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Simple, 4-Ingredient Homemade Pizza Dough
By Alexandra Stafford
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Last Updated: 11/04/2025
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Made with 4 ingredients — flour, water, salt, and yeast — this simple, no-knead pizza dough recipe can be ready start to finish in 3 hours. It produces a pizza with a ballooned edge and crisp but pliable crust. You can use the dough the same day you mix it or store it in the fridge for up to 5 days (or freeze it!). 🍕🍕
Let’s get straight to it. This is a 4-ingredient, high-hydration, no-knead dough. It is the simplest of the simple homemade pizza recipes and, in my opinion, the tastiest, too. If you have time to prep your dough a few days in advance, you’ll be setting yourself up for serious pizza bliss (read on to learn why) but know that you can make excellent pizza, start to finish, in 3 hours.
The first step to making excellent pizza at home is to get comfortable working with high-hydration pizza doughs. Here’s why:
Why High-Hydration Pizza Dough is Best For a Home Oven
High-hydration doughs, such as this overnight focaccia, are doughs made with a high proportion of water relative to the flour. This high proportion of water creates a pizza crust that stays crisp but moist during the cooking process with beautiful air pockets throughout.
How? Understand this relationship, understand everything:
The lower the oven temperature, the higher the dough hydration. And conversely: The higher the oven temperature, the lower the dough hydration.
A great way to understand this concept is to look at the makeup of a classic Neapolitan-style pizza dough. Neapolitan-style pizza is characterized by a blistered and ballooned outer edge with a soft, thin (and sometimes wet) center. Contrary to what you might expect, Neapolitan-style pizza dough is on the lower end of the hydration spectrum: 60 to 65%.
The reason Neapolitan pizzas emerge light and airy with nearly wet centers is because they cook in 60 to 90 seconds in 900ºF ovens. In this short period of time, very little water evaporates from the dough, which allows it to retain its moisture.
When you bake pizza in a home oven, which can only get up to 550ºF, the baking time is longer, during which time a lot of water will evaporate. If you were to bake a 65% hydration Neapolitan pizza dough in your home oven, you will be left with a dry, tough crust due to all of the moisture loss during the long bake.
So, in sum: to prevent your crust from being dry and tough in a home oven, it needs more water from the start.
Working With High Hydration Dough
Working with high-hydration dough can be tricky, and the best way to deal with it is to handle it gently. During the shaping process — the point at which you are stretching your ball of dough into a 10- to 12-inch round — take care to use a light touch. When you handle the dough minimally, you preserve the bubbles created during the rising. See these bubbles? …
Those bubbles become these ballooned textures throughout the dough:
4 Tips for Making Excellent Pizza at Home
1. Use good, unbleached, and unbromated flour. King Arthur bread or all-purpose flour is my favorite.
What is the difference between bread and all-purpose flour? Mostly the protein content. KAF bread flour has a higher protein content (12.7% protein) than the all-purpose flour (11.7% protein). A dough made with bread flour as opposed to all-purpose flour will absorb slightly more liquid and will therefore be slightly stiffer. If you live in a humid environment and often find your dough to be too wet, using bread flour may help.
What about Tipo 00 Flour? Tipo 00 flour is the flour required in the production of D.O.C. Neapolitan pizza. Contrary to popular belief, the “00” is not an indicator of protein content. It refers, rather, to the fineness of the milling, “00” being the finest grade in the Italian classification system. It is known for the extensible gluten structure it creates in pizza dough. When you use Tipo 00 flour, you may find your dough to be much wetter than when you use bread flour, so you may need to adjust the recipe slightly: use less water or more flour.
While I love using tipo 00 flour (Petra 5063 being my favorite) in my outdoor oven, today I find I get better results — better oven spring and browning — in my home oven when I use bread flour or all-purpose flour, namely KAF, whose flour contains a small amount of malt, which helps with browning.
2. Don’t be afraid of salt.
Salt is important in pizza dough not only for flavor but also for strengthening gluten and controlling fermentation. My preference is Diamond Crystal kosher salt or Baleine fine sea salt, both of which dissolve quickly.
