The Best Pizza Dough
This will make two 12 inch pizzas. I often 1.5 times the recipe and make 3 pizzas for my family.
This dough can be used the same day(with written recipe adjustments) or can be refrigerated up to 3 days.
Ingredients
- 22 1/2 oz or 5 cups of unbleached bread flour plus more as needed
- 2 teaspoons of kosher or sea salt
- 1 teaspoon of instant yeast I use 2 tsp if using dough the same day
- 2 teaspoons of sugar or honey
- 1 Tablespoon of olive oil
- 2 cups of room temperature water if using the same day I will warm the water to lukewarm
Instructions
- If using a stand mixer- using paddle attachment, briefly mix all the dry ingredients together in the bowl then add all the liquid ingredients. Mix on slow speed until all the flour is incorporated and the ingredients are mixed (about 1 minute)
- If mixing by hand- add all dry ingredients to a bowl and quickly stir to mix, add in liquid ingredients and stir until all ingredients are incorporated.
- Let the dough rest for about 3 to 5 minutes (this allows the flour to hydrate). Then mix on low/medium speed for about another minute or you can stir for a couple of minutes by hand. This is the time to check the texture of the dough and add water or flour a little at a time. The dough should be very tacky and slightly sticky when done. In my experience with this dough, depending on weather, I have had to add up to an extra 2/3 cup of flour to achieve the consistency. This still resulted in a very tacky dough. (The dough smooths out by the end of the folding process)
- Rub some olive oil to about 1 foot in diameter on a work surface. Transfer the dough to the oiled surface. Oil your hands a bit and stretch the dough into a large rectangle. You may feel a few lumpy, drier spots- I usually work them in a bit to the dough at this time. Fold the dough in on itself by the folding the short ends in. Then fold the other two ends in- this will form a squarish ball. (see pictures in post for more of a visual on this). Then flip the dough over and tighten it into a ball. Cover with clean kitchen towel and let rest for 5 minutes.
- Repeat the stretching, folding and resting 3 more times for a total of 4 times. After the final folding, place the pizza dough into a large lightly oiled bowl.The dough should be smooth and elastic at this point. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap.
- If you are making the pizza the same day, allow the dough to rise in a warm place until double in size- 1 to 1 1/2 hours depending on the warmth in the kitchen. Then punch the dough down and divide into 2 equal pieces. The dough can be stretched and made into pizza at this point. See blog post for some tips.
- If you are making the pizza another time (it's good up to 3 days), place bowl in refrigerator. Prior to making dough, remove from refrigerator and let dough come to room temperature- at least 2 hours. Then divide into 2 equal pieces and proceed to make pizza! See blog post for some tips.
Notes
**see end of blog post for tips on making this pizza
For this pretty sticky dough parchment paper is great, I sprinkle flour or cornmeal onto a large square of parchment paper. Then I flour my hands and gently stretch it in my hands first, set it down on the prepared parchment and then push and stretch it out on there until it is about 12 inches. If it is sticking, lift the dough and add more flour under it. Once stretched, add your toppings. The parchment will allow you to easily slide it onto your baking stone too. Adapted from Craftsy
For this pretty sticky dough parchment paper is great, I sprinkle flour or cornmeal onto a large square of parchment paper. Then I flour my hands and gently stretch it in my hands first, set it down on the prepared parchment and then push and stretch it out on there until it is about 12 inches. If it is sticking, lift the dough and add more flour under it. Once stretched, add your toppings. The parchment will allow you to easily slide it onto your baking stone too. Adapted from Craftsy