it a warming up.
Overall, I would say if it’s very tough and dense then double check your flour and water ratios, try a different flour and get your oven very hot with a pizza stone or steel.
This is my “go to” recipe for pizza dough. I started using this recipe last year. We have a DIY wood fired, dry stacked, brick pizza oven and this crust is perfect every time…crisp with a little chew. I use bread flour and follow all measurements in your recipe. I make the dough the day before baking, to develop flavor. I have frozen.. individual sized and wrapped balls for 2 months. I pull from freezer and place in refrigerator the day before baking.
Thanks for your comment Cindy. Great to hear you are using it a year on 🙂
After trying several recipes online, I’ve made this recipe for over 10 pizzas and have gotten outstanding results every time. Prior recipes with much more kneading gave me dough that was very elastic and tore often, whereas letting it rest before kneading just a bit as recommended here gave me remarkable results. I’ve tried both hand kneading and using a stand mixer, both with great results. Thank you so much, this is now my go-to dough!
Awesome Francis. Thanks for the feedback!
First of all this dough is amazing. I was reluctant to use ingredients by weight (just because its new to me) but know I get it. It makes a world of difference. I have 2 doughs chilling in the fridge for tonight…lol Q..can I reduce the salt or will that mess with the chemistry or just change the taste a little?
Salt slows down the fermentation and stops the dough from breaking down and becoming weak over time. It also tightens it up and gives it a bit of strength. You can reduce it to your tastes but keep in mind you might not be able to ferment it for as long.
Hi, Tom. Your basic recipe works well for me, and your website is great. Shouldn’t all the basic dough recipe ingredients be specified in terms of weight for the baker’s ratio to be accurate? The 1-cup minus 1-table spoon works fine. But if one were to follow a bakers ratio, the 218 ML of water would need to be weighed and expressed in grams. 218 ML of water is about 190 GRAMS. 190 GR divided by 330 GR of flour yields a hydration of 58%. Any chance the 218 ML is a typo and should be specified in GRAMS instead of ML? Again, thank you for your website and every best wish to you! –Christopher
Hi Christopher, good spot and I’m glad you have found the website useful! I always weigh my water but I think I had it in ml for simplicities sake. I thought 218ml = 218g of water. But I’ve now learned that this is only the case at the temp 39.4F/4C and so inaccurate at higher temps. I’ve updated it to grams to be accurate in the bakers ratios, thanks! Tom
This is incorrect. 1mL water = 1g water in its liquid state. 1mL of water = 0.92g only in its solid state (frozen/ice form).
No worries there, Tom. One litre of water is about 0.99 kg for all imaginable domestic use in our kitchens.
I came across your recipe looking for pizza dough to prep for a family make-your-pizza I’m doing tomorrow. Hoping it turns out well (we are a “fly by the seat of your pants” group, lol). I quadrupled the recipe (expecting 8). So far seems simple and straight forward. Will try to remember to update tomorrow night after taste test. Thank you!
Let me know how it goes!
Wow this was much better than my previous recipe.
Hello,
Thanks for this recipe. I tried it and got confused with step 4. Kneading 1 minute does not pass the window pane test and it was still too sticky and not smooth. I’m not sure if that is what’s to be expected haha.
Hi Arvs, thanks for the feedback.
Kneading for just 1 minute builds some gluten stretch but you are right – it won’t quite pass the window pane test, but it doesn’t need to. The rest of the gluten network formation happens while the dough rests and ferments, as gluten forms naturally when the flour comes in contact with the water. Lots of recipes recommend kneading for up to 10-15 minutes but this is just a waste of time because you end up with a very elastic dough at the end either way. Kneading for longer actually makes the dough more chewy – so a small amount of kneading makes for a tender crust.
Regarding the stickiness, I have been testing different amounts of water and may drop the water content to 66% rather than 70%. It makes the dough a bit more manageable for those not used to sticky dough, but still makes great pizza.
Hope your pizza came out great.
Tom
Thanks Tom for the explanation! I’ll reply back to this article how it came out on Monday as I will try around 24-48ish fermentation.
On step 7, when you form the ball, do you still coat your work area, scraper, and hands with flour? Or you only do it on step 4? After the 2 hours rest once kneaded, I couldn’t shape it into a ball without it sticking in my hands so I use flour dusting again haha.
My experience with this recipe is that 70% hydration is sticky from kneading to shaping into a ball. But you are right, even with a little amount of yeast which I was skeptical, it still rose. Interesting!
P.S I used All Purpose Flour since bread flour and 00 flour are not commonly available where I’m from, we only have this which is about 12% protein (3-4g protein per 1/4 cup usually in the nutritional facts so I’m estimating 12-16% protein).
I find that by step 7, the dough should be smooth and not sticky any more. One thing I missed in step 5 if you are fermenting in the bowl is to add a few drops of oil to the bowl which makes it a little easier to get out. I will add that, thank you.
And if you need a small dusting of flour in the balling phase when you are handling it, then that’s OK. But when it comes to rolling the balls, keep the worktop with minimal flour because that makes the balls tighter as you roll.
Let me know how the All Purpose flour goes – I imagine with 12% protein it might be a bit delicate after 48 hours. This is because the gluten network breaks down over time – 24 might be best.
Tom
Sounds great, but did I miss something? Where should I place it in the oven? What is the oven temperature?
I am planning to add some different recipes for pizza styles which will use this dough – they will be coming soon. For now though, heat a pizza stone or heavy baking sheet for 30 minutes in your oven at its maximum temperature. Stretch or roll the dough, top and then transfer to the oven with a pizza peel or some baking parchment paper. Bake until the cheese and crust are dark brown, this should be around 7 minutes depending on the oven and equipment.
Tom
HI, wondering if you can post a video of the entire dough making process? Easier to watch a video sometimes for clarification. Thanks!
Thanks for the feedback Elizabeth. I agree that would be useful and will be getting some videos up hopefully soon.
Tom
I haven’t tried this, but I watched different youtube videos, and you are the only one that suggests, resting the dough before kneading, and all of them suggested to knead 5-10 minutes, and that’s really tiring and the dough eventually springs back when you are forming it with your fingers. I will definitely try this as the process seems to be more applicable for beginners, or you’re just explained it well. And hopefully, I’ll have a perfect dough for my pizza.
I had only ap flour, and otherwise did my best to follow the recipe exactly. The knead was terribly difficult because my dough was so, so sticky. The real issue was that my dough didn’t rise at all. Not even a bubble or a puff. It’s been a warm day, so the house isn’t cold at all. Help! What did I do wrong?
Thanks for the comment. Sticky dough can be difficult to knead but you get better at it and it does make good pizza! Different flours can absorb different amounts of water, so if you feel its still an issue you could try adding more flour at a tablespoon at a time and see the results.
The dough not rising has got to be a problem with your yeast – it sounds like it is dead because its old or because the water was too hot. Check its alive by mixing a teaspoon of yeast, a teaspoon of sugar and a splash of water – after 10 minutes it should be bubbling if its alive.
It’s important to make sure your AP flour is labeled “unbleached” because Bleached flour (also labeled (all purpose) Is weaker in protein than I bleached- just thought I’d mention- this would make a difference when handling the dough-
After two hours of the first proof, how much should the dough rise? Mine has not gone up very much. I’ve been keeping it in a warm area, too.
Hi Jonathan, it won’t “double in size” like many other recipes which have way too much yeast – that is normal. Most of the expansion happens in the second phase which is longer. The first phase is really just to get the yeast going, so usually needs a good 2 hours.
Tom
Have you don’t a video on making dough and pizza?
Not yet, watch this space!
When is this video coming?!!?
I suppose it’s a no knead technique. I’ve never tried it but have just started one following your recipe. Tiny amount of yeast but I guess it makes sense with the long proving times. My oven isn’t great (even with a pre heated pizza stone) so I’ve been using the frying pan (actually a pancake/crepe pan) and grill. I’ve been stunned at just how close to a good commercial neapolitan pizza you can get with this method.
One day soon I’ll try the same recipe for bread. It’s such a minimal no fuss approach that it’s got to be worth the attempt.
The frying pan method is probably my favourite method – makes great Neapolitan style at home.
Made the dough last night, going for the 48 hr ball ferment, all looks perfect with no problems at all.
Thanks Andrew!
You haven’t said how long to cook it for with topping also what temperature
Adding some details
making the pizza dough right now. You said to max out the oven temp, my oven max’s at 550 not sure if all ovens reach that temp. still in process of forming dough.
Thanks,
Rickey
Wonderful work you do! could i ask a few questions, please?
1. Some say in various recipes that salt is not good for yeast, so one is advised to put salt as away as possible (in both time and place in bowl) from the yeast. But i see you start with salt and yeast. So the salt does not inactivate Yeast?
I ve been cooking just since pandemic started, but I already feel I lived in some sort of a lie a bit:)
What is the truth about yeast and salt?
2. I use to make dough from 650 flour (hard type) and yeast and water (which seem to be oh way less than 66%) and a teaspoon of sugar and one of winegar, and then put it in the oven for one hour dough covered and in some steam from one liter of Bolied water, in order to speed up the process, (and airtight after that some 30’ at room temperature), so I could eat pizza that very evening.
Which I can do, true, BUT it is rather thin hard and not soft; is it because i). I was trying to spped up the entire process? or because ii). I was using too little water?
I love pizza so I have to know where I am wrong. Thank you for your patience and your exquisite work you do for people!!!
Hi Mihai,
It is true that salt slows down the fermentation from the yeast. More salt = slower fermentation. But I think the advice that salt will kill yeast straight away is wrong, and probably misinformation spread around. I always mix the water, salt and yeast together and never see any problems. I think if you leave the yeast and salt in direct contact together alone for around 5 minutes then you might see problems. But if you mix the flour in sooner after mixing the two, then it has no effect.
In regard to number 2, I think it is probably because you left it for only 30 minutes. Good dough needs more time – it breaks down the texture to make it more tender. And acids build up to make a deeper taste. The best dough needs more time so I advise you take a little longer 🙂 You can drop the hydration level and it makes a more dense pizza also, so it could be a mix of the two. I wouldn’t go below 60%.
And 3 (sorry for double comment):
My oven does not make enough temperature, I mean I usually have to leave everything nearly twice as much in the oven, as in the recipes, because of that.
What could be done in order to not ruin the pizza? I see you advise some oil.
Should the water content also be increased?
Should i let the pizza in the oven on the Lowest step? (My oven has some 3-4 levels where the tray can be placed, but i do not know which i should use-the lowest will dry it out? Or the best is to use low level in oven?)
Thank you for reading such beginner’s questions
Thank you
A good tip would be to use a pizza stone or pizza steel. They heat up and give the base a blast of heat from below. Check out the recommended equipment here https://www.crustkingdom.com/pizza-equipment/
I find that the best heat comes from the top shelf or middle-top shelf. So try it in the upper half of the oven – all ovens are a bit different. To keep it moist use the oil as that makes it better for longer baking times. More water is always good too – try going to 70% water.
Really glad you have found some good information on the website! Thank you for the kind feedback and keep practicing making those pizzas every week!
Great article. Really explained the percentages well. I am going to do a slow fermentation of 48-72 hours. Should I let it rest for an hour, then ball up the dough and cold ferment or ball the dough after fermentation in the fridge?
I’ve done both and the main advantage of having more time in the ball stage is that the dough relaxes and becomes easy to stretch. But too long in the ball phase and the ball will relax so much that it becomes flat and weak. I would try doing 1-2 hours outside, ball and then put in the fridge for 48 hours.
If you want to do 72 hours then you might need to use slightly less yeast otherwise the dough will be very weak.
Hey this looks like a really well detailed recipe. I had a try making the dough (its currently proving in the fridge for 24hrs). My main concern is that in that time the dough hasn’t really gotten that much bigger. The yeast is fine as i have been using it for bread but when i mixed the yeast (2-3 pinches) i’m not sure i had the water temperature right itwas around 30C. Could this be a issue? Thanks
Hey Chris. This dough doesn’t rise all that much because of the low yeast – so I wouldn’t worry too much. In the end, the pizza doesn’t need to rise up like a bread does, it just needs a crust.
Hope it goes well!
Thanks very much for the response, the pizza turned put great 🙂
Thanks for letting me know 🙂
Hi,
I have yet to make your dough, but it is on my to do list this week. I have tended to use Ken Forkish Biga dough recipe, cooking the pizza on a pizza steel in my BBQ. which gets my pizza steel up to about 350* C I was wondering what the temperature of your stone or steel is when you are cooking your pizza dough?
Also I don’t work for them, but I had looked at your suggestions for equipment and had actually tried to get some of the items you recommended but some are hard to come by. I did find a pizza steel from a company called Smokerig at a very good price. The steel does seem to work much better than the stone.
Look forward to your video.
Hi Cheech,
I have never taken a read of my actual pizza stone. But my home oven goes to about 260C so I would imagine 350C to be just great. Hotter the better really with making pizza.
The equipment I recommended is some of the things I found to be good performance and value, so I am sure some other brands are good also if you get a similar one. Looks like the Pizza craft steels might be out of stock, there has been a big uptake of pizza making lately! The Pizza craft one isn’t super thick but still cooks great, so you don’t need to get the really thick ones necessarily.
Wow! Such a detailed recipe! I’ve been making pizza dough from YouTube recipes, but this one really took it to the next level. I was a little skeptical of the yeast amount, as other recipes say to use 2-4 grams, but it came out absolutely wonderfully. For me, 68% hydration plus a generous spritzing of water on the crust before going into oven made the perfect crunchy on the outside tender on the inside crust. Will definitely repeat. Thanks so much for sharing!
That’s some great feedback, thank you Sandra. The small amount of yeast really does get going in the oven. And after all, pizza only needs a small puff up of the crust unlike bread. Enjoy your pizza making!
Hi Tom,
Great information your website. If using fresh yeast instead of dry, how much would you suggest using?
I’ve made a few batches of dough using 00 flour but they haven’t turned out as expected. As I’m using a standard home oven I’m going to try a batch using strong bread flour as suggested.
Many thanks
Hey G. You should use about 3x the weight of fresh yeast to dry yeast. I would say that the 00 flour should be OK to use – try and make sure everything else in the recipe is accurate. The correct weights and the steps followed well.
Hi Tom – thanks for the recipe – it definitely looks like a keeper. I’m looking for one to use with my new wood fired oven that I can hopefully get to Neapolitan temperatures – nothing I’ve been able to get even close to in the past. I’m a bit hung up on what flour to use though. I want to avoid the expensive hard to find Caputo 00. If I can get the right protein level with my Canadian bread or other common flour is there something I can do to compensate for it not being as fine as the 00? Mixing in some cake flour? A bit of olive oil? Something else?
Thanks for the help.
Hi Garth, glad you found it helpful!
Flour can be kind of complex. The 00 refers to the fine grind and also how much of the ‘ash’ or the husk of the wheat goes in. 00 basically gets the very center of the grain which makes it very white and soft. I think it might be impossible to quite replicate the softness – you can obviously lower the protein mixing other flours.
I would hold off on the oil – the wood fired oven can tenderize the dough well. What I would recommend is fermenting for a long time, which really breaks down the texture and makes a very soft, digestible dough. Try bulk fermenting the dough in the fridge for 24 hours and then split into balls for the second ferment in the fridge for 24-36 hours. This can allow you to ferment for longer but still have a usable dough ball at the end. You might even want to lower the yeast level for such a long time.
Good luck and keep experimenting!
Hey! Thank you very much for this recipe. It’s perfectly balanced without an excess of yeast. Best recipe I’ve tried, you’ve really cracked the code! I’m obsessed and want to make this in larger batches. Can I freeze this dough?
Hey Hijanah
Glad you liked it. You can freeze it yes! After you’ve divided and balled up, wrap each in plastic. Defrost in the fridge overnight before use. OR you can parbake a base with some tomato sauce and freeze that for the next use.
Wow, best pizza i’ve ever made, tasted like pizzeria quality. I did a 8 hour total rise at room temperature and used your ratios with olive oil at 70% hydration, with dough balls weighing 350g each. Result was a light and airy cornicione. Many thanks for this post!
Hi Tom,
just wondering if more yeast cuts my fermentation time and developes flavor or if I should do less yeast and allow to rest longer. I’m doing about 750g at 67% hydration with 5g of dry yeast and at 6hrs. I start getting a tangy taste.
Hi Joel, the yeast will speed up fermentation, along with temperature. So try lowering the yeast like in this recipe. Or you can lower the temperature that your dough is resting in. That should help you.
Hi mate, cheers for the recipe & method. Got my dough resting in the fridge in a deep tray with film over the top but it seems to have flattened out rather than risen in ball shape. Is it ruined and is there a step that I have likely gotten wrong? Measurements used were as accurate as I could possibly be..
Thanks!
Hey Adam. It will flatten out mostly, because the recipe doesn’t have much yeast in it. So its all good! It gets stretched thin and then the yeast in the dough will give the crust a kick of height in the oven. The flattening happens because the gluten in the dough relaxes – if its getting extremely flat too quick then perhaps try higher protein flour (more gluten!). But not a problem as long as you can still handle the dough.
I used active dry yeast, then too late I saw your ingredients for Active dry/ Instant yeast. Should I have used instant yeast? Recipes using active dry yeast usually have some sugar in them. Have mine in the freezer right now to defrost later this week. Didn’t rise much so wondering if I made a mistake
Using active dry should be fine because it’s mixed with water first to activate it. The flour is the food that the yeast eats so it doesn’t need sugar. (You can use sugar as a test if your yeast is alive though!). It doesn’t have much yeast in this recipe so it won’t rise much until it hits the oven.
My oven will not go over 425 . I put the stone in 45 minutes before baking. I have a very clean oven, careful not to drop ingredients on to the stone and window opened ( I live in southern CA so that’s possible.) Issue is the crust, isn’t crusty enough after 8 minutes. If I leave it in longer the cheese starts to brown. If I try a higher temp the alarm goes off. my dog goes crazy and the neighbors know when I’m making pizza. How I solved this is I pull the pizza out after 5 minutes then put toppings on. It works, I guess. Friends and family say its good but wish I didn’t have to do that extra step.
That’s reasonable. I sometimes put fresh mozzarella on late so that it doesn’t melt too much. Just top with your sauce and toppings and then add the cheese later on.
Another method can be the “frying pan” method. It’s one of my best ways to cook pizza – give it a Google. Makes a more Neapolitan style pizza.
A friend gave me a jar of bread machine instant yeast. Can I use this instead of opening a small packet?
Yes of course. Keep it in the fridge to make it last longer – it should last for months. You can check it’s still alive by mixing in some water and sugar. If it bubbles then it’s still alive.
Hi! I’ve been trying and failing with a few dough recipes, my crust ends up hard and stiff. I think your suggestions of not using a roller, mixing much less, and a longer ferment should help, so I’m going to try your recipe very soon. Do you have any suggestions about using all purpose flour instead of bread/pizza flour? Can the recipe be used as is, or modified… or is the bread flour crucial to success?
Hi Michelle. All those things you mentioned should help – and also make sure the dough is wet enough. A dry dough makes a tough crust as a wetter dough can rise better and become more airy. This recipe has good quantities and try not use too much extra flour when kneading. You can use extra flour when you are stretching it though. All purpose flour should be fine – just make sure it’s got a decent amount of protein in it as this forms the stretchy gluten network.
Thank you! I tried it today and it turned out great! I was definitely kneading WAY too much before. But using this recipe and stretching the dough rather than rolling (which was actually possible because the dough was made correctly this time) worked really well, thank you so much for sharing!
Awesome 🙂 glad it worked out well
Greatly appreciate your site and posts. Followed a slightly different set of instructions from your hydration and autolyse post and was pretty happy with the results; likely will try this set next. One question: every dough recipe I have read online is for two or more pizzas. Though many speak of potential to freeze some dough, none explains why they don’t discuss making just enough for one pizza. Can you address? Thank you!
Hi Jim. I think its because making dough for 2 is the same effort as making dough for 1. And also many people cook for couples. Home ovens often can’t make pizza large enough, so you need a pizza each. If you want to make dough for 1 ball then just divide it by half and it will work just fine 🙂 Really glad you are finding the website helpful.
Hi, I seem to have a bit of a problem with my dough balls. The bulking process is fine then I roll them into 250g balls and that goes well but.. when I open the proving tray lid the balls have often spread and lay flat, like they’ve collapsed. What causes this please!? I normally bulk for 22 hrs and leave balled for 2hrs. My recipe normally consists of 1kg 00 flour, 630g water, 30g salt 0.5 to 1 g of IDY. Normally leave at Room Temp
Hi Jamie. So when you mix the dough it forms gluten which gets tight and holds the ball together. The fermentation process has the yeast consume the flour and this breaks down the structure, and the gluten “strength” degrades over time. Your problem is that you are using 0.1% yeast and then leaving it at room temperature – the dough will last about 8 hours before it gets too weak this way. You should try bulk fermentation in the fridge to slow down the fermentation or using even less yeast. Check out this article I did on the yeast amount, it has a table to compare yeast amounts and “lifetime” of the dough – https://www.crustkingdom.com/how-much-yeast-in-pizza-dough/
Hi do you have an Instagram page we can follow? Loads of good stuff on this page. Thank you
Hi Jamie. I don’t have a page yet but I am thinking about it – what kind of posts would you like to see on there?
Tom, Just happened across your site. Having been a gluten free baker for almost nine years and fighting successfully within that medium, I’m happy to have recently found a lower protein flour that does not affect us. Working with wheat flour is such a breeze compared to gluten free, pure starch baking.
And, being that pizza is the worlds most perfect three-meals-a-day-hot-or-cold food, I’m very anxious to give this recipe a go. However, I’ll first lay down a thin sprinkle of corn meal on the pan/steel/stone, then place the pizza dough on that. Happy New Year!
Dave
Good luck! – let me know how it goes?
This is the first pizza dough recipe that has turned out beautifully for me! Thank you so very much for sharing your recipe & tips. I was also wondering if this recipe could be adapted to make a sourdough version.
you sir are a pizza scientist and therefor my best friend.
🙂
Hi!
Can I use this recipe with my bread machine? If so how long do I let it ride when it’s done in the maker.
Thank you.
Hi Maggie – yes you should be able to, but I would suggest using the mixer option for a few minutes and then letting the dough rise in a cool temperature. Bread mixers can add heat which speeds up the fermentation which isn’t ideal for flavor. Worth having some experimentation.
I have used this recipes 3-4 times now and have had great success using Shepherds Grain Hi Gluten Flour and my kitchen aid mixer. Usually make 4 dough balls at a time, great dough for same day use but the flavor is more developed after 24-48 hours. Puffs up beautifully in my Bertoli propane pizza oven at 700 degrees! Light but crunchy dough makes this a keeper!
Nice one Megan! Thank you.
Hi Tom, I’m planning to make this dough this weekend with my new pizza stone. My biggest issue when making pizza before is that it sticks to the surface when I am arranging my toppings, this then tears when I am moving it onto the stone (I don’t have a peel). Do you have any advice for preventing this?
Also, would this dough work for a calzone? If not, how could I change it?
Hi Matt. I would check out Amazon for a low cost pizza peel – some recommendations on my product recommendation article on this site. Alas, without one… use a mixture of 50% flour and 50% semolina, this makes a nice slippery mixture that avoids the pizza sticking. Also make sure the pizza dough ball is coated well in flour before shaping. Another trick is to make the pizza on baking parchment and then just drop this onto the pizza stone directly. You can remove the parchment halfway through baking to crisp the base up.
That sounds like great advice, I will see at the weekend!
Would this dough work for a calzone?
yes!
I just tried this recipe and it didn’t work for me at all. I actually just threw out the dough. I used the provided bakers formula, with oil, and I let my dough ferment for just about 48 hours in the fridge. I’m wondering if it failed because I used all purpose flour instead of bread flour? when I went to roll out my dough before baking the dough was beyond sticky while also being lumpy. It tore easily while I was trying to work the lumps out.
I’m not totally sure what went wrong.
The lumps sound odd to me – make sure everything is well incorporated before it rests. Try and rest for a little less – 24 hours is just fine for great taste. It gets weaker with age, so at 48 hours it is nearing its limit. And use lots of flour when stretching or rolling it. That will avoid it being very sticky.
throwing it all away makes me sad; my experiance with bread doughs over the years is that you can always make something edible from it… (except the time I tried to make my own starter from yeast in the air, and then the dough wouldn’t rise, and I let the dough sit for days in a warm place hoping it would start, and then it kind of did, but then the loaf was dense and sooo sour it was literally inedible… but even then the chickens loved it…). So if that had been me with the lumpy wet dough, assuming the yeast was alive, I would have either
a) re-kneaded it on a well floured board for a while, to smooth out the lumps and kept kneading in more flour to make it less sticky and more a standard bread dough, then proofed it in a warm spot to let it rise again, then assuming it rose, shaped it into a rustic loaf or boule and baked it as bread.
b) Equally you could have kept it wet, used dough hooks or a lot of stretch and fold, to blend out the lumps, rested it, oiled it then spread it out flat and thin in a baking pan, following instructions for a focaccia style bread, or
c) as with blending lumps, then followed instructions for shaping a ciabatta (which is a great loaf style for a wet dough)
d) If the yeast was dead/you see only a little rise, i might have kneaded in more flour to make it handlable (which would also knead out the lumps) and made Chapati/Roti with it. If yeast even a bit alive, its a good opportunity to experiment with making Pita bread! I totally encourage everyone to get familiar with simple flat breads that are so fundamental to grain based cultures over the millenia! – good to know how (for quick snacks and meals) and a great fallback in a situation like this
It just feels like some kind of blasphemy to throw out bread dough! 🙂 Maybe bread is my new religion!!
