Pizza Dough
Personal pizza with wild mushroom, smoked pepperoni, San Marzano tomato, mozzerella, garnished with pecorino, and fresh basil.
I've had a deep affection for pizza since I was a kid. I often think, next to tacos, it is my favorite food. Like many things the quality of the ingredients is directly proportional to the end product. Fresh vegetables, good quality cheese, and a homemade dough yields a stunning pie. While in university I took an interest in making bread from scratch. Along this adventure I started making pizza using my own dough. This recipe is the result of many iterations of dough.
Baking recipes traditionally use percentages to allow for easy scaling up and down. Percentages are indicated in reference to the quantity of flour used. The ingredient percentage is the total weight of the ingredient / the total weight of flour * 100. Read more about using baking percentages here: Introduction to Baker's Percentages | The Perfect Loaf
Example: 1000g of flour for a 70% hydration dough would mean you use 700g of water.
All the ingredients in this recipe use weights. If you don't have a kitchen scale, I highly suggest getting one. Baking by weight is a revolutionary way of ensuring consistency, and repeatability in your baking. If you're planning on getting into making pizza at home I would encourage investing in a pizza stone and pizza peel. A cast iron pan works well too.
Cast iron reference recipe can be found here. Cast-Iron Pizza with Fennel and Sausage Recipe | Bon Appétit
Reference reading for pizza from J. Kenji López-Alt's Pizza Lab: The Pizza Lab: Three Doughs to Know | Serious Eats
| Time: | 4 Hours or overnight |
| Difficulty: | 2/5 |
| Tested: | Yes |
| Makes: | 1 16-inch pie, or 2 10-inch pies |
Ingredients
| Ingredient | Ratio | Weight |
|---|---|---|
| Flour | 100% | 400g |
| Water | 70% | 280g |
| Olive Oil | 3% | 12g |
| Salt | 2% | 8g |
| Yeast | 1.5% | 6g |
Method
Assembling the dough
Bread flour is great if you have some, if not all purpose works just fine.
Sift your flour, and salt into a bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer), sprinkle the yeast on top.
Combine 50g (or 20%) tap hot water with the olive oil. Using the narrow end of a wooden spoon, mix this into the dough stirring while you slowly pour.
Add the rest of the water pouring slowly and mixing with the narrow end of the spoon until a shaggy mass forms. Once it gets to this stage fire it into the stand mixer set to medium.
Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface until it is smooth and uniform, it will be tacky to the touch. If it is sticking to the bowl do not add more flour! Wet your hands and work in quick motions, as you knead the dough it will even out, trust me.
Once smooth place into an oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled in size. This time varies from kitchen to kitchen. If making this the day before let it ferment in the fridge overnight).
Once doubled, lay the dough out onto a flowered surface and fold the dough. Pull the edges out and over the top. Do this to each side of the dough, then flip it back into an oiled bowl to let rise a second time until it is puffy and springs back lightly when poked (30-45 minutes in a 22C or 68F kitchen). This is a good time to start your oven, and preheat your pizza stone or cast iron.
Your dough is now done, split it into two or form it into one big pie stretching from the center towards the outside.
Using a Pizza Stone
- Move one oven rack to the second spot from the top ensuring it is pretty close to the top element. This is key to getting good fast cooking on the top of your pizza. The bottom will be cooked by the stone and the top by the super-hot element.
- Preheat your oven as hot as it will go (most of the ovens I've used will get to 525F some even 550F). The key to a great pizza is ensuring the bottom is golden brown and cooked completely. Put your pizza stone in to get hot.
- Sprinkle your pizza peel with a generous amount of corn meal to ensure the pizza isn't going to stick. Lay out your nicely stretched dough.
- Once your oven is at temperature set it to broil, add your toppings and fire that puppy into the oven.
- Bake until the top is to your liking and the bottom is golden brown. You should be able to pick up the edge of the pizza off the stone and have it hold its shape, if it flops, or folds, it's not ready.
- Let that baby cool, sprinkle with salt and 1tbsp olive oil, cut, and serve.
Using a Cast Iron
- Preheat your oven to 475F with your cast iron inside.
- Once at temperature, carefully take out the cast iron and lay the flattened dough inside, you should be able to coax it into the corners of the pan.
- Add your toppings and bake until cooked on top and the crust is golden brown (10-15 minutes)
- Take it out of the pan, let that baby cool, sprinkle with salt and 1tbsp olive oil, cut, and serve.