How Much Salt to Use: The rule of thumb with pizza dough is that the weight of the salt should be 2 to 3% the weight of the flour. For this recipe that is 10 to 15 grams. I use 15 grams of salt, and I do not find the dough to be too salty.
Flaky sea salt for finishing. I sprinkle every pizza I bake with Maldon Sea Salt just before it sliding it into the oven.
3. Invest in a Baking Steel.
The single best and easiest/most affordable step you can take to make better pizza at home is to invest in a Baking Steel. In short, steel is a more conductive cooking surface than stone. This means heat transfers more quickly from steel to food than it does from stone to food. Why is this important for pizza? Serious Eats’ Kenji J Lopez Alt offers this explanation:
“How does the baking surface affect hole structure? Well those crust holes develop when air and water vapor trapped inside the dough matrix suddenly expand upon heating in a phenomenon known as oven spring. The faster you can transfer energy to the dough, the bigger those glorious bubbles will be, and the airier and more delicate the crust.”
4. If time permits, make your dough several days in advance.
Why? Because: during a long, slow, cold fermentation, enzymes in both the flour and the yeast will break down the starches in the flour into simple sugars, which will contribute both to flavor and to browning. Moreover, during this time in the fridge, the dough will relax, making it easier to stretch into rounds on baking day.
PS: Simple Sourdough Pizza Crust Recipe
How to Make Pizza Dough, Step by Step
Whisk together flour, salt, and instant yeast (SAF is my preference):
Add water, and …
… mix to form a sticky dough ball:
Let rise in a warm spot till nearly doubled, about 1.5 hours.
Turn out onto a floured work surface.
Divide into four portions and …
… ball up, using as much flour as needed.
If you are baking pizza immediately, let the dough rest for another hour before shaping. Otherwise, transfer the balls to storage containers and stick them in the fridge. These Kevjes Dough Storage Vessels have become my favorite:
When it’s time to bake, transfer the dough rounds to a lidded vessel such as a DoughMate or a 9×13-inch baking dish covered with plastic wrap (to prevent the dough from drying out), and let the rounds sit for about an hour at room temperature.
When the dough has proofed, gently stretch it into an 11-inch round, using lightly floured hands:
Transfer the round to a peel lined with parchment paper.
Get your toppings ready. For a classic Margherita pizza, you’ll need tomato sauce, mozzarella, and fresh basil.
Spread about 2 ounces of tomato sauce over your dough.
Top with about 3 ounces of mozzarella. Drizzle lightly with olive oil and sprinkle with sea salt.
Bake on a preheated Baking Steel at 550ºF for 5 to 6 minutes. Shower with fresh basil out of the oven.
The beauty of the Baking Steel + high hydration dough: oven spring.
Troubleshooting
Why is my pizza dough too wet?
It is possible that given your environment and the type of flour you are using, you are using too much water relative to the amount of flour. The fix is simple: reduce the amount of water. Ideally, you are measuring with a scale, so you can ensure you are measuring accurately and making meaningful adjustments. Try holding back 50 grams of water and seeing if that helps.
That said, please read above about the importance of using a high-hydration pizza dough in a home oven. If your dough, upon being mixed, is unable to form a sticky dough ball, you likely need to reduce the water. Reference the video for dough texture.
Why is my pizza dough soggy?
There are several culprits here:
- too much sauce, cheese, and/or toppings
- oven not hot enough
- too short of a baking time
Solutions:
- Invest in a Baking Steel. Read why above.
- Try laying the cheese on top of the dough; then the sauce. The cheese might provide some insulation from the sauce, thereby preventing the dough from getting soggy.
- Consider employing a parbake: bake your pizza “naked” for one minute; then continue baking for 4 to 5 minutes more once topped.
- Try using semolina on your peel.
- Before stretching your dough ball into a round, slick it lightly in a bit of olive oil.
- Use a lighter hand when topping.
PS: If you’re looking for more pizza-making guidance, check out my New York Times bestselling cookbook, Pizza Night, which includes 52 pizza and 52 salad recipes, one pair for every week of the year, as well as five simple desserts 🍕🍕🍕
Simple, 4-Ingredient Homemade Pizza Dough
- Total Time: 2 hours 35 minutes
- Yield: 4 pizzas 1x
Description
Made with 4 ingredients — flour, water, salt, and yeast — this simple, no-knead pizza dough recipe is a snap to throw together, and you can use the dough the same day you mix it or store it in the fridge for up to 5 days (or freeze it!). If you love pizza with a ballooned edge and crisp but pliable crust, this pizza dough recipe is for you.
**Attention Pizza Fans: My new cookbook, Pizza Night, is here.**
NOTES:
- This recipe yields 4 rounds of dough. The recipe can be halved but know that the dough can be refrigerated for up to five days. I refrigerate individual rounds of dough in Kevjes dough storage containers.
- The dough can be frozen, too. After the first rise and after you transfer the portioned rounds to quart containers, this is your opportunity to freeze. Transfer the quart containers to the freezer for as long as 3 months. To thaw, remove a container (or more) and let thaw in the refrigerator for 1 day or thaw at room temperature for 4 to 8 hours. Then, proceed with the recipe.
Ingredients & Tools
- Measure Accurately: As always, for best results use a scale to measure. I love this Ooni scale for its precision, especially when measuring smaller quantities of salt and yeast.
- Peel: This is my favorite.
- Parchment: These rounds are so handy for making the transition from the peel to the Baking steel or pizza stone.
- Yeast: SAF Instant Yeast is my favorite. If you need to use active dry yeast instead of instant, sprinkle it over the lukewarm water and let it stand for about 10 minutes or until it gets foamy before adding to the other ingredients.
- Warm place to rise: Here’s a trick for making the perfect warm spot for the dough to rise. Turn the oven on and let it preheat for 1 minute; then shut it off. The temperature will be between 80° F and 100° F. you should be able to place your hand on the oven grates without burning them.
- Flour: You can use bread flour and all-purpose flour here but if you live in a humid environment, I would consider using bread flour if you can get your hands on it. If you are in Canada or the UK, also consider using bread flour or consider holding back some of the water (see next paragraph). Reference the video for how the texture of the dough should look; then add water back as needed.
- Water: I find the sweet spot for me to be about 418 grams of water, which is roughly an 82% hydration dough. That said: If you live in a humid environment, if you live abroad, if you are using all-purpose flour or Tipo 00 flour, if you dislike handling wet doughs, consider starting with 400 grams of water, which will lower the hydration to 77%. If the dough feels dry, add water as needed to get it to the right consistency (reference the video).
- Salt: The rule of thumb with pizza dough is that the weight of the salt should be 2 to 3% the weight of the flour. For this recipe that is 10 to 15 grams. I tend to use 12 to 15 grams of salt, and I do not find the dough to be too salty, but I have a high salt tolerance. Use an amount appropriate to your tastes and preferences. Finally, I always use Diamond Crystal kosher salt, but you can use fine sea salt or whatever salt you like.
- Toppings: In the notes below the recipe, find the toppings for a classic Margherita pizza and for a kale, parmesan, and crème fraîche pizza. See above for 6 other favorite pizza recipes.
- Timeline: Make it Tonight: Plan on 3 hours start to finish from when you mix your dough to when you turn out a freshly baked pizza. Make it Tomorrow (and beyond): Method 1: Mix your dough today, let it rise for 1.5 hours (roughly). Portion it into 4 balls; then transfer to the fridge for up to 5 days. When using dough you’ve stored in the refrigerator, remove it one hour prior to baking.
Ingredients
Please Read All Notes Above Before Proceeding
- 4 cups (512 g) bread flour or all-purpose flour, plus more for assembly
- 3 to 4 teaspoons (10 to 15 g) kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon (4 g) instant yeast
- 1.75 to 2 cups (400 to 454 g) lukewarm water
Instructions
- Make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and instant yeast. Add the water. Using a rubber spatula, mix until the water is absorbed and the ingredients form a sticky dough ball. Pour a drop or two of oil over the top and rub with your hands to coat. Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in bulk. (Note: Optional Step: If time permits, 30 minutes after you cover the bowl, perform one set of stretches and folds: grab an edge of the dough using a wet hand and stretch it up and in. Repeat this 8 to 10 times, grabbing a different edge each time. By the end, the dough should transform from shaggy in texture to smooth and cohesive. I find performing a set of stretches and folds gives my dough more strength and ultimately more lightness.)
- Prepare the oven: If you are baking the pizzas right away (as opposed to refrigerating the dough for another day), place a Baking Steel or pizza stone in top third of oven and preheat oven to its hottest setting, 550°F. Be sure the Baking Steel heats for at least 45 minutes once the oven temperature reaches 550ºF.
- Ball up the dough: Cover a work surface or cutting board liberally with flour — the dough is very wet, so don’t hesitate to use flour as needed. Turn the dough out onto your floured surface and use a bench scraper to divide the dough into 4 equal portions. With floured hands, roll each portion into a ball, using the pinkie edges of your hands to pinch the dough underneath each ball. If you are not baking the pizza the same day, transfer each round of dough to a storage container (see notes above), cover, and store in the fridge. (At this point, if you plan on freezing the dough, transfer the vessels to the freezer for up to 3 months. See notes above for thawing.) If you are baking right away, let the balls sit on their tucked-in edges for 30 to 60 minutes without touching in a lidded, lightly floured vessel such as a DoughMate or a 9×13-inch pan covered with plastic wrap.
- Proof the dough: If using refrigerated dough, pull out a pizza round (or as many as you wish) from the fridge 60 to 90 minutes before you plan on baking. Transfer the rounds to a lidded, lightly floured vessel such as a DoughMate or a 9×13-inch pan covered with plastic wrap.
- Make the pizzas: Handling the dough as minimally as possible, shape the dough into a 10″–12″ round. If the dough has proofed sufficiently, you should be able to pick it up and stretch it very easily using the back of your hands. Lay a sheet of parchment paper on a pizza peel, and pour a few drops of oil into the center of it. (Note: the oil is optional. It’s especially helpful if you find shaping dough using the backs of your hands tricky.) Transfer the dough round to the parchment-lined baking peel.
- Top pizza as desired or to make the Margherita pizza: spread 2 ounces of tomato sauce over your pizza dough. Top with 3 ounces of mozzarella. Drizzle with olive oil. Season with a pinch of flaky sea salt. Shimmy the pizza, parchment paper and all into the oven. To make the kale and crème fraîche pizza: Place the kale in a small bowl, drizzle lightly with olive oil, season with sea salt, and toss with your hands till the kale is coated in oil and salt. Spoon crème fraîche over the dough leaving a 1/2-inch border or so—I use 1 to 2 tablespoons per pizza. Sprinkle with the garlic and a handful of the grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Top with the kale.
- Bake the pizza: Shimmy the pizza, parchment paper and all into the oven. Bake the pizza until the top is blistered, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board. Shower basil over the pizza Margherita. Cut and serve. Discard parchment paper.
Notes
Margherita Pizza:
- 2 ounces tomato sauce, such as this one
- 3 ounces fresh mozzarella (if using buffalo mozzarella, drain before using)
- olive oil
- flaky sea salt
- fresh basil
Kale & Creme Fraiche Pizza:
- extra-virgin olive oil
- a couple handfuls of baby kale
- 1 to 2 cloves garlic
- Sea salt, such as Maldon
- 2 tablespoons crème fraîche
- grated Parmigiano Reggiano, about 1/4 to 1/3 cup
- Prep Time: 2 hours 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 5 minutes
- Category: Pizza
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American, Italian
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
824 Comments on “Simple, 4-Ingredient Homemade Pizza Dough”
I made your pizza just now. It was my first hand tossed pizza ever. I let the dough have several days in the fridge. Outstanding. Thank you so much. All your recipes and background discussion are FIRST RATE.
Great to hear, Tim! Thanks so much for writing and sharing this 🙂
Hey, what if my oven doesn’t go that high? Is it possible to bake longer at a lower temp.?
It is! How high does it go? Just preheat it at its hottest setting for at least an hour ideally with a Baking Steel (or pizza stone) on one of the racks.
Thank you for your reply. It goes to 230 Celsius (440 f)
OK, yeah, it may take more like 8-10 minutes.
I make this recipe almost every week and it’s so simple and delicious! Forgot it in the fridge for 48 hours and it was even better
I think 48 hours is the sweet spot! Great to hear. Thanks for writing 🙂
I love your pizza dough recipes and use them exclusively. Thank you!
I was shopping in Birmingham, MI yesterday and found the Pizza Night cookbook on display in a shop that sells less than a dozen titles. Your book was next to Giselle’s – not bad placement!
Sadly, I was unable to buy it as I already have the Kindle and print versions.
Just thought you’d like to know!
P.S. I looked for a place to make entries on the cookbook pages, but there were not any – I am not a social media person, so can’t post there.
Congrats on the amazing book!
Thanks for letting me know, Marie! It’s so nice to hear this. I’ll take a spot next to Giselle any day 🙂 🙂 🙂 Thank you for your kind words 💕💕💕
Hello:
Do you have a recipe for gluten free pizza dough? Could just substitute CUP4CUP for the regular flour in this recipe, and change nothing else? Thanks!
I do! Thin and Crispy Gluten-Free Pizza Crust
I’d follow that recipe and get the specific flour… gf baking is tricky bc it’s not always just a matter of using a 1:1 swap of gluten-free flour (despite how the flours are marketed). All gf flours absorb water a little differently, which is what makes it tricky.
I weighed this out and had soup. It was so wet .
I only put 400 gr of water in it. I had to add 130g more flour to make it workable.
Hi! What kind of flour are you using? Where are you located? Humid environment? The States or abroad?
The best pizza crust I’ve ever made. Your recipes are always winners! I used Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose and dialed the water back to 425g (per your suggestion). My rise was a bit off track but the final crust was light, so many bubbles, and just the right chew without being tough. My new favorite. Started at 10am, split in two and put in fridge for 2, shaped and sat out for 2, and shaped to final pizza while trying to preserve as many of bubbles around the edge as possible. It was a warm summer day and the house was about 75 so no doubt the dough was poofier than it might be in the winter. Anyways, thank you for a professional tasting fancy pizza at home without an overnight rise. I put half in the freezer for next week.
So nice to read all of this Kat!! Thanks so much for writing and sharing all of these notes… so helpful for others (and me!).
I made a double batch of this thinking we might have hungrier tummies than the recipe allowed for. We didn’t need the extra so I followed the instructions for freezing 3 balls of dough and then followed the thawing guide tonight and all I can say is you knocked this whole recipe/guide out of the park! I had a little more time to let the dough relax after I rolled them out and I swear I could have rolled it paper thin if I had wanted – it was sooooo relaxed!!
Thanks again and I can’t wait for your book to arrive now! 🙂
So great to read this Natasha! Thanks so much for writing and sharing your experience. I hope you love Pizza Night!!
Hello there! Can I use a stand mixer to mix the dough instead of doing it with a spoon? How should I go about it? Thanks a lot!
Hi! You can, of course, but it’s not necessary because it’s such a high hydration dough — the dough will come together so easily with a spatula. With the stand mixer, just mix on low speed until the dough comes together and you don’t see any dry spots… shouldn’t take more than 2-3 minutes.
Thanks for these instructions. I have a question about Grandma Pizzas. In your book the recipe says to use one, 525 gram ball and a 12×16 sheet pan. I thought in your Pizza Univ class last night, you used 1 ball in a quarter sheet pan. With the quarter sheet pan there was no need to stretch the dough as it naturally rose and filled the pan. Did I mistake the size of the sheet pan that you used? Thanks for your help!
Hi Betsy! In my class on Thursday I used 525 grams dough for the 12×16 inch pan. I didn’t use any quarter sheet pans. Someone asked a question about using the 525 grams of dough in a quarter sheet pan, and I said that would make it more like the ratio of dough for the Sicilian pizza, which is 1050 grams of dough for the 12×16 inch pan. Hope that helps!
Hi Ali, Thank you for your great recipes and explanations, a lot of your recipes are favourites at our home. I made the dough with Tippo 00 flour and didn`t read the comments, so my dough got very wet. Next time I will change this, Some comments mentioned problems with baking the dough without a pizza stone or baking steel. I don`t have either one, but I preheat my baking tray on the lowest rack at 250°Celsius. I prepare the pizza on parchment paper on my second baking tray and transfer the pizza directly on the hot baking tray. Baking time is 8 to 10 minutes and then I change the tray for one minute to the highest rack. This works great for us.
Greetings Andrea
So nice to read all of this, Andrea — thank you for writing and sharing your process… so helpful for anyone who doesn’t have a stone or a steel.
And yes: 00 flour makes for an especially wet dough. I actually prefer using bread flour in my home oven for the strength it provides — I get better air bubbles and better browning, too. But 00 flour is a beautiful flour and makes a very tender crust. Hope you are able to troubleshoot the water amount to make it work 🙂
I recently bought an OONI indoor/outdoor oven and I am trying out different pizza doughs for it. Have you had tried the Ooni with any of your pizza doughs? The temp can get up higher than a home oven. Any tips or comments would be helpful! Thank you!
Hi! You’ll want to lower the hydration. I like a 70% hydration dough for my outdoor oven, so for this recipe thats roughly 360 grams water. I also like to cook in the 650-750F temperature range, and I cook for 2.5-3 minutes (as opposed to 60 seconds at 900F).
Thank you so much for responding! I will give it a try soon and report back.
Thank you for all the great recipes! I’ve bought the Pizza Night book and i’ve been trying so far the napolitanish pizza which is very similar to the one above with only a few differences (amount of ingredients and timings i think). What would you recommend to use for an Ooni oven?
Ps i make the recommended adjustments for an outdoor oven as explained in the book.
Thanks!
Hi! And thank you for buying my book… means the world 🙂 I would use the Neapolitan-ish recipe in the book made with less water — 385 grams I think… I don’t have my copy in front of me. And I would suggest using the recommendations in the book for outdoor oven cooking: cooking in the 650-750ºF range for 2.5-3 minutes. Let me know if you have other questions!
Thank you! I follow what the book says and it turns out very good! However, when I’m about to work with the dough and create the pizza (after cold and warm proofing), it feels quite sticky and not that flexible as yours so I’m not able to open it nicely. Do you have any suggestions? All the other steps seem to work fine and the result is pretty good but I wonder if it could get better.
Thanks!
Hi! I should have asked this from the start: are you using a scale to measure? And what type of flour are you using? And do you live in a humid environment?
It’s possible the flour you are using isn’t as absorbent as the flour I am using, in which case you should use less water from the start.
Yes, I’m using a scale and Caputo flour. The environment I live in is quite humid but inside the house is average. Do you suggest I use less water?
Thank you!
Yes! Try using even less water than you’ve been using. See if using 25-50 grams less water makes a difference.
I prepared the dough and just put it in the fridge where it’s staying overnight. I plan on making these for dinner tomorrow.
You mention taking it out 60-90 minutes before cooking – but I’ll get home and need to turn dinner around for hungry kids. Can I take them out of the fridge in the morning and leave them at room temp for 9 hours? Or should I just take them out for 20 minutes then prep? Not sure what the “sweet spot” is!
Hieeeee… so sorry just seeing this!! 9 hours will be too long… the dough will overproof and will not have any spring when it bakes. Unfortunately there’s no way to really rush the process though… 20 minutes would be my preference of the two suggested methods. What did you end up doing?
No worries!
My wife ended up working at home so she took it out 2h before bake. It was super fluffy!
My last question – semolina or flour to open it?
Thank you for this. Can’t wait to try the sourdough crust next.
Great to hear! I usually use flour to open, but I do sprinkle my parchment paper with semolina.
I’ve tried several pizza dough recipes and this one is my favorite! Was really busy and skipped the 1.5hr rise before refrigeration and it still turned out great- big bubbles and all. Bob’s Red Mill bread flour and Fleishman’s yeast.
Great to hear! Thanks for writing and sharing your notes 🙂
Thank you so much for such an amazing recipe. I do have one question around oven settings. I have an electric oven and it has a fan setting but also a pizza setting which looks to heat from the top. Is there a particular setting you would recommend or is this down to trial and error?
Hi! Probably it will take some trial and error, but I’d recommend using whatever gets your oven the hottest. Are you using a Baking steel or pizza stone? The pizza setting sounds promising if you are using a steel or stone. I always use convection roast, which I think is more similar to your fan setting, so that could work out well, too 🙂
Thank you so much for your response. I live in Argentina and finding a pizza stone or baking steel is very challenging. I’m planning to buy one when I go to the UK, for now I’m at the mercy of baking tins. Not ideal but all I have!
Amazing recipe! I was skeptical because I didn’t think such an easy recipe could give me restaurant-level results, but it was very very close. The parchment paper idea was a stroke of genius! Did make some adjustments though:
1) added some diastatic malt because I had it on hand
2) my dough seemed to be rising much slower than yours so I proofed it on the countertop 2h before refrigeration, and proofed the dough balls outside for 4h to get results like yours (wonder what could have caused this? I live in a warm humid environment & used bread flour)
Dough was wonderfully crispy and fluffy with excellent oven spring, really good recipe 🙂 Only thing was that there was nearly no browning on the bottom which was quite disappointing, would you recommend finishing it on the stove?
Interesting, I wonder if the diastatic malt slowed down the rise… I’ve never used it so I can’t comment on it. Is your yeast new? Did you use a scale to measure?
Regarding the bottom, are you using a Baking Steel or baking stone?
Thank you for all of your amazing recipes. What are the adjustments if use my BBQ to make the pizza?
Hi! I have a grilled pizza tutorial over here that might be helpful: https://pizzaeveryfriday.substack.com/p/grilled-pizza-a-tutorial?utm_source=publication-search
Are you using a gas or charcoal grill?
Great pizza dough. Couple questions. I am able to spread the dough out by pushing with my fingers, I put the dough on the parchment paper and do that, I cannot lift it up to stretch on my hands, too soft and sticks to paper, any suggestions? I also make 2 pizzas instead of 4, I don’t think I can stretch it that thin. However, wonderful recipe. I sprinkled the Maldon Salt on it, perfect
Hi Debbie! It’s possible you may need to reduce the amount of water… are you using a scale to measure? Do you live in a humid environment? What type of flour are you using?
I love your recipes. My wife & family are shocked I have leaned into baking so much but there’s nothing like fresh bread. I am going to make this pizza dough next. I will try it as is in my oven, but I was curious on your opinion about what kind of dough I should use for an Ooni pizza oven that cooks at 900 F. Based on your notes, I assume I will need something low hydration. I wasn’t sure if I can only adjust the ratio of water to flour in order to get a 60-65% dough, or if I will have to adjust the salt & yeast too. If you could let me know your thoughts it would be grealty appreciated!
Disregard, I just read through other comments and found my answer. I will report back!
Glad you found your answer! And just to recap my thoughts: a 68-70% hydration dough, cooked in the 670-750ºF range, for 2.5-3 minutes is my go-to method. Good luck!
Hands down the best pizza we’ve ever had. I was very skeptical about this recipe because of the two day waiting time in the fridge and it was pretty wet dough, I was scared at first. However, we followed the steps and made 6 pizzas tonight and the results were incredible, we bought pizza metal thing for the oven, so worth it. We bought a pizza paddle, so worth it. We made it two days in advance, put it in the fridge, so worth it. The 550 degree oven warmed up for an hour ahead of time, so worth it. Holy cow this was the best pizza we’ve ever had, no contest. This pizza has ruined every other pizza on Earth, no pizza will ever compare!
Awwww Marissa! This is music to my ears. Thanks so much for writing and taking the time to share all of this. All of the little details matter, and you paid attention to all of them 💕💕💕💕
Amazing! I made this pizza dough and grilled it on my gas grill. A chicken pizza with olives, pesto and bocconcini and another pizza with pesto, shredded mozzarella and roasted veggies. The dough was perfectly blistered and both pizzas tasted better than any restaurant. Another hit!! Thank you.
Great to hear, Laura! Thanks so much for writing and sharing this 🙂
What to do if you don’t have a pizza stone or pizza steel?
Do you have an old sheet pan you don’t care much about?
Hi there,
I just put 7 dough containers in the fridge, it won’t cooked until another 48 hours.
Unfortunately I just read the comments and your response here on lowering the hydration if to be cooked in the outdoor pizza oven. I have the Gozney. I followed your recipe and did 454g water. Will it be ok still? Also it’s going to be a humid day on the day I’m cooking.
Hi! I think you should bake it at a lower temperature: try to get the Gozney to stay between 550ºF-600ºF or so. At the higher temperature it will burn before it is cooked through.
Hello! I really want to use this recipe but as you described there’s a difference in hydration level. I just bought a pizza oven so it does cook at 900. Do you have a recipe for that, or would this recipe still be good to use?
You can use this recipe, but you’ll want to reduce the water considerably. Also, I’d recommend cooking in the 650-750F if you are just getting started with your oven… that temp range is way more forgiving and you’ll still get great results. You’ll want to use a 68-70% hydration dough at that temperature range, so for this recipe, I’d suggest using 350 grams of water. You’ll also want to cook the pizzas for 2.5-3 minutes.
Hi Ally –
I received your Pizza book from a friend for Christmas. I like the look of the pizza on the cover but cannot find the recipe in the book under pepperoni. Would you provide the page number for me?
Thanks!
Hi Sandra! Apologies for the delay here. I was out of town and didn’t have my copy of Pizza Night on me 🙂 The recipe is on page 226: Salami and Red Onion Pizza with Calabrian Chiles and Hot Honey.
I just made this and its amazing!
I made some last night without refrigerating and ones after refrigerating today, and both was great. Thank you for simple and step-by-step recipe it’s so easy to follow.
I hope you will have time to answer as I have one question, I was not able to move dough without parchment paper ( which it was fine with paper) do you think my dough was too watery and needed more flour? Or any other suggestions?
PS I made so many of your recipes and all turned out amazing!
Great to hear, Mina! And thank you for your kind words 🙂
First of all: it is a very high-hydration dough, so having difficulty moving it without parchment paper makes sense. And this is actually what you want for a home-oven pizza dough: because home ovens don’t get much higher than 550ºF, to get good results with this style of pizza, the dough needs to be high hydration. (Conversely, when using an outdoor pizza oven at 800ºF or higher, you need the dough to be much lower hydration… those doughs are way easier to handle.)
Second: are you using a scale to measure? And what type of flour are you using?
I just made this and its amazing!
I made some last night without refrigerating and ones after refrigerating today, and both was great. Thank you for simple and step-by-step recipe it’s so easy to follow.
I hope you will have time to answer as I have one question, I was not able to move dough without parchment paper ( which it was fine with paper) do you think my dough was too watery and needed more flour? Or any other suggestions?
PS I made so many of your recipes and all turned out amazing! Thank you
Hi Mina! I hope you saw my reply to your other comment 🙂
I have to tell you my pizza was perfect. I used bread flour and instant yeast with 2 cups of water and it came out perfect. Thank you so much.
Great to hear, Marlaine! Thanks so much for writing 🙂
What kind of camera lens and lighting do you use for your food photography? Your shots and lighting are so beautiful!
Oh, thank you! I use a Canon 5D Mark III. I share some tips here: https://vector-hatch.live/photography-2/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Hi!
About to make pizza and am wondering if I can make a larger one, with half the dough.
Any tips/thoughts? Size so I can make a parchment round?
Love peasant bread and focaccia recipes – rave reviews from family and friends!!
Hi! Great to hear, Kathy 🙂
Are you planning on baking it on a pizza stone or Baking Steel? You can use large sheets of parchment — Reynolds brands sells larger-size rolls that will cover an entire Baking Steel.
I’ll be using a pizza steel.
OK, great! Yeah, I might use a turned over sheet pan as the “peel” and lay a sheet of large parchment over the top (again, that Reynold brand comes in larger rolls); then assemble your pizza on the sheet pan, and use that to shimmy the pizza onto the Steel. Good luck!
Thanks, Ali!
Excited to try my first pizza in a very long time.
Fun! Good luck 🙂
Great recipe! Heated my thin pizza stone for 1 hour at 500 and got the bubbles on the crust. Baking steel is on my list! Question: only 5 days in fridge for dough? I was away and it is now 9 days, should I try to bake it? Will it just be flatter? Suggestion of what I can do instead of throwing it out? Appreciate you!
Hi! If the dough is smelling fine, use it! Don’t be deterred by gray spots on the surface… that is normal and fine. It’s when it starts smelling really alcoholic that it won’t bake properly. I’ve used dough that has been in the fridge for nearly 2 weeks without issue.
It might be flatter, but it will still be tasty.