Good luck next time!
Hello – it was just by chance I found you online. Last night I made pizza with dough I made and put in the freezer. It was sticky and easy to work with. I am going to try your recipe because I’m always looking for improvements. My pizza making has improved but not perfect. Can you tell me what sauce you use and does it matter what order I add vegetables and cheese. We only use vegetables, no meat. Thank you for any suggestions you might have.
For the sauce I use the best quality whole plum tomatoes in a can. Blend it until smooth and add some salt and oregano to taste. You can reduce it down in a saucepan for a thicker sauce but usually not needed. I would add cheese and then any toppings after.
Tom. Great recipe and directions for small batch. It confirms my sense that Neapolitan pizza uses minimal yeast, which I found out the hard way after using too much in my attempts and finding the dough didn’t rise in the oven (too weak).
Two questions. All of the Naples dough videos I have watched show kneading for 15-20 mins. Yours says only one minute. Why the difference?
Second, you discuss “rolling” the dough but no discussion of gently pressing the dough and air outward to form a 1-2 cm crust around the circumference, then stretching. As in a classic Neapolitan pizza. Is there a reason?
Thanks James.
Kneading is quite important for bread, to build up a strong gluten network to allow it to rise and hold on to gases and also hold its loaf shape. With pizza, I have found that you just don’t need that structure. I also rest the dough for 20 mins before kneading it – this allows some gluten to form and then a few folds aligns that gluten up to become just strong enough.
As for rolling vs stretching. Both are good methods – of course for the Neapolitan you want to press the dough from the center to the outside. This pushes air to the crust and you can get a really nice big puffy crust. Rolling is best for thin crust. I plan to put some more recipes for different pizzas when I have the time – just went simple on this one!
Thanks for the explanation. Just made your recipe. In paragraph 5, when you say “coat” the dough, are you talking about flour or oil?
Secondly, for the fermentation after splitting the dough, is it EITHER 2-6 hours at room temp or 24-48 hrs in fridge? Can one start the fermentation at room temp for, say, two hours (to get it going) and then return it to the fridge for the rest of the 24?
Yeah oil to coat – just makes it easier to work with.
and for the fermentation, yes you can absolutely do that. Think of it as all relative, so a dough ball left out for 4 hours is starting to get weak, but you can place in the fridge to keep its life a bit longer.
Hi tom-
I am going to try this recipe over the weekend. I’ve always used more yeast, and have gotten so – so results! It’s exciting when someone like you really explains the science behind baking.
I am wondering if I can make bread with the second dough ball, if it will rise enough? Either Italian stick or flat in a pan? I love multi-purpose doughs, since I’m lazy.
Take care, Michael
Hi Michael, yes you can make bread with this. Bread benefits from a bit more kneading to build a stronger structure to hold it up. But generally, it does make some nice bread rolls.
Hello Tom-
Thanks for the wealth of information.
And this though we used to make bread? My want is to make a pizza with one bowl and an Italian style bread with the other. Any chance of this? Take care, MICHAEL L
Sorry, I use voice recognition, which doesn’t understand my Brooklyn accent.
Can I make good bread with this dough, or would I have to modify it?
Can it be multipurpose?
Thanks, Michael L
It can make bread for sure. The key thing with bread is that it needs volume from the rise. So just make sure you give it enough time. Knead this dough for a little longer so it passes the “window pane” test. That should give it the strength to rise and keep its shape better.
I did not get a very good oven spring and my cornicone had a closed crumb with not many airy pockets. I’m trying to achieve a very airy, light crust. Perhaps my yeast is old for a recipe with this little amount of yeast. I did a side by side comparison recipe with .66% yeast and it worked fine though. Might try doubling the yeast or adding a bit of sugar to achieve more of a rise. FWIW I bulk fermented overnight in the fridge, then let it proof a bit more on the counter in the morning starting around 10am. At noon I cut up into two balls and took out all the air. Let if proof for like 8 more hours. So maybe I proofed for too long since I wasn’t seeing any fermentation activity I typically see in my dough balls and these just won’t look like the same as recipes that call for closer to 1% yeast? Dough was certainly tasty though.
This dough recipe should give you a nice airy crust if prepared and cooked well.
At a guess I would put it down to two things: either your oven was not hot enough or you over proofed. At 8 hours at room temperature after the fridge, that does seem a bit too long unless your room is cold. This dough doesn’t rise too much – the magic all happens in the oven.
Make sure your oven and cook surface are very hot (pizza steel/stone, or oven deck). Also when you stretch it, push the gas to the rim with your finger tips and that gives a larger crust. Good luck!
Thanks Tom. My dough gets sticky when I try to knead it. The more I knead the stickier it gets. What am I doing wrong?
The dough should go from dry flour, to sticky wet paste when mixed with water. Then after letting it rest for 20-30 minutes, the flour absorbs the water and is much less sticky. It only needs a few minutes of kneading next, and should feel very smooth. If you keep kneading past this stage it does get a bit more sticky. I recommend trying the rest period and then not kneading too much after!
Hello Tom.
I have just found this site and I am really looking forward to trying your method and like many of the other’s posting here I was amazed at how small a quantity of yeast was needed. I am used to making pizza dough with far more.
I use the pan method for cooking as my oven does not get nearly as hot as is needed to make a nice crust. I simply turn out the dough into a frying pan and cook on a medium/high heat until the base is nice and crispy then after adding the topping I grill under a high grill. Would it be better if I kept the base quite thick for this? Or would it work just as well if I rolled it out thin?
Thank you.
That is a great method of cooking pizza. I would try true Neapolitan style and push the gas outwards to the crust. Then stretch by hand until nice and even – still try and get it thin. You get a lovely light and poofy rim when cooked fast under the grill.
Thank you Tom for your answer and if I may can I ask a few further questions?
Is there such a thing as no knead dough? I would love there to be so as I hate the mess. I will do as you say and for the first time ever leave the dough for twenty-five minutes before a brief knead and hope to be pleasantly surprised at how easy it is to knead. Fingers crossed.
But if it still remains sticky and messy will leaving it to sit longer take away the need to knead it?
Also you say adding flour to it when it is sticky can make the base when cooked quite dense but how else can you handle it when sticky without dusting it down? If I keep adding olive oil it is easier to handle but does this ultimately affect the taste?
Thank You.
Hey sorry for the delay.
Yes there no knead dough – check out Jim Lahey’s book/recipe online. You can basically use my dough as a no knead dough. You still have to mix the ingredients together though which is the messy bit!
And regarding the flour – you can still use enough flour so that it does not become sticky. Just don’t incorporate loads into the dough. You can add quite a bit of olive oil to the dough, it will make it more soft however.
I have heard so many people usually pizza making connoisseur’s eschew the whole notion of rolling the dough out but for an amateur like me it is so much easier to make a thin base. Do you think it alters in anyway the finished cooked crust?
I prefer my pizza’s slightly thicker but my garlic bread quite thin. I plan to cook both a pan pizza and a thinner crust garlic bread this weekend and was going to roll the garlic bread crust very thin. Will it have any effect on the taste?
I don’t mind rolling the dough out – it makes a different style of pizza. But both styles are still good!
Just tried to make this an sadly it was a disaster. I followed the baker’s ratio to the letter but somewhere in the process I must have done something wrong.
I went for the twenty four hour slow fermentation in the fridge but when I turned it out it was still quite sticky and hard to form into a circle. I was conscious of not adding too much flour and persisted and eventually got it to the shape and dimension I required.
In the oven it did not rise at all instead it remained perfectly flat. I think if I had continued cooking it would have become more like a biscuit than a pizza. It was very doughy to the taste and heavy.
What do you think I did wrong?
Is your yeast old? It sounds like it is dead. Add some to a bowl of warm water and sugar. If it bubbles after 10 minutes then it is still alive. Otherwise buy some more yeast!
You say add salt to water then dissolve ghen add yeast. I thiught salt kills the yeast and instead you should use sugar not salt.
And it doesnt talk about the autolyse in debts for a 1000g flour and step by step process.
Info here is pretty ordinary not technical.
Salt only kills yeast after an extended period – not if you mix it straight away. The autolyse period is the rest of 25 minutes.
You’re a saint for taking & answering so many Q’s on this post, & for so long after the post was made! Hope you’re still keeping an eye on the thread. My Q has to do with elevation. I put myself thru college etc. as a Neapolitan-style pizza chef & fell in love with the whole process of making & working with dough. But hat was forever ago & at much lower elevation than where I currently live. As I’m about to get back into it, I’ve heard a lot of horror stories about baking (in general) at elevation. Got any advice or tips for someone trying to achieve perfect crust at over 9,000 above sea level? Thanks!
Hi Andy. I am still keeping an eye! Good to see you are getting back into pizza. I haven’t actually had to bake at elevation.. I’ve seen some videos of people baking outside in a ski resort though – and it looked great so I am sure you can find a way. This article I found had some tips on the adjustments to make, and I guess just some trial and error from there. https://www.wheatmontana.com/content/high-altitude-baking-how-make-your-recipes-work-mountains
Hi Tom,
Is there an optimum temperature for the fridge to get the best fermentation and rise?
Hi Paul – I think that doesn’t matter too much. As long as it’s not too warm and doesn’t speed up the fermentation – you will know if it’s too warm because it will get weak and floppy.
Trying this recipe now. Have put in too much yeast by mistake ( perhaps my scales do not do fractions of grams…). But really excited. I’m starting to experiment with different flours. This one is 00 with 11.5 protein.
Hi Tom. Are there any kitchen scales you can recommend can accurately measure the ingredients you recommended in your recipe?
Yes – search on Amazon for ‘scales 0.01g’ and that should give you results of scales that measure in that precision of 0.01g. They usually only got up as far as 500g though.
Alternatively – measure 1g and split this into 3 equal parts for 0.33g
I followed the recipe exactly and let the dough balls rise in the fridge for 24 hours. The dough is much moister than I am accustomed to so it took some different handling, but I found that with this recipe the dough was much easier to stretch out (I stretched it on a floured granite counter top and let it rest in the stretched position for 5 minutes before transferring to the peel) and make thin. I transferred the dough to a peel after putting plentiful amounts of coarse corn meal on the peel and then baked in a 4-burner gas grill set on the highest heat (the thermometer was pegged at 750F, i.e. off-the-scale hot) with a pizza stone and a reflective pan on the top rack (oven was pre-heated for ~30 minutes). The pizzas took about 2.5 – 3 minutes to bake and the results were extraordinary! Excellent crispy, chewy crust compatible with a range of toppings. This is my new go-to recipe for dough!
Hi, recipe is class and very clear. The only bit I’m struggling with is after the 25 minute rest my dough doesn’t become smooth… I have to them reshape it into a ball at it smoothens out. Is there something im missing from this step?
Thanks!
Did you give it a quick knead after the 25 min rest? The gluten should tighten up and get smooth after a few kneads. It doesn’t really matter as long as the balls turn out nice and tight in the end.
Ahh okay, thanks for coming back to me mate. I think I assumed it would smooth before kneading but that makes sense!
Cheers
Hello! I know this may be sacrilege to expert pizza makers, but can I make this dough using the dough setting on my bread machine? I apologize if this was already asked. Thanks!
Yes you can – it will just do the kneading part for you and then you ball it up yourself.
What size Pizza does each ball make? 30 cm?
It depends on how thinly you stretch it. A thin crust/NY style will be about 30cm/12inches – smaller if you make a big crust.
This is an amazing amazing amazing pizza dough recipe. I now use this one exclusively. It’s yummy , easy to make and my pizzas are ready in 5 mins or less, as per the instructions. I LOVE this dough.
Can this dough be used to make a loaf of bread in a Dutch oven?
Thanks Annie.
You can do it but it’s a slow-moving dough so will take quite a long time (all day) to fully proof to the volume a bread needs – try upping the yeast to 0.4-0.6%. Bread also needs a bit more gluten development from kneading or folding, which gives better structure.
