Pizza Dough
Our go to recipe for the perfect pizza dough every time is Peter Reinhart’s pizza dough recipe, which uses the delayed fermentation technique. Peter Reinhart has written several books about baking and if you’re a dough geek then you’ll get much pleasure out of his book The Bread Baker’s Apprentice where you can read his 6 page recipe on making the perfect pizza dough!
I first came across Peter Reinhart’s Pizza dough recipe several years ago on Heidi Swanson’s 101 Cookbooks. I’ve not looked back since!
By mixing the dough a day ahead (or up to 3 days ahead for a deeper flavour) and allowing it to ferment in the fridge overnight, results in a tasty, golden crust with the perfect balance of crunch and chew with a lovely yeasty flavour. You should also achieve those sought after air bubbles of a authentic Neapolitan Pizza.
Place the flour, salt and yeast in your mixing bowl, add the oil then start to mix, gradually adding the water little by little.
Note: If you live in Hong Kong like me, where it’s very humid, you may not need to add the full amount of water – so please add the water gradually, not all in one go!
Knead by hand, or use a mixer with the dough hook attached, for 5-7 minutes. Your dough is ready to turn out when it comes away from the sided of the mixing bowl but still sticks to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet and doesn’t come off the sides of the bowl, sprinkle in some more flour until it clears the sides. If it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a little cold water. The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky.
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and portion into 6 even pieces and shape into balls
Note: If you wish to freeze some dough for later use, just roll the dough balls in some oil and place into individual zip lock bags and freeze – can be kept for up to 3 months. Transfer the dough to the fridge the day before you want to bake.
Place the dough balls onto a tray lined with baking parchment lightly sprayed with olive oil. Mist the dough balls and cover with cling film or place into a large zip lock bag. Place the tray into the refrigerator overnight (or for up to 3 days)
On the day you wish to make the pizza, removed the required number of dough balls from the fridge at least two hours before making the pizza. Dust the counter with flour and mist the counter with spray oil. Place the dough balls on top of the floured counter and sprinkle with flour. Dust your hands with flour and press the dough into flat disks about 1/2 inch thick and 5 inches in diameter. Sprinkle some flour over the dough, mist with more spray oil and cover loosely with cling film or a zip lock bag. Leave to rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
If you use a pizza stone, place it in the oven 45 minutes before making the pizza. Heat the oven as hot as possible (highest setting) If you do not have a baking stone, you can use sheet pan – do not preheat the pan!
Dust your stone or sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal and make the pizzas one at a time.
Dip your hands in flour, lift the dough very gently and lay the dough across your fists and carefully stretch it by bouncing the dough in a circular motion on your hands, giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Continue until the dough has expanded to the size required (9-12 inches). If the dough springs back, let it rest for 5 to 20 minutes so the gluten can relax a little more then try again. You can use a rolling pin but I’ve never needed to resort to this method and isn’t as effective as the tossing method.
Lay your shaped dough onto the baking stone or sheet pan coated in semolina flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide. Lightly top it with tomato sauce and two or three other topping. As a rule of thumb no more than 3 or 4 ingredients otherwise it will make it more difficult to bake and won’t result in a crusty base.
Bake the pizzas for 5-8 minutes. If the top gets done before the bottom, move the stone to a lower shelf before the next round. If the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelises, raise the stone for the next baking.
Remove the pizza from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Wait 3 to 5 minutes to allow the cheese to set slightly before slicing and serving.
Would love to know if you make your own pizza dough and whether you’ve tried the slow fermentation method before? What did you think of it? Any tips you’d like to share?
You can leave me a note in the comments box below, would love to hear from you.
gx
P.S. Don’t forget to pin this recipe to Pinterest by clicking the image below!
Pizza Dough
- 612 g Strong white bread flour or OO flour, chilled, 4 1/2 cups
- 1 3/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp instant yeast (I use Doves Instant yeast which you can buy from CitySuper)
- 60 ml olive oil 1/4 cup
- 412 ml water ice cold (This is the usual amount but in HK I find we need less due to humidity, so go slowly when adding the water), 1 3/4 cups
- Semolina flour or cornmeal for dusting
-
Place the flour, salt and yeast in your mixing bowl, add the oil then start to mix, gradually adding the water little by little. (Note: If you live in a humid climate, you may not need to add the full amount of water - so please add the water gradually, not all in one go!)
-
Knead by hand, or use a mixer with the dough hook attached, for 5-7 minutes.
-
Your dough is ready to turn out when it comes away from the sided of the mixing bowl but still sticks to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet and doesn't come off the sides of the bowl, sprinkle in some more flour until it clears the sides. If it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a little cold water. The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky.
-
Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and portion into 6 even pieces and shape into balls (Note: If you wish to freeze some dough for later use, just roll the dough balls in some oil and place into individual zip lock bags and freeze - can be kept for up to 3 months. Transfer the dough to the fridge the day before you want to bake).
-
Place the dough balls onto a tray lined with baking parchment lightly sprayed with olive oil. Mist the dough balls and cover with cling film or place into a large zip lock bag. Place the tray into the refrigerator overnight (or for up to 3 days)
-
On the day you wish to make the pizza, removed the required number of dough balls from the fridge at least two hours before making the pizza.
-
Dust the counter with flour and mist the counter with spray oil.
-
Place the dough balls on top of the floured counter and sprinkle with flour.
-
Dust your hands with flour and press the dough into flat disks about 1/2 inch thick and 5 inches in diameter.
-
Sprinkle some flour over the dough, mist with more spray oil and cover loosely with cling film or a zip lock bag.
-
Leave to rise at room temperature for 2 hours.
-
If you use a pizza stone, place it in the oven 45 minutes before making the pizza. Heat the oven as hot as possible (highest setting) If you do not have a baking stone, you can use sheet pan - but do not preheat the pan!
-
Dust your stone or sheet pan with semolina flour or cornmeal and make the pizzas one at a time.
-
Dip your hands in flour, lift the dough very gently and lay the dough across your fists and carefully stretch it by bouncing the dough in a circular motion on your hands, giving it a little stretch with each bounce.
-
Continue until the dough has expanded to the size required (9-12 inches).
-
If the dough springs back, let it rest for 5 to 20 minutes so the gluten can relax a little more then try again. You can use a rolling pin but I've never needed to resort to this method and isn't as effective as the tossing method.
-
Lay your shaped dough onto the baking stone or sheet pan coated in semolina flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide.
-
Lightly top it with tomato sauce and your other toppings. No more than 3 or 4 toppings (including sauce and cheese) is enough.
-
Bake the pizzas for 5-8 minutes. If the top gets done before the bottom, move the stone to a lower shelf before the next round. if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelises, raise the stone for the next baking.
-
Remove the pizza from the oven and transfer to a cutting board. Wait 3 to 5 minutes to allow the cheese to set slightly before slicing and serving.
-
Makes six 9-12" pizza crusts.
Double the quantity and freeze half the dough balls.
Leave a Reply