Learn to make the Best NY style pizza dough!
So, you want to know how to make the Best NY style pizza dough recipe? This is my favorite recipe for pizza dough! I promise you, it won’t disappoint. It’s easy to make too! A quick mix and the refrigerator does all the hard work.
I’ve been making a lot of this NY style pizza dough recipe …. The obsession started a while back, and I’ve finally found a recipe that I love the best! After years of experiments (and I mean years!), I am now using this recipe based on recommendations from the many fine pizza makers at www.pizzamaking.com and the Dough Doctor, Tom Lehnmann.
Making pizza dough
Making NY style pizza dough is definitely somewhat of an art form. There are so many variables that can be changed aside from the ingredients alone. For example, these variables include:
- oven temperature
- temperature of the water used to make the dough
- proofing methods (room temp vs cold rise)
- order of adding the ingredients (yes, this makes a big difference!)
- mixing time
- use of autolyse
- use of poolish (I don’t do this or the one before, although I have in the past)
And then of course, the toppings which can be simple or as complex as you’d like. But don’t worry too much about all of this – my method is easy and straightforward. Plus, you will make better dough than 99% of the pizza chains out there. You will not want take out anymore!
My favorite pizza dough
My all-time favorite dough is NY style dough. This dough contains water, flour, salt, instant yeast, and olive oil (and sugar). After it is mixed, it is proofed in the refrigerator for a minimum of 24 hours and up to 72 hours (it can also be frozen). And, I’ve used the dough up to 5 or 6 days afterwards, so you can essentially prepare dough for the week.
This recipe produces a crisp yet foldable crust that is tender, light, and flavorful and will make enough for four 14-inch pizzas. And, you can easily double or half the recipe to make 2 or 8 pizzas.
Fourteen tips for success:
Tip 1
Use high-quality flour – I like to use King Arthur’s all purpose or bread flour; higher protein (ie, bread) flours work best. However, I prefer all-purpose flour because I like a lighter, airy crust.
Tip 2
Do not add instant dry yeast (IDY) directly to cold or cool water – you may shock the yeast (add the IDY to your flour instead) (please note that IDY differs from active dry yeast, which must be activated by adding it to water).
Tip 3
Use only enough yeast to “get the job done” – yeast eats the sugar in your flour to produce its leavening effects – I find that if you use too much, your dough will be tasteless (this is just my opinion); however, it is a fact, that too much yeast can make your dough taste bad. Most recipes out there, some of them in well known, published books contain too much yeast!
Tip 4
Always use your refrigerator. The best NY style doughs “ferment” or “cure” in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours and up to 48 72 hours. This is called a “cold rise” (vs warm rise on your kitchen counter).
The refrigerator is used to retard (or slow) the dough’s fermentation, allowing that distinctive flavor to come through (ever wonder why some pizza crust tastes different than others, despite the fact that they are both made from just about the same exact ingredients? – this is a big reason why!)
When your dough rises too quickly, the flavor will not develop optimally. Slow rise = MUCH better flavor.
Tip 5
Use a scale to weigh the flour instead of using a measuring cup – it is much more accurate and will yield superior results. I’ll admit, I resisted doing this for a loooong time. Just do it. You’ll be glad you did and your dough will be more consistent and much improved.
Tip 6
Mix the oil in as the last step, after the flour has all been incorporated. This is important to allow the flour to hydrate properly.
Tip 7
Before tossing or opening your dough balls, flour them *very* well on each side (if you are a beginner) to ensure they do not stick to your counter or pizza peel. I sometimes use a bit more flour after I begin spreading them.
Tip 8
Take care not to “degas” the rim of your pizza as you are spreading your dough! Do NOT ever use a rolling pin! There are many different methods to spread/open your dough ball. I hope to add a few pictures someday of this process.
Tip 9
Ensure that your oven is preheated for a sufficient amount of time (about 1 hour) and bake the pizza within 6 to 8 inches of the top of your oven (ie, your broiler) so that the tops browns sufficiently in conjunction with the bottom of the pizza.
Do not place the stone near the bottom of your oven. I made this mistake for too many years.
After your stone has been preheated sufficiently, the heat from the stone will cook the pizza from the bottom and you can switch the broiler on if you find you need more browning on the top (I now use the broiler to bake my pizzas…more on this sometime in the future).
If you find that your cheese is browning well before your rim attains sufficient color, use partially frozen cheese (ie, place shredded cheese in the freezer while the oven is heating up) and cold sauce or you can drizzle just a bit of olive oil on top of cheese.
Tip 10
Use a pizza stone if you have one. The stone with draw moisture out of the dough and produce a beautifully crisp crust. I use a pizza steel because my stones kept breaking.
Tip 11
Do not use too much pizza sauce – it will make your pizza soggy
Tip 12
Do not use low fat cheese to top your pizza or preshredded cheese (the former will not melt sufficiently and the latter contains additives that prevent the cheese from sticking together and therefore does not melt very well). The best is low-moisture, whole milk mozzarella.
If you must use preshredded cheese, I’ve found that adding the sauce on top of the cheese helps with the melting. Also, do not use too much cheese; apply it sparingly so that you can achieve that mottled NY pizza appearance.
Tip 13
Use semolina or flour on the bottom of your pizza peel to prevent the pizza dough from sticking but be careful not to overdo it because it will burn.
Tip 14
Give the pizza peel a few very small quick jerks to make sure the pizza will easily slide off your pizza peel before attempting to transfer pizza to the oven, and more importantly, rub flour into the peel before placing the dough on top.
A nice video showing how to stretch the dough:
The Best New York Style Pizza Dough
The best, authentic NY pizza dough! This recipe make four 14" pizzas (about 2.5 to 3 lbs of dough). You will never want take out again!
Ingredients
- 6 cups Flour, all purpose or bread (see note) 28 oz (796 grams)
- 2 1/4 cups Water 17.4 oz (493 grams or mls)
- 1 teaspoon Instant dry yeast (3.5 grams)
- 2.5 teaspoons Salt (15.6 grams)
- 2 teaspoons Sugar (7.8 grams) (optional but highly recommended)
- 1 tablespoon Olive oil (11.8 ml)
Instructions
To mix the dough
-
Place water in mixing bowl.
-
In a separate bowl, mix salt and yeast (and sugar if using) into flour
-
Combine flour/salt/yeast mixture into water and mix until all the flour has been incorporated.
-
After flour has been totally incorporated, add oil and knead for about 4 to 5 minutes (see note)
-
Test final dough temperature, which should ideally be between high 70s to low 80s (optional)
Diving the dough and letting it rise
-
Divide dough into 4 equal pieces (using a digital scale if possible; each ball should weigh 11.5 oz [~326 grams]), shape into a ball, and place in greased, sealed quart-sized container or oiled/greased freezer bag and refrigerate overnight or up to 72 hours (After much experimenting, I have concluded that I like 3 days best but day 2 is good too).
Assembling and baking the pizzas
-
The following day, remove your dough balls within 1 hour or less of baking and allow the dough to come to room temperature. (the dough will tend to blister more if the dough has not been allowed to come to room temperature however, I often bake coldish dough without problems, just some bubbling)
-
In the meantime, place your pizza stone in oven and preheat at 550 degrees (depending on thickness of your stone and your oven's power) for at least 1 hour
-
Open each dough ball using care not to degas, transfer to a pre-floured pizza peel (or on parchment paper), and top with your favorite sauce, cheese, or other toppings.
-
Transfer pizza from peel to oven or slide parchment paper onto preheated pizza pan/stone and bake for 4 to 6 minutes each until browned on top and cheese has melted but not burned.
-
Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Weighing the flour is *highly* recommended. Using a cup to measure will typically yield inaccurate results, plus different flour brands have different weights If you want to use the dough the next day, knead a little more (slow speed for about 8 to 10 minutes) or if you have time to let the dough rest for 3 days, knead for 4 to 5 minutes, low speed or hand knead.
Baker's percents: 62% hydration, 0.4% yeast, 1.5% salt, 1.5% oil, and 1% sugar with a thickness factor of 0.08 using this calculator: http://www.pizzamaking.com/dough-calculator.html
Like this recipe? Try these other popular recipes from Feeling Foodish:
Italian desserts:
Italian wedding cookies (so easy!)
Pignoli cookies (chewy just like the bakery!)
Italian rum cake (the best cake on the planet!)
Italian cream puffs with vanilla ricotta
Pizza toppings and pizza sauce:
Buffalo style (one of my absolute favorites)
White with prosciutto
White with spinach and feta
Pizza sauce
Leftover dough? Try these:
Garlic knots
And how about some greens on the side?
Utica greens recipe
Question, you mention water temperature being important but don’t actually Bring up the temperature you use. Is around 110 to 120 Fahrenheit good?
oh gosh, I wouldn’t go that high – you are close to or at the threshold for killing the dry yeast. I’d just use lukewarm water or even room temp
Question, I usually make dough that gets left out and doubles in size after about 90 minutes. I made your recipe last night around 8pm and put it right in the fridge. It’s 9am now I just checked and it still looks pretty much the same size. I know you said with being in the fridge it will be a slow process. But should or have grown by now?
I only have active dry yeast but Ive made dough plenty of times before without issue.
Help would be nice? Thank you 🙂
Oh just saw this, sorry! The dough will normal show some kind of bubbling activity on bottom of container. Growth isn’t always very obvious – how did it turn out?
Can I add italian seasoning to the dough? What would be the best step to incorporate it?
Sure you can although I’ve never tried it. Personally I’d knead it in after the dough comes together. And I’d start out with a less is more approach
Can I use this dough to make calzones?
absolutely!
Ive made this literally dozens of times and it’s DELISH!
I make the four, let them set in the fridge three days, and then freeze what I’m not using immediately. Never a problem. Ever!
Living in Mexico, im starved for good pizza. It’s just not their thing in my town and the pizzas are horrible!
Thank you!
Looks like a great recipe, thank you. How do you get the frozen dough ready to use?
I just take it out of the freezer the morning I want pizza for dinner; after defrosted, set it on the countertop to warm it up for about 30 to 60 minutes depending on room temp.
Hello,
There is one thing I would like to know and that is should I proof my dough before I freeze it or can I freeze it after I mix it . Thank you in advance for your help.
yes – proof it first, and then cut it into 4 pieces, form balls and freeze
How important is dividing the dough into 4 equal pieces? Would it be alright to divide into 6 or 8 pieces? I’m looking to make more personal size pizzas.
You can divide into smaller pizzas, sure. I’d start with 6 – and if you find they are still too big, try 8 next time.
most recipes tell you to not mix the yeast and the salt in the beginning but rather mix the flour with salt first and then add the water-yeast-sugar mix. which is correct?
you can mix them in with the flour if you are using instant dry yeast, I’ve never had a problem. I should clarify the instructions because you should add flour first, then salt and yeast but not directly on top of each other. In her bread book, Rose Levy Beranbaum adds recommends adding salt to one side of the flour bowl and yeast to the other. If you are more comfortable using the tradition route, add it the way you are describing which is often used for active dry yeast. The brand of active dry yeast that I use can be directly mixed into the flour without “activating” it.
When you say not to add them on top of eachother do you mean mixing them between each new addition… such as: add flour to water, mix, add salt, mix, then add sugar and mix?
yes – that would work just don’t place the two directly in a bowl together and mix and don’t add one on top of another in the flour either. I’ve seen some professional bakers add one to one side of the bowl and the other to the opposite side and then mix
We are gluten intolerant and recently found that we can have flour from Germany because it’s clean!!!! We are making pizza with regular flour for the first time for one of my sweet kiddos tonight! We are soooo excited and don’t have the patience to wait the 3 days to rise in the fridge. Should we find a different recipe this time or will this work well but will just be better with a 3 day rise?
Thank you for all the tips…..soooo excited!!
Yes, you could – this would probably rise a lot slower than you might be used to because of the lower amount of yeast. If you skip the refrigeration period, you would let it rise until doubled on your kitchen counter (room temperature). Then divide and shape into balls and let rest at least 20 to 30 minutes. If you don’t eat right way, place in fridge and take out about an hour beforehand.
Great, thanks so much for the quick reply! Do you think 3-4 hours would be enough?
I wish I could give you an exact hour but I usually don’t do a one day rise – I’d imagine 4 hours at a minimum but you’ll see when it gets nice and puffy (ie doubles) – let us know how it works out. if you can make extra and put it in the fridge you can compare the difference
Great recipe! I want to freeze so I have it on hand when needed. Do I freeze it right away or wait the 48/72 hours first??
I usually just put what I don’t end up using in the freezer, so I’d wait at least 24 hours. I don’t think you have to wait the full 3 days.
I’d pull the dough from the fridge more than an hour before using and be mindful of its temperature afterward. You want it to be at least 75-77 F in the center before opening it, which is higher than typical room temp and takes longer to achieve.
I am using active dry yeast for this recipe. So as always I mixed it into warm water to activate it. Can you please clarify for yeast activation process for both style or all yeasts. Also.i added garlic salt instead of regular salt along with some italian seasoning the non salted type.
Hi Sunny – it’s best to refer to the instructions for your brand of yeast. I haven’t been using a lot of active dry yeast, but if memory serves me correct, there are some brands that do not need to be activated. Here are the instructions from Red Star
Great information! Gonna make a batch and roll out the dough with my pasta roller ans Cut them to make ginormous single NY style slices. Should be delicious
Thanks for explaining everything like you did, I’ve read a lot of dough recipes online but you broke it down so I have a better understanding of why instead of just how.
Hi Marie – I somehow happened across your site (I’m sure it was a google search) but just wanted to say thanks and let you know I love this recipe. I live in Ohio, but spent 4 years working in Manhattan a few years ago and I’ve been sooooo missing NYC pizza!. I’ve only made the dough 4 times so I’m still in learning mode.. but I’m still trying to figure out how to get it done in approx. 6 minutes. I’m using a pizza stone, on the top shelf and letting my oven heat up at 500 degrees for at least 60 minutes… but still needing approx 8 minutes finish. That may just be my oven? I’m planning to experiment with the broiler for 5-10 to heat up the stone on Friday and see how that goes :). For what it’s worth… I’ve tried a couple different cheese’s… and I totally agree on the low-moisture whole milk mozzarella. I’m sure it’s a matter of taste, but I came across a brand on another NYC pizza related site called Polly-O. I can buy it here in Ohio at of all places Wally-Mart,, but it is delicious! Anyway.. Thanks for the great tips and info. Cheers!
Is bread flour the same as wheat flour?
And with protein do you mean gluten?
Thank you for the recipe
Hi Vasilis – You should use a flour with 12 to 13% protein, which refers to the gluten in the flour.
We generally categorize flour as all purpose, bread flour, or cake flour, depending on the strength of the flour (how much gluten is in it). whole wheat is a type of flour that is less processed and has more fiber in it (I use this in combination with bread flour to make bread but not pizza)
I hope this helps?
This really helped, thank you very much!
I never leave comments, but this recipe is great! Thank you for all the tips! I am from New York and am currently living in Texas and I’ve been in need of good pizza. I can never get my crust as thin as I’d like. This recipe gave a good, flavorful dough that I was able to get very thin. I weighed my flour, I used mostly King Arthur AP flour with about 1.5 cups of it bread flour. The dough seemed too wet so I had to add in some more. I let it sit for two days. Usually I cook my pizza With the oven at 450, since it’s august and hot I didn’t want to put the oven all the way up to 550 since 450 works just fine with my other dough recipe. I should have put the oven up to 550 though as the bottom didn’t brown as quickly as the top, but it was still the best pizza I’ve ever made and I will put the oven temp up higher next time. Thank you!
I’ve never mixed the AP and bread flour for a pizza (although I have for bread) – good idea! I’ll have to try it!
Hi, if I just want to make one pizza do I just use 1/4 of all the ingredients including yeast? Also I was thinking of using wholemeal flour but apparently that can make it too light, I’ve read that 2/3 regular flour to 1/3 wholemeal is better, any thoughts on that? Finally I was planning on replacing sugar with a tbs of honey or two if that would work, might throw in some ground ginger for taste? This is the first time I’ve tried this so any tips much appreciated! Cheers!
If you want to use whole grain flour, try to use bread flour with the whole meal. I haven’t tried that combo with pizza but that works well for me with bread. you can definitely easily replace the sugar with honey – I’m not sure about the ginger but I think it would depend on what toppings you are going to use – can’t hurt to try? And yes, you can use 1/4 of the ingredients or you can freeze the rest of the dough.
Thanks for publishing this pizza recipe and the wonderful tips. I checked the amount of water required as given in the list of ingredients. I noticed that 17.4 oz converts into ~515 mL (g) of water and 2 1/4 cup converts into 532 mL (g) of water and both are far from the 493 g given. No doubt the amount of water is critical in that it determines the hardness/softness of dough. Should I just follow the weight measure of 493 g and neglect the volume? Thanks.
George
Hi George, over the years I’ve received many questions about the conversions. It’s a bit confusing, I know. If you look at the flour weight (28 ounces and take 62% of that, it will give you the weight of the needed water, 17.4 ounces).
Using my flour, 28 ounces converts to 796 grams. If you measure by grams, 62% of 796 will give you 493 grams of water. All the other measurements (sugar, salt, oil) are rounded to volumetric measures that are convenient (because it’s not practical to ask someone to measure 1.73 teaspoons, for example).
I know that is confusing but I’d say just stick with either grams or ounces and you will get the target hydration (62%) that is intended. I hope that helps?
Perfcet everytime, Thank you so much for this receipe. Would you recommend me dressing the pizza dough on the stone while hot if I currently do not own a peel?
Glad you like it! If you don’t have a peel you can use a pan or place the pizza on parchment paper on top of a pan and slide it on the hot stone.
Thank you so much.
OK, i found answer with yeast, but still curious about heat in brick pizza oven, shall i burn wood, then let rest it before put pizza in? And when i Cooked 3 or 4 pizzas, the heat from buttom gets much lower,
So I don’t use a brick oven – I use a home oven with some tricks to get a good bake or I use a propane fueled Blackstone oven that mimics a brick oven. One of my best friends has a custom brick outdoor oven and he said it’s important to let the oven sit for 40 minutes after the initial burn so the heat can saturate/penetrate or be evenly distributed to all the bricks. After the initial burn, he cleans the floor of the oven and then closes the door for 40 minutes so the oven temperature can equalize. If this doesn’t work and the floor still isn’t reaching a good enough temp, it might be because there is water getting in the oven and that is causing the floor not to reach high enough temp.
And another question, do you Cook with active dry yeast?
I’ve used both instant dry yeast and active dry yeast – I like the instant dry yeast better for the 3 day rise in refrigerator. If you get a change to check out the FAQ it explains a bit about the reasons
Sorry, i didnt read all 890 coments, so im asking mybe again, if u Cook in log outside brick pizza oven, is there anything secrets? Bcoz i tried 3x, once oven was too Hot and all burn from top but under wasnt realy ready, mostly i have problems getting dought crispy before top is burned, oven is made perfectly from italy oven plans. Shall i close entry while i Cook? And greetings from Latvia.
Hi Marie..TX for the recipe! Does moving the pizza stone to the top of the oven apply to a gas oven or only to an electric ? Thanks
I’ve had both kinds of ovens (gas and electric) over the years, and it works for both in my experience.
Hi, just a little confused about the number of pizzas the recipe will bake. You’ve listed 2-14″ pizzas if halved and 2-14″ pizzas for 4 balls of dough. I made a similar recipe and can’t wait to use yours as I’m new to this. Thanks so much for posting it.
Hi Debbie – I mean to say that if you cut the recipe in half, you will have 2 balls of dough and if you make the whole recipe you will have 4 balls of dough – I hope that makes more sense?
I did this recipe exactly as written, except i only had generic unbleached flour on hand. This a great pizza dough recipe. Pie turned perfect. Putting pie up high in oven is a valuable tip. Thanks for that. I use pace picante mild as sauce and i sprinkle pizza seasoning over it, it is surprisingly delicious and a little spicy.
oooh..sounds good! yes, placing the pizza up high was a game changer for me! it helped my pizza crust to look like this – that was super high/close to broiler (but broiler was off). I’ve been using my BlackStone for a while now but I’ll have to get back to baking in my home oven too
This recipe and website are amazing. I plan to make this pizza dough recipe for the second time soon. I have fine pastry flour instead of all-purpose flour. Do you think the dough will still come out correctly?
I’m afraid not…the key to a good pizza is a high protein flour. Pastry flour is low protein and useful when you want a very tender, delicate pastry. So the short answer is definitely no pastry flour – You should use a flour with a protein content of 11% or higher (Gold Medal all purpose, King Arthur all purpose, and Bob’s Red Mill all purpose flours and all bread flours). You can get a general idea by dividing the protein on the nutrition label by the serving size (eg, 3 grams protein per serving/30 grams flour per serving) and then multiplying by 100 to get the percentage. This isn’t 100% accurate though because companies are allowed to round information on their nutrition label (so even though it may have 2.8 grams of protein per serving, they are allowed to say 3 grams) – hope this wasn’t too much info!
As someone who grew up in the Bronx, NY in the 1980’s, I was privilege to have so many great pizza shops around me growing up. I’m going to try this recipe and see if it reminds me of the good ol days! 🙂
I bet those pizzas were amazing! The dough is only part of the puzzle though…do you have a good pizza stone or baking steel? Also make sure your oven is preheated very well with the stone/steel in it (unless you happen to have a pizza oven)
Is it possible to use fresh yeast instead of instant dry?, If so how much fresh yeast should I use for this recipe?
Hi, yes – see this table for conversion. fresh yeast is also referred to as cake yeast in the US, so please see cake yeast
The recipe says it will make four 14″ pizzas or
can be divided in half to make two 14-inch pizzas. I’m confused with that, is the yield 4 or 2 – 14″ pizzas?
Sorry for the confusion – I mean to say that if you only need 2 pizzas, just make half of the recipe. So use 3 cups flour instead of 6 cups and so on
What is best way to form the pie. My cold dough rise is 2x in size with a lot of gas. Any suggestions? What works best?
There is a video on the recipe page that gives one example of how to form the pizza pie…I’ve had dough that has doubled, so that’s fine and lots of gas is good! See if the video helps. you should bring the dough to room temp first or it will be very hard to stretch and cold dough in the oven will form huge bubbles
2.5 teaspoons Salt (15.6 grams) (15.6 grams)
2 teaspoons Sugar (7.8 grams) (optional but highly recommended)
Copied from above recipe
Hi I am confused by your recipe on sugar, and salt in grams. Pls correct me if I am wrong
Hi Nancy – yes, I see it shows twice (15.6 15.6) – you can ignore the second one I’ll delete it now. I think there was a glitch with the website. I often use volume measure only for salt and sugar because it’s faster (although weighing flour is faster than measuring volume). Does that help?
Sorry!
My question if sugar is 2 tsp = 7.8 grams
Why salt 2.5 tsp salt =15.6 gram
1 tsp = 4 gram
Salt for 2.5 tsp should be 4+4+2= 10 grams but not 15.6gram
In addition, King Arthur bread flour
1 cup = 4.25oz = 120 grams
6 cups =25.5oz= 720gram
Because I like to weight all my ingredients, so when I see your recipe, I am hesitated to start my dough……..should I ignore the cup and oz measurement, but used your grams measurement.
This is my first attempt to try your pizza dough recipe
Thanks!
Hi Nancy – yes, I see what you are saying. This question has come up before. The answer to your question about the salt and sugar is that the weights are the most accurate, but I can’t translate that weight to volume by asking folks to use 1.34 teaspoons or something like – do you know what I mean? The flour may seem off because I use a pizza dough calculator and I’m not sure what weight they use for one cup of flour (there is definitely some variation here) – if you are using King Arthur, this recipe will work well (that’s what I use) – I actually prefer their all purpose flour now because it’s still highish protein that gives you a nice crisp without being too heavy. Overall, I’d use the gram measures for flour and water but for convenience I’d use the teaspoon/tablespoon measures for salt, oil, and sugar. Hope that helps.
Hi, Marie
Thanks for the quick response.
I will follow your instructions and give it a try.
Thx!
Can you freeze the dough and if so for how long?
Hi, yes I often freeze it – the rule of thumb that I’ve always read is 1 to 3 months. I haven’t tried for longer than that..
Can you freeze the dough if so for how long?
I LOVE this pizza dough recipe! My husband is insanely picky about the pizza that he likes. We decided to cut off eating at restaurants/getting delivery all together, so we wanted a good dough recipes for those nights when delivery pizza was too tempting. This one is perfect. The texture is great, the dough comes together very quickly, and it is very easy to form. You do have to plan ahead a little bit, but I just throw the dough together the night before I’m going to make it and it’s perfect.
At what temperature should the water be when you add it to the flour?
I don’t pay much attention to water temperature because the dough will quickly equalize to the refrigerator temperature. That being said, I wouldn’t use warm or hot water because hot water can kill the yeast if it’s too hot and warm dough may bring down the temperature of other foods in the fridge. I use room temperature or cool water.
My son is14 and is on the autism spectrum so he is really picky about what he eats that is homemade.I have a recipe for a pizza dough that’s ok and he eats it, but after trying your dough he loves it. Says he loves mine but you’re is better 😀so hat’s off to you and thanks for an even better dough that my son approves of. Also bonus everybody else in the family likes. The fact that I can make it in advance and have it waiting for me is also a plus. Again thanks!
So glad I happened upon your page here! This was the biggest help, and thank you so much! I just had some of the best pizza I could have hoped for made by yours truly following your method plus all the tips and tricks. You’re the bomb. Thanks again!!
Thanks Marie! I just made pizza using your recipe and everyone thought it was great. The crust rose nicely and was very crispy. The only mistake I made was burning the top of the crust a little. Also the cheese I used made it way too greasy. Otherwise it was a great pizza. I used your pizza sauce recipe, and really liked it.
I like too much this recipe.. really usefull
This may be a silly question but what temperature is your refridgerator where you proof the dough. I have tried using a fridge in the past with little sucess and am wondering if mine is too cold at 36 degrees. You dough recipe is quite close to mine which seems to work on the counter with about eight hours rise followed by punching and then two more hours, but I have yet to make a good crust in the fridge.
Hi Paul -that’s good to know. I may try that for a same day dough – at least it’s a slow proof so it would add good flavor. Do you feel that the flavor isn’t there with the cold proof? What are you experiencing? Maybe proof at room temp for half the time you normally do (ie, 3 or 4 hours, as you describe above) and then place dough overnight in the fridge? I’m not sure how many days the dough would last but it would definitely be great the next day and maybe 2 days? My fridge temp is the same as yours and I don’t have a problem although day 2 and day 3 are always better. I’ve even used it on day 5! Day 1 isn’t as good but that might be solved by doing a few hours of room temp proof first.
This is such a great recipe. In fact it’s so good, friends have offered to pay me to keep them supplied with fresh dough to keep in their freezer so they always have it at the ready.
I just finished making a fresh batch this morning and it’s now chilling in the fridge for pizza fabulosity later this week. The cold proof really adds to the flavour and is definitely worth the wait!
I agree Melissa – it is worth the wait – and that’s funny about the friends offering to pay for it!
I love this recipe! Thank you so much. My husband got a stone pizza maker for fathers day on his grill /smoker. The crust is amazing and will keep using this. The kids love making there own pizza. Thank you for sharing this recipe and all the helpful tips how to make it. I do have a question. When you make this and want to put it in the freezer do you put it in the freezer right away after making it and thaw it in the refrigerator to rise?
Hi Lynn, I have done it both ways – I don’t freeze dough that often but that’s what I’d do: freeze right away after making and then thaw it in the refrigerator before using. Mine usually defrosts in the fridge by dinnertime if I take the dough out of the freezer in the morning. I have also placed leftover dough in the freezer but the other option works better.
I found that proofing in the fridge takes too long and doesn’t make any difference in the taste.
I pop this into the bread maker a couple hours before i want to make pizza and it turns out awesome. Thanks for the awesome recipe!
I also use a little more yeast than what’s recommended here. I think this recipe’s a little too conservative with the yeast (yes I read the tip).
I use cheap White Lily Bread flour from kroger, and it works great, but I would agree, can’t go wrong with king arthur. I used to look for whole milk low moisture mozzerella, and that was good, but I find pre-grated to work just fine and it melts fine.
I also like to leave some garlic, oregano, basil, salt and pepper sitting in some olive oil, and baste the crust before I stick it in the oven. Pizza steel works great. Pizza steel with 700 degree charcoal grill = too much heat. Pizza steel in the oven at 500-550 degrees has worked perfectly. Love this recipe.
Glad you like it Tyler! basting the crust sounds awesome!
Like Jeff I’m here in Kentucky where good NY Style Pizza is far and few between. I read a lot of different ways to make the dough and went with yours based on the flavor attributes that the Cold Risen dough would give me. I was impressed as I made my first pies tonight. 1 Traditional Pepperoni and one Double (type) Sausage. I could really enjoy the aroma of the dough during prep and the taste was there.
I actually used it after the 72 hours and it was awesome. I used Love This Kitchen’s Rectangular Ultimate pizza stone at 550 degrees in my GE Profile wall ovens. I found no need to use the broiler but my dual wall ovens have top heating elements not lower ones and my toppings and cheese cooked evenly with the crust.
Your tips and recipe saved me a lot of time and grief as my family devoured the pizzas. Even watching the video of stretching the dough helped me easily, confidentially and quickly toss, assemble and place in 2nd oven a pizza while the 1st was baking. (Big risk ’cause I have only one peel 🙂 )
On the topic of peel I went with a wood one that had a tapered edge from Amazon that was reasonable priced and I am glad. No issues turning the pie during cooking or removing it. Wood is hands down the best to assemble and place in oven without sticking and I see no need for metal one at this point. I did go with Corn Meal after reading many opinions as to go flour or corn meal and I think I made the right choice.
When I took the first slice of Pepperoni and could fold it I was ready to taste and the balance of the dough, sauce, cheese and pepperoni was like an authentic pie that I would get when back in NY. Thanks for your work and tips.
your pizza sounds awesome! I love the added flavor of the corn meal on the bottom – I’m going to use that next time too. thank you for the kind words -glad you all enjoyed it! And for you to master the launch from the peel on the first try? that’s great!
Marie,
One thing I left out of my original post was I was one of those “I don’t use a scale” kind of cooks. I actually break my Brother In Law’s chops when at his house about using a scale. I am so glad that I took your advice and used the scale. My Yield was spot on for my first single batch dough run with a normal batch. Did a double batch today and it was spot on thanks to the scale. Literally only Fifteen bucks at Wal-Mart digital with tare wt. setting. It made life easier.
I also was prepared before diving in by reading all of the tips, measuring everything out in advance. The tips really helped.
The Corn meal really helps the pie slide better than flour according to many NY Pizza Chefs recommendations and for finished appearance there are no white flour spots that I have seen even on commercial pizza shops slices. It really worked as described.
Oh Brian, I can totally relate! I refused to use a scale for years! My mother doesn’t measure a thing and her cooking is all by feel – this is how I grew up so the use of a scale seemed to foreign and fussy to me. Fast forward to now and I absolutely never make pizza dough without it. Mostly because it’s easier than measuring and the dough just comes out so much better. So I’m with ya! And yes, scales are not expensive (probably the cost of one large pizza).
When can you freeze after the initial refrigeration 24- 72 hr. I already made the dough I only waited 24 hours an? made my first pizza it came out excellent I must say I cut it in half but used the full amount of yeast.
I’ve done it after 1 day or after 3 days. It’s a bit better after 1 day to freeze it in my opinion but still very good after 3 days.
Marie,
I do have a question. My oven only goes up to 450 degrees. What, if anything, should I compensate for this? Just leave the pizza in longer?
Are you using a baking steel or baking stone? If so, you can use the broil feature to heat up your stone/steel (maybe try on 2nd shelf to start and then change based on results) and then launch your pizza- once the stone gets hot enough, you can lower the setting a bi to bake the top. If I were you, I’d probably begin by just using the max temp (in your case, 450 degrees) and then try different options. you will probably need more like 10 minutes or so to bake a pizza at a lower temperature. I’d try the broiler “trick” next, which I think would heat the oven past 450. If you happen to own an infared thermometer, that would help determine how much hotter the oven would get (aim at the stone when using 450 vs using broil feature).
Thank you so much. High quality tomato products may be a challenge. We will see what Kroger has to offer. I did not see the fresh oregano on the DiFara pizza, but that might not be bad to put in the uncooked sauce and apply it all come together in the oven.
I have two pizza stones that I will be using. The dough went in the refrigerator last night (Thursday) and I will be making pizza on Saturday night. I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks. All the best.
That recipe should be able to take 550 on a pizza stone. Shoot for 5.5 minutes, turning once halfway through the bake.
This looks good. My family just got back from a trip to NYC for a week (work stuff and vacation). My daughter and I went to Di Fara’s in Brooklyn; which may have been a mistake. Now all other pizza seems meaningless. I am going to try to replicate as best I can. It’s just hard to find a good pie in KY. Your recipes give me some hope that it might be possible. All the best.
Ahhhhh! DiFara’s! I’ve heard so much about it! Here are some tips: use two kinds of mozzarella, the fresh kind (like the kind usually served in a Caprese salad) and the aged (the packaged, low moisture, whole milk kind). After baking pizza, top it with a bit of grated parmesan. Top with a bit of finely chopped fresh basil (I’ve read that he uses fresh oregano too). Also important to buy very high quality tomato product for the sauce (he probably adds high quality olive oil to the sauce. This is on my bucket list too! So many ideas for posts, so little time…
Really good quality dough. The recipe is almost identical to Tony Gemignani’s pizza crust video on YouTube and elsewhere.
No matter. My only tweak was to use Caputo 00 Chef’s Flour, which gives me great results even on my home oven at 550°F.
Thanks for the included tips and other useful notes.
Glad you liked it! I have Tony’s book (but haven’t checked out his YouTube channel), but haven’t gotten around to trying his pizza doughs, but will have to some day soon. The only other dough I do make is a simple Neopolitan dough where I use Caputo’s in my BlackStone oven at much higher temps – will try to make a NY pizza hybrid with it (with the oil and sugar) -sounds good! The Caputo flour is pretty amazing!! I’ve heard of many folks using half and half (All purpose and Caputo’s 00).
Thank you for getting back to me, Marie. I made a recipe in which Gemingnani’s name was listed as a co-author. It called for 7 cups of flour and 2 1/4 cups of water. That produced a rather dry dough that I almost fed to the garbage can. I decided to go with it anyway and after about 12 hours in the fridge the dough balls actually became more moist and pliable. The baked pizza was very good. Your recipe asks for about 5 1/2 cups of flour and the same amount of water. That’s a huge difference which produces a much wetter dough and a terrific open crumb which I like a lot. It’s worth the extra effort to deal with the wetter dough to get such a nice interior.
Thank you!!!
Can this recipe be doubled? I’m hosting a group of students and I’m going to try your dough. I have a Bosch that will easily handle a double recipe so it would save time. Also, have you ever used this dough on the grill? Thank you for posting, sounds like a great recipe!!!
Yep, it can be doubled – as for the grill, I haven’t recently. There are a few ways you can do that. you can form the pizza place on the grates for a minute or two, then flip, add topping and finish grilling. Heat can’t be too too high or it may burn too much. will depend on the power of your grill. Others have used a pizza stone propped up on two empty cans (like soup cans) or even bricks and use the grill like a pizza oven
I love this recipe but having trouble with transferring the pizza from the pizza peel to the stone, it keeps sticking. I’ve floured the peel and shake it to see how it will slide but once I put on the sauce and cheese it doesn’t slide off very well? Any tips?
you can use parchment paper on top of the pizza peel to transfer it to the oven. Sometimes, if you add too much sauce and/or cheese, it gets too heavy and it is hard to move. The other tip is to act quickly – the pizza will start to stick after a few minutes so try to launch the pizza right after you add the toppings.
Use cornmeal instead of flour on the peel. Quite slippery.