Tom,
Thanks so much for posting this recipe. It works so much better than bread dough ratios for pizza crust. It is far easier to work/stretch the dough. I make it just like your instructions state, and the taste and workability of the dough are superior to others I have tried.
After a couple years off the dairy products- your dough recipe, Marcella Hazan and lactase pills have revolutionized my pizza intake.
Thanks,
ND
Hi Tom-
Thanks for the work that you do. We just finished building a wood fired pizza oven and have made about a dozen pizzas on three different days. All I can say is that there is a lot to learn, but I can see it as an obsessive hobby on the horizon.
Our oven will peak at about 450C in the dome for a while then stabilize at about 350C, and the floor will run at about 200-250C – as long as I keep feeding logs into the dragon’s mouth.
The goal is super thin pizza that is crunchy on the outside and tender/chewy on the inside. A couple of them have turned out decent at best, but most have disappointed because of a soggy middle.
Most of the recipes I’ve found call for 5-10x the yeast as yours, and some have risen to the point where they have the texture of soft sponges. So I backed off to around 55-60% hydration and the dough would not relax enough to form decent pies.
I’ve tried both a 24 hour and a 6 hour ferment, with not much of a difference. I even tried parbaking a few crusts before topping them, but it seems like cheating.
Other than backing way off on the yeast, what adjustments would you make for a high heat oven?
Also, your comments section is really helpful, a great source of minute bits of information
Hi Mike,
I would say keep practicing your stretching so you can get the base very thin and even. This should avoid a soggy middle as it cooks quicker. Dropping hydration slightly, as you mentioned, is good for hot ovens. Different flours can absorb different amounts of water so might need some testing. Also don’t drench the pizza in sauce and toppings. Overall, a hot oven cooks faster so it doesn’t dry the pizza out so much – a Neapolitan pizza will always be wetter than a NY style as a NY dries out in its longer cooking time. Hope that helps!
Hello again Tom,
I sent another email, but I think there may be a site issue because I see that you respond so consistently.
My question is how to get my top cornicone brown. I use very close to your recipe, but with a bit of sugar. My stone temp is 520°F. I use a screen for most of the baking, only the last 30 seconds is off the stone. The bottom is nicely charred but the top is white and black, sometimes the bottom skips brown and goes to leopard spots. How may I get a browner top and avoid the black because people here say it’s burnt?
Thanks for all you do in the kingdom.
Best,
Justin
Hi Justin, sorry for the delay in getting back to you.
It sounds like the bottom is cooking faster than the top. Try and move the stone up or down on the oven racks – sometimes it is too close to the bottom. Personally use it about 2/3 the way up, but I know ovens vary. You should be able to cook it long enough so all the crust browns and will actually burn faster than the bottom. The added sugar might be carmelizing in the dough so try leaving that out too – the flour has enough sugar to brown nicely – try fermenting it for 24 hours if you haven’t already as this brings out the color.
all the best
Tom
Hi there!
It’s rare to find a straightforward recipe which ticks so many of the finest points of pizza dough making.
Congratulations on making it so accessible!
Thanks Dave
Hi Tom…I always bake with whole wheat flour (when I’m not making non gluten types) Do you think this recipe will work for this if I use 2/3 cup for every cup (which I’ve always read is the thing to do.) I guess I could also use a little more h20 than recommended. What are your thoughts? Thanks so much for your time compiling this, Jamie
Sorry for the late reply! Yes, you can absolutely play with the wholewheat percentage – just gets a little denser the more you add. Can start with 20% and move up to your liking. And wholewheat can take a little more water as you mention.
Hi Tom, Great website and advice. I have a question about the type of yeast. Here in UK supermarkets we have access to Allinsons Dried Active yeast (compressed yeast from which the moisture has been removed and needs to be reactivated with water before use) and Allinsons Easy Bake yeast (which describes itself as an alternative to any recipe needing “instant” yeast). Would you recommend one over the other and would the yeast quantity need adjusting? Thanks
Hi Dev. I am from the UK – I use Allinsons Easy Bake (instant) and had great results for years. You can use the Active one too, I don’t think I have seen much difference but I’ve read that it can contain more dead yeast cells. I made this dough recipe so you dissolve the yeast in the water first so it doesn’t matter which one you use. Also, put the Allinsons jar in the fridge after opening and it will last for months!
Thanks for your reply. I tried it out over the weekend and the pizza turned out great. Only issue was the dough ball did not hold their shape in the fridge overnight (I kept them in there for 12 hours) and were very sticky when trying to stretch/roll the dough. Any tips to avoid this the next time?
Sorry for the late reply. They will relax out a bit and that’s normal. Make sure to use lots of flour when shaping to avoid becoming sticky.
Hi Tom – Looking forward to trying this dough recipe tomorrow on my Roccbox. After kneading the dough for 1 minute your instructions say to add a light coat of oil and then cover it air tight. Does this mean just adding the dough to an air tight container or do you suggest covering the dough with plastic wrap inside the bowl?
Just in an airtight container is fine – the oil helps the dough come out easily. Enjoy!
Hi Tom, I’ve been making pizza at home for years and just couldn’t get the nice tasting crust I wanted. Even though everyone raves about my pizza, I wasn’t quite satisfied. So I tried your recipe. Having a lot of experience in the kitchen, I followed the directions to a T. Problem is, the dough did not rise. I tested my yeast with your method and it is good. I used 00 flour and used a thermometer to make sure the water was 95 degrees. What happened??
Hi Donna, the recipe uses a very small amount of yeast so it doesn’t rise that much when resting. It will rise in the oven when it cooks though!
Thanks Tom. I finally made a decent pizza dough. Actually the best yet with this recipe.
Great recipient! Thank you!
To comment on an earlier comment:
Your assertion of 218ml of water is 218g is correct plus or minus 1 g or so. If the measurement needs to be that precise, one has to take into account altitude as well for the density of water changes with altitude as well. For me at sea level, the relation is spot on. For those much above sea level, this may be a consideration
Yes, this works brilliantly! I was amazed how little yeast was needed to proof overnight. I’ve made pizzas for years but this has to be one of the best ones yet. Better than the high-end local Italian joint near me with white table clothes and waiters in suits, not joking. Just a cracker of a pizza. Will try a dusting of semolina on the base next time. Cheers Tom, this made my day!
Nice one Robert!
I have been searching for the perfect homemade pizza dough for years and have finally found it here. So thank you.
But one question, my dough balls don’t hold their shape for the second longer proof and tend to flatten out. Any ideas why?
This is the gluten in the dough that naturally relaxes over time – and fairly normal to see. It happens faster when warm, so ideally only hold your dough balls at room temperature for a few hours. Gluten gets strength when the dough is folded on itself, so make sure to do this a few times when balling up. Salt also gives the dough strength, as well as a bread flour with more protein in it (12% +).
When divided what is the number of grams for each ball of dough? Is this for 2 – 12 inch crusts?
Thank you for the great instructions for freezing and thawing. I will take the dough out of the the freezer in the morning for a supper meal. I look forward to making this for the freezer as part of my weekly meal prep.
About 275g each for a 12inch
My third year making dough for my Ooni Karu. I’ve been through a half dozen recipes for long-ferments. This is my hands down new favorite.
Easy to make. Totally hand made. Simplest of ingredients.
I use Italian 00 four & yeast and let the dough cold-ferment for 72 hours. My pies fire at 900°F in a minute or so. Great crust. Crispy, chewy, airy, tasty.
Dough stretches, tosses nicely and stands up to multiple toppings.
Really adds to the pizza experience.
Spent three pizze filled years in Napoli. Pizza & pasta were a whole new thing when I moved back stateside. This is closest to the pies I knew in Italy. The quest will never really end.
Thanks for sharing.
Awesome – thanks for your comment 🙂
Hi, Tom. I’m relatively new to pizza making and I’m struggling with my dough. I’m going to give your recipe a spin. Quick question: I’m baking in an Ooni pizza oven. Stone temp hits 850 degrees, versus my home oven of 550. Should I lower the hydration to 60% with the hotter oven?
Thank you.
You can lower it if you find it difficult to work with a higher hydration. Just needs enough time to “set” in the pizza oven before you spin it and high hydrations can be prone to tearing.
I normally stay away from home made dough as the recipes I’ve tried always had an odd taste. I wanted to try again as shop bought dough I find is the same as the other recipes I’ve tried.
I came upon this one when searching about making dough in advance. This recipe was wonderful and was so delicious. This will be my go to from now on
That is quite a lot of kneading.
Hi Tom,
Looking for a recipe to make 12″ Pies that I can then multiply for as many pies as I need. What size does this recipe make after stretched? Is there a calculation from weight of dough ball to pie diameter?
Hi Larry. This makes 12-inch pies if you stretch them like a typical thin crust/NY style pizza and a bit smaller if you are making a thicker crust Neapolitan. Check this thread out for some size guides with dough balls – https://community.fornobravo.com/forum/pizza-quest-with-peter-reinhart/pizza/12791-weight-of-pizza-dough-balls
Excellent dough recipe! Just had a pizza making party with about 18 people children and adults all making their own personal pizza. With a standard kitchen aid and dough hook we made 8 batches(7 would have been plenty). Played with the hydration a little bit and did 3 large pinches of yeast since my house is on the cooler side and only 6 hours of rise. Got to Test 3 different baking styles, too. A pizza steel in regular oven, a ninja air fryer using the wire mesh thing and a lodge pizza steel in a gas grill. All turned out great pizzas. The biggest difference was the gas grill would cook the pizza in 5 minutes and the bottom was well done with the top just about perfect and the other two methods took about 10-12 minutes. We rolled the dough out and put it on parchment paper for easier transferring on and off the pizza peel and into the wire mesh of the ninja. Anyway, thanks for the recipe it was a real hit!
That’s great Julius! Thanks.
Hi Tom – Thank you for all your insight! I recently started baking bread and wondering what adjustments to make to this pizza dough recipe if I was to use a soughdough starter?
Hi Ron. Obviously drop the yeast as the starter will act as the “slow moving” fermenting agent in the dough instead. You don’t need much volume in the dough, like you do in a bread dough, but the fermentation adds flavor so you can play around with the length you leave it. I’ll have to add a sourdough starter pizza recipe to the site!
Hello Tom— I’ve made a total of 5 pizzas using this recipe. Initially for me, it was so counterintuitive to use just a pinch of yeast but I stayed the course and followed all instructions. The dough was really difficult to handle due to the wetness but still managed —-and the pizzas came out great. I got better with each pizza. Then I ran into a snag that’s why I have a question about freezing.
I froze a dough ball after pushing out air. I continued to follow your instructions—-after removing from freezer I kept in fridge for a day to defrost and then removed.
Instead of leaving as such, I kneaded it for few mins, then made a tight ball, then left for 2 hrs on counter. It was really easy to handle unlike other five.
But—-this was the only pizza that did NOT rise in oven. There were a few bubbles in outer edge, but mostly dense cooked dough. I did everything exactly same as other 5 pizzas.
The taste of dough was delicious, but didn’t rise and was very
dense!
Do you think the freezing killed the dough or the extra kneading? Look forward to your response.
I’m still waiting for the video you promised….
Hey – glad you have enjoyed using this recipe!
Freezing can sometimes damage the yeast cells, so the dough isn’t always as good as fresh dough. I would not re-knead the dough as you did, but rather freeze the dough after its been balled, then use it once it has thawed (without kneading/shaping again). The thawed dough doesn’t have as much energy as a fresh dough, so handling it too much means it won’t rise fully. If you haven’t already, check out the freezing post – https://www.crustkingdom.com/how-to-freeze-pizza-dough
Tom
Thank you Tom, I just found the post w/ your response—it looks like a browser issue to me. I found it when I used Google Chrome on my laptop and searched on this page w/ Chrome. I still cant see it on the iPAD.
Anyways, lets get back to the important item —Pizza! I also looked through the freezing post. So Im going to add a couple of extra pinches of yeast when I make dough for freezing, and will avoid manhandling the dough after its been defrosted.
I made another batch for 2 pizzas yesterday w/ 400g flour, 275g water (~69% hydration). The taste was awesome, dough rose beautifully—so spongy and mosut and light….
BUT it was such a PROBLEM to gently stretch into a pie, to get from counter to peel, then from peel to steel. It got stuck at every step. Ive had this happen almost every time Ive made the pizza. I guess I will just have to get better w/ more experience. The 66% hydration was more managable but drier and tougher to eat. Thank you again Tom for sharing your recipes and tips.
Yeah definitely takes some practice with higher-hydration doughs. Get yourself a dough scraper if you don’t have one already – they are really useful!