The Only Pizza Dough You'll Ever Need
A little yeast, flour and olive oil is all it takes to make the best homemade pizza dough you'll ever need.
Servings 4 people
Equipment
- Kitchen scale - Important for this recipe to turn out perfect every time
- "00" Flour - worth the extra effort to keep "00" flour on hand in your pantry
- Pizza stone
Ingredients
- 153 grams "00" Flour If you absolutely do not have "00" in your pantry you can make this with all-purpose flour. Just be sure to order some before your next go of it. It makes a noticeable difference in texture and taste.
- 153 grams all-purpose flour
- 8 grams sea salt
- 2 grams active dry yeast
- 4 grams extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Begin making this dough 3-4 hours before you want to eat a pizza.
- Combine flours and salt in a large mixing bowl.
- In a separate mixing bowl, stir together 200 grams of lukewarm (110° - 114°) tap water, the yeast and the olive oil. The water temperature does matter here. Too hot and you will kill the yeast. Too cold and you will not get the yeast to react. Then pour the yeast mixture into flour mixture. Knead, in the bowl, with your hands until well combined, approximately 3 minutes. It'll be a slightly sticky.(Tip: I use a deep 12 qt Cambro serving container for this job because it's easy to get my hand around the dough. But any large mixing bowl will do the trick.) The kneaded dough will be a bit sticky. Let the mixture rest for 15 minutes.
- After the 15 minute rest, knead the dough for another 3 minutes. It should look smooth and be strong. Cut (not ripping or tearing) dough into 2 equal pieces and shape each into a ball with your hands. Place on a heavily floured surface and cover with dampened cloth. A dampened cloth should help prevent or lessen a crust that wants to form on the rising dough. Let dough rest and rise for 3 to 4 hours at room temperature or for 8 to 24 hours in the refrigerator. (If you refrigerate the dough, remove it 30 to 45 minutes before you begin to shape it for pizza.)
- When you're ready to make pizza, put a pizza stone or large cast iron skillet in the oven and pre-heat to 500°. About 30 minutes to be sure that your stone or skillet are blazing hot.Place each dough ball on a heavily floured surface or pizza peel and use your fingers to stretch it, then your hands to shape it into rounds.
- Top with pizza sauce and your favorite toppings.
- Slide pizza into the oven and onto the hot pizza stone. Reduce oven temperature to 450° and bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown.