So, you want to know how to make the Best NY style pizza dough recipe? This is my favorite recipe for thin pizza crust! I promise you, it won’t disappoint. It’s very 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.
How to make pizza dough at home
It is really super easy to make pizza dough at home. Simply mix up the flour, salt, yeast, and sugar, then add your water. Once the water has all been absorbed, add the oil and continue to mix for several minutes. Then let the refrigerator do the work for 1 to 3 days (ferments the dough = FLAVOR) and you will have the best pizza dough recipe ever!
Even though it is easy, 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)
My method makes it simple though so don’t worry – this is easy!
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 – as I said, 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! Seriously, this is the best pizza dough recipe!
The best pizza dough recipe (let the refrigerator do the work!)
My all-time favorite dough is NY style dough, which is just another word for thin crust pizza. 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 (3-day cold proof as they call it) (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.
How to stretch NY pizza dough?
See this link for a great video showing how to stretch the dough!
The Best New York Style Pizza Dough (thin crust pizza)
The best, authentic NY pizza dough recipe for making pizza dough at home. This is the best thin crust pizza ever! 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
Does the water have to be warm?? Doesn’t specify?
Luke cold water is what I use
I have a Kalamazoo outdoor pizza oven (natural gas, stone base). Is this dough suitable for a pizza oven at higher temps or is it better for a regular oven and pizza stone? I just make this for the first time, 72 hour cold rise as you suggested. I found that the crust did not get as crisp as I wanted, when baked at probably 700-800 degrees in the pizza oven
I don’t normally use my pizza oven for this dough. What type of flour did you use? I usually use Caputo 00 for my black stone oven which reaches similar temps that you describe. How long did you bake? Also, for shorter bakes I find that reballing my dough works wonders for crispness. Also for my Neopolitan doughs I usually use a different formulation (00 flour, water (60% or so), salt (2.5 %), and yeast (0.5%))- mix well til windowpane and then let rise for 8 to 12 hours from temp and **reball ** about 2 hours before use.
Can this dough be frozen if I make a double batch? It’s a pain to plan this for everytime we want pizza so I was wondering if I freeze it after the 72 hr ferment, will it still be usable? If so, do i need it to proof again or will allowing it to come to room temp be fine?
for those with tempermental ovens, allow the stone to reheat properly between pizzas so that the crust gets properly browned.
Yes you can freeze the dough and don’t have to wait until three days. I sometimes freeze after 1 day
Comparing your volume measurements to weight measurements, I believe that there are discrepancies. If you use King Arthur AP or Bread flour they are both about 120 gr per cup (see their weight chart: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/ingredient-weight-chart.html. So, 6 cups of flour would be 720 gr.not 796 gr as per the recipe.
The water: 1 cup water weighs 236 gr, so 2 1/4 cps should be 531 gr or ml, not 492 gr or ml
Olive oil should be about 14 1/2 not 11.8
Could you please clarify whether I should try this recipe with the weight that you have listed or should I go with the measurements?
Thsns!
Yes, this always causes some confusion because the recipe was developed based on bakers percentages and so the weight measures as stated, are the most accurate. For those who prefer to use volume measures, I estimated the closest volume measure. Most confusion stems from assuming I used the volume measures to convert to weight but the volume measures were approximated based on weight (and it wouldn’t be helpful to tell someone to use say 3.18 cups of flour, 0.862 teaspoons or something like like if you know what I mean…I hope that helps:)
Hi Marie,
Thanks for the clarification. Can I then safely make this dough using gram weights listed? The reason that I wanted to try this dough out was, that it looked like real New York pizza. My wife, like you, is an Italian from Philly, but moved to New York in her 20s, and I am a Canadian that used to go to there on business. We now live in South Florida and cannot find thin, oily, New York-style pizza that was available on almost every street corner. Some pizzerias advertise New York pizza, BUT IT ISN’T! I will certainly give this recipe a try…..and hope for the best. The success of this pizza will also depend upon the cheese used.
Thanks,
Michael
I have been making homemade pizza for many years, trying different crusts. This is it! I started the dough 3 days ago and made pizza today, my first attempt at this recipe. It was Perfect, very flavorful, crispy crust but still a bit chewy, great texture, no problem eating by hand. Better than any pizza chain, and better than any crust I’ve ever made. Can’t wait to start trying different flavors with this recipe! Thanks for sharing the knowledge, and the love!
Thanks for your great advise can’t wait to try this .
I’m a cook by trade (or was anyway, for 20 years), and I’ve been making pizza for decades, both at home and at work. I’ve been searching for the perfect pizza dough, and I’m pretty darn sure this is it. I live in Chicago, and have never had a Pizza in New York, and I’m not taking sides in the great NY vs Chi pizza debate. But the combination of crispy outside and slightly chewy interior of this crust makes it a winner in my recipe book. I shall search no further!
Awe thanks! It’s comments like this that make my day 🙂
I’ve been using this recipe, and sometimes the Joe comes out crispy in chewy which I like, but sometimes it comes out just chewy with no crisp. I’m taking care not to use too much sauce or toppings what am I doing wrong in the dough recipe, what can I do to change the texture to a more crispy texture? Appreciate any advice! thank you!
It could be a few different things so it’s hard to say. Is it cooked long enough to get that crisp? If yes, try mixing your dough a little longer or even reballing your dough after 24 hours to add crisp.
THE BEST DOUGH I HAVE MADE!
USED AT 72 HOURS
SUPER EASY TO WORK WITH
hi
i am making pizza for a dinner party. is it possible to pre cook the bases before loading the toppings and cook it which veggies and cheese once they come? I have to make 8 pizza and only have one oven so looking for time saving technique
thanks
I have never done this before for NY style. If you bake this style pizza without toppings it can puff up and bubble. I’d suggest simply stretching the balls out and layering between sheets of wax paper or aluminum foil to prepare
thankyou so much, i wouldn’t cook it on the aluminum foil or wax paper would i? I would slid it onto the pizza stone before cooking?
Looking forward to trying this recipe! What’s the speed & mixing time of using a mixer? Also do you use a paddle or dough hook? I’m trying to make a crispy/bubbly crust…any tips?
I use a kitchen aid and use a dough hook. For mixing speed, I usually use speed 2 or 3 and run for 4 or 5 minutes until gluten develops (you will be able to stretch the dough) (when gluten has not developed, the dough will just break off if you try to stretch it)
I’ve been using your recipe for the last 2 years and each time the pizza is absolutely delicious. Thank you for sharing this!
This week I used type 00 flour and I didn’t have to modify anything with the recipe, just substituted all purpose flour with type 00.
Hi. When mixing and kneading the dough, do you use a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment? Thank you
Yes I do, you can also hand knead but it would take a bit longer
if i dont ahve a stone can i use a pizza pan
yes, definitely. I used to flip over mine and use it like a pizza stone (preheat it and then slide my pizza on it using parchment paper)
I just finished eating lunch. We tried this recipe and loved it. I have been experimenting with a few different NY style crust recipes and this has been the best so far. (My other attempts resulted in a much puffier crust, resulting in more of a Neapolitan style.)
It made 4 dough balls, though they were a little on the small side. I made 2 pizzas and used the other two for garlic knots. Roll it out like a pizza, then cut into strips with a pizza cutter, tie each strip into a knot & bake on a sheet for 4-6 minutes. When they’re done, brush on garlic butter & sprinkle with parmesan cheese. It’s a great starter that can be baking while putting the first pizza together. The kids were begging for more!
What temp should water be?
I use room temp water or water that is on the cooler side.
Can I half this recipe down the middle or will I have to adjust something to make it work?
You should be able to half it with no problems
Awesome recipe! Ive used it about 8 times so far making 4 pies each batch and it keeps getting better and better. The tips also helped me tons, so thank you. I’m using 00 flour and some amazing tomatoes (Bianco diNapoli from CA), and the best ingredients I can find. The results are better than most my favorite local pizza joints! Thank you again
Would it work if I mixed “00” extra fine flour with all p
I’ve not tried it but I’ve heard people do it and like it! Let us know how you make out
Love this Recipe! has anyone tried to double it and freeze it?
It freezes well. Make sure to divide the dough into single pizza portions and place in freezer bag. I usually transfer to fridge the morning I plan to bake.
I assume that you freeze it after it rises?
Yes that’s what I would do
Good recipe. I tried it twice and had mixed results. The first time the dough rose whole in the fridge a little bit (not too much, but enough that it was noticeable), but the second time the dough rose a lot more and completely filled out my quart sized container! Trying to figure out where the difference between both times was… Either way the dough was very good and makes fantastic pizza.
My guess would be starting dough temperature which could rise either due to warmer water or longer mixing times in stand mixer
I mixed up a half of a batch last night and baked it for lunch today in two cast iron 12″ skillets. It was just as great as delivery and better than some delivery. I have mixed up 1.5 batches tonight to let sit in the fridge for the next 3 days for our Friday night dinner. It is going to save a lot so we don’t order in while we will be just as excited for a yummy treat on Friday. I do not have a kitchen scale so I ended up using a shipping scale which worked perfectly fine to weigh the flour and dough balls at the end.
I am confused over the Water 2 1/4 cups seem less than 493g of ml. 493 g of water seemed like a lot of water for 6 cups of flour. Also 2 1/4 cups of water seemed kind of dry. Had to add some .
Is it possible that you used 1 1/4 instead of 2 1/4? Because the dough should be not dry at all…I would humbly suggest you try again and if you can get a scale it will be well worth the small investment 🙂 but even without it you can make great dough just double check your meaurents and make sure you are using 2 1/4 cups water
I used a scale except for the water. I used less than 2 1/2 cups. Came out good. In the frige now, cant wait to try it. Thank you.
Do you sift your flour first?
You left out what to do with the dough balls. Cautioned not to degas dough balls, but went straight to sauce. No rolling pin earlier in recipe. I’m sure we’re talking about rolling by hand.
Looks like a very good recipe. TY for the tips, will ck them out.
Just bought some Caputo “00” flour. Curious if you have any input on it.
I use 00 Caputo a lot! But I use it in my Neopolitan style dough and bake in my pizza oven at 900 degrees. I haven’t tried it yet for NY style. Have been meaning to do a comparison but never got around to it. I like to make Detroit style, NY style, and Neapolitan pizzas and mix it up..
Thanks for these tips. My pizza dough is decent, but always looking to improve it. The tip of using less yeast is what I tried yesterday. Definitely made a difference, I will continue to use this great tip.
Last year I upgraded to a baking steel for my home oven pizza baking. It is an improvement over a basic stone. I highly recommend a baking steel.
Also, I prefer to make a pizza/pasta sauce(rustic, slightly thick and chunky) I love the can of whole San Marzano(basil leaf) tomatoes. I serve it on the side in a bowl. I bake my pizzas dry, no sauce on them. Just a personal preference.