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 late great Dough Doctor, Tom Lehmann.
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Making Pizza Dough at Home
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: The Big Secret (How You Proof the Dough)
My all-time favorite dough is NY style dough, which really is classic pizza dough that is stretched out into a thin crust pizza. This type of pizza dough contains water, flour, salt, instant yeast, and olive oil (and sugar especially when baking in a home oven, to help browning).
After it is mixed, it is proofed (left to rise/ferment) in the refrigerator for a minimum of 24 hours and up to 72 hours (it can also be frozen) – this is the big secret. 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. You can easily double or half the recipe to make 2 or 8 pizzas.
Fourteen Tips for Success
Tip 1: Choosing the flour
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: Adding the yeast
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: How much yeast?
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: Cold ferment that pizza dough!
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: Weigh those ingredients!
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: Add oil last
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: Flour your dough balls
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: Keeping those rims a bit puffy
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: Baking pizza in a home oven
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 or steel
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: Use just the right amount of sauce
Do not use too much pizza sauce – it will make your pizza soggy
Tip 12: Find the right kind of cheese
Do not use low fat cheese to top your pizza or pre-shredded 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 pre-shredded 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: Flour your pizza peel
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: Learn to launch that pizza
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 the Pizza Dough
A nice video (from The GoodFellas Pizza School of NY), showing how to stretch the dough:
How to Freeze Homemade Pizza Dough
- After mixing dough and dividing into balls, place dough in refrigerator for at least 24 hours.
- Place dough balls on baking sheet lined with plastic wrap or parchment paper, cover loosely with plastic wrap and freeze until firm (~ 2 to 3 hours or up to overnight).
- Wrap frozen dough balls individually in plastic and store in zipper-lock bags for up to 4 weeks.
- When ready to bake, transfer unwrapped dough into the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours before making pizza.
- Bring dough to room temperature for 20 to 60 minutes before baking (less time for hot kitchen/summer and more time for cool kitchen)
Questions? Please See My NY Pizza FAQ
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The Best New York Style Pizza Dough
Equipment
- pizza stone or pizza steel for baking
- Standing mixer optional
Ingredients
1X recipe ingredient below = about 3 Pounds of Dough (Original Recipe for Four 14-Inch Pizzas)
- 6 cups (796 g) all purpose flour or bread flour (28 oz per 6 cups)
- 2 ¼ cups (493 g) water barely cold water (17.4 oz per 2 ¼ cups)
- 1 teaspoon (3.5 g) instant dry yeast
- 2.5 teaspoons (15.6 g) salt
- 2 teaspoons (7.8 g) sugar
- 1 tablespoon (11.8 g) olive oil
1X recipe ingredients below = 1 Pound of Dough (~454 grams)
- 2 ¼ cups (274.5 g) all purpose flour or bread flour
- ¾ cup (170.2 g) water
- ½ teaspoon instant dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
Instructions
Mixing 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)
Dividing and Rising
- 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).
Assembly and Baking
- 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!
Notes
- Use of weight based measurements is highly recommended instead of US Customary. You will need a kitchen scale.
- METRIC amounts DO NOT correspond exactly to the US Customary amounts because, for example, 796 grams equals 6.4 cups (and most can’t measure 0.4 cups or 0.22 cups). Recipe was based on grams.
- Use the 0.5X; 2X; 3X buttons in recipe card.
- If you want to use the dough the next day, knead a little more (slow speed for about 8 to 10 minutes)
- If you have time to let the dough rest for 3 days, knead for 4 to 5 minutes, low speed or hand knead.
- After mixing dough and dividing into balls, place dough in refrigerator for at least 24 hours.
- Then, place on baking sheet lined with plastic wrap or parchment paper, cover loosely with plastic wrap and freeze until firm (~ 2 to 3 hours or up to overnight).
- Wrap frozen dough balls individually in plastic and store in zipper-lock bags to store for up to 4 weeks (longer may work, but results might vary).
- Before using, transfer unwrapped dough into the refrigerator for 12 to 24 hours before making pizza.
- Bring dough to room temperature for 20 to 60 minutes before baking (less time for hot kitchen/summer and more time for cool kitchen).
- 62% hydration, 0.4% yeast, 2% salt, 1.5% oil, and 1% sugar with a thickness factor of 0.08 using this calculator: http://www.pizzamaking.com/dough-calculator.html or this pizza dough calculator (which is easier to access).
Nutrition
Try these other pizzas and this NY pizza sauce:
Buffalo style (one of my absolute favorites)
White with prosciutto
White with spinach and feta
Pizza sauce
Sam says
I made the dough but haven’t yet made the pizza. Thank you for taking the time to put this together and for providing the bakers math formula. That made it very easy to convert to full metric and halve the recipe. Also, thanks for including the pizza shaping video.
I’m born-and-raised New Yorker but have lived out of state and I really, really miss the pizza!
I do have a question for you. You skip the bulk ferment of the dough and I’m curious why. Every resource I’ve come across – pizza included – talks about the importance of the bulk ferment. I’d love to get your insight.
I’ll come back and update my comments once I’ve made the pizza.
Marie says
Good question! Please see response 2 in this thread by the late Dough Doctor Tom Lehman – basically it’s cause this uses a king slow proof in the fridge https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=49155.0
Sam says
I made the pizza last night. The taste of the dough was fantastic and using the technique in the video I probably made the prettiest pie yet. I have an outdoor pizza oven and it was raining last night and we didn’t let the oven didn’t get quite hot enough. The pizza didn’t puff up quite as much as it normally does during cooking. The pie was more crispy than crispy-chewey. It tasted great but I’d give myself a B+ on this one. I have one dough left in the and will try again soon!
Ri says
Been using this for years. The video on shaping the crust was the key… Thank you
Phil says
Any advice for regular dry yeast in place of rapid rise? That’s all I have in the kitchen.
Also, this will be a room temperature rise (I’ll let it double, then make into balls). Any other tips with these deviations is much appreciated.
Kindest Regards from Los Angeles
Marie says
I use instant dry yeast and active dry interchangeably. I’ve never used rapid rise. Just make sure if you have active dry that you see if it needs activation (see instructions on label). As for room temp rise you’ll get less flavor and time depends on room temp and dough temp. Let it double and then ball it. Let balls rise until at least 50% larger or if you have several hours left before dinner you can refrigerate as it should continue to grow until it reaches fridge temp
Natalie J Bales says
I like using a high protein flour or a combination of “00” flour and semolina. Will you recipe work in a wood fire pizza oven?
Marie says
You could, it wouldn’t hurt, but you don’t need the addition of oil and sugar. For a high temperature wood ovens, I would recommend using the PizzApp (available in the App Store for free). I have been meaning to post some instructions on Neapolitan though hopefully soon!
Justin Bonita says
I only have a few hours. Is this ok if I make it and let sit in fridge for 7 hours
Marie says
For same day dough you’ll need a room temperature rise – then if you have extra time you can refrigerate but you will need time to bring back to room temp again. Not sure about temp in your home but I’d let it double on counter and then separate into balls etc
Dana says
Been using your recipe since 2015. Always good. Thanks for the note on where to put the pizza steel…I too had the same issues.
Tom says
Born and raised in Jersey, ate pizza all my life. This dough is easy and good. Just what it is supposed to be. I use 50 50 flour.
Brad Crawford says
I’ve tried several NY pizza dough recipes over the years and landed on yours several years ago. I haven’t tried another recipe since 🙂 I just wanted to thank you for bringing pizza joy to our family. “Pizza night” is a BIG deal in our house and the kids enjoy it almost as much as I do. Almost.
I recently came across a local bulk foods store that sells Tipo 00 flour imported from Italy. I couldn’t wait to try it with your recipe and the results were not disappointing.
For the longest time I used clay tiles in the oven but switched to a large, flat cast iron skillet a few years ago. It’s easier to clean and I find it produces the same results as the tiles or a pizza stone. My next step is to build a custom brick oven in the back yard and take it to the next level. I’ve tried one at a friend’s house and I can’t say enough how satisfying it is to watch the crust rise before your eyes in a matter of seconds.
Anyway, thank you again for the great recipe. Right now I’m using Rao’s pasta sauce for my pizza sauce but I’ll have to try your sauce recipe next.
Marie says
Pizza night sounds like so much fun! I love the idea of using cast iron and I’ve done that myself from time to time. Have you considered an Ooni oven? If/when my Blackstone dies, that’ll be my next purchase, but of course, a custom oven sounds very nice! Thanks so much for your note!
H. Hirsch says
Great pizza dough. Been using this recipe for a few years.
Had some friends over for pizza and was asked which
pizza shop I used. Enough said.
Talan says
Interesting you say to always weigh the but only give amount in volume (cups). you should add the weight into the recipe as well
Marie says
There is a button called “METRIC” that shows the weights instead of volume – I wish I could make this more prominent because some seem to miss it. I added a bold statement saying to click the button. Do you have any ideas how I can make this easier for readers? Maybe I will repeat that note within the ingredient list
Lucy says
So why have I always been so resistant to simply using a scale to measure my flour when I live @ 1800 feet elevation and it’s often humid here? I cannot tell you but what a difference a scale makes! If you have not tried using a scale, you should. This recipe is excellent as it covers everything from making your pizza now to freezing the dough for later. Thanks so much for posting what has become my favorite dough recipe! I will never make dough any other way now that I know how to make it in my mixer!!
Melissa Mulkey says
Any tips to get a browner crust? I’ve tried recipe twice and not sure what I’m doing wrong. My only guess is my oven only goes to 500° so I cook a little longer but the crust is very pale beige. Too long a rise in fridge ( 3 days)? Thanks!!
Marie says
you can try a few things – move the pizza stone or steel up closer to top of the oven (theory is the heated stone or steel with cook bottom and heat reflected from top with brown top) OR you can use the dough on day 2 instead of 3 (more sugars available in the crust to promote browning) or you can add a little more sugar.
Ben says
Diastatic dry malt powder, very little added to dry ingredients initially, maybe a slightly heavy half teaspoon to this batch recipe.
Em says
I had outstanding results with this recipe. It will be my go to recipe for NY style pizza from now on. This really is the best one – look no further.
Matt says
I’ve used this recipe many times and loved it. But, didn’t there used to be weight measurements for the ingredients? I just tried it by volume and my dough is… brick-like. I always measured it before and I feel like the flour amount is way off this time. Help!
Marie says
Yes you have to click the “metric” button for weight
Sierra says
Hi! I really like this dough but I think I made it wrong- I always measure on my scale and your grams don’t change when you change the recipe amount(.5,1,1.5,2x) just the cups!! I did the math and I’m trying again-I hope it turns out the same 🙂
clint says
You have one phenomenal pizza and sauce recipe Marie!
John McIlmunn says
John from Ireland,
Hi Marie…I’ve been using your recipe for a while now… as a regular visitