Pizza Crust Recipe | Homemade Pizza Dough (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to a good pizza crust? ›

Use warm water to cut down on rise time, about 100-110°F. Anything over 130ºF kills the yeast. Flour: Use unbleached all-purpose white flour in this recipe. Bleaching the flour strips away some of the protein, which will affect how much water the flour absorbs. You can substitute bread flour for a chewier pizza crust.

A 12-inch pizza requires about 255 grams or 285 grams of dough. Additionally, it is helpful to have some idea of the dimensions of your pizza pan. A 12-inch pizza will fit nicely in a 13 x 9-inch baking pan, while a 14-inch pizza will fit in a 15 x 10-inch pan.

If I'm making a Neapolitan-style dough, I do a 24-hour bulk ferment, divide it into doughballs, and them let them cold-ferment for another 48 hours. One rise with long fermentation times is a general rule.

Any pizza dough with a complex flavor has been slow-fermented. All this means is that the yeast it contains has had ample time to eat the simple sugars in the flour. The longer the yeast has had to feast – ideally 24 to 48 hours – the lighter and more flavorful the pizza dough will be.

The secret to a more crispy pizza crust is probably not what you think. You might assume that less water will result in a crispier crust. But you'd be wrong. To achieve a more crispy crust, you'll need to add more water to the dough formula.

A one pound (454g) ball of dough will make a single large pizza or two smaller thin crust pizzas.

This recipe makes 2 pounds of dough, which is enough for two large pizzas, four individual ones, two stromboli, or four calzones. You can make the dough up to two days in advance, and it freezes beautifully, too.

Italian Seasoning

Italian seasoning combines herbs like basil, thyme, chili flakes, garlic powder, rosemary, parsley and oregano. Some blends also incorporate dried sage or fennel seeds. Italian seasoning adds extra flavor to traditional-style pizza.

The key to consistently turning out authentic pizzas comes down to using quality mozzarella cheese because no other ingredient holds a pizza together quite like it. Mozzarella is sometimes referred to as the glue that holds the pizza together, providing the stretchy quality that we all enjoy while having a pizza.

How long should pizza dough rest before being stretched? ›

If your pizza dough is quickly snapping back or difficult to stretch, your dough is too tight. Cover your dough with plastic wrap and let it sit for 10-15 minutes. After a bit of rest, the gluten in the dough will relax, making the process of stretching much easier.

Too little yeast and your dough won't rise enough, and the pizza base will taste bland. Use too much yeast and your dough may over-ferment. Tell-tale signs are your dough expanding too much or tasting and smelling a bit sour, with an almost alcoholic aftertaste (the yeast produces alcohol as it ferments).

If you're making pizza now: Let the dough rise for an hour to an hour and a half. Then proceed with making your pizzas right away. If you're making pizza later: Cover the dough with cling wrap and keep it in the refrigerator for up to three days until you're ready to use it.

A baking stone, or pizza stone, is a large piece of thick, ceramic tile that sits on the rack of your oven. By preheating the stone along with the oven to a high temperature—think in the 450°F to 500°F range—it picks up and retains a ton of heat that provides exceptional browning for your bottom crust.

TIPS ON CRISPY AND AIRY PIZZA CRUSTS the first tip is to carefully stretch your dough so that you push the air from center of the dough to the edge—leaving an one inch border. then use your knuckles to gently open it up to a bigger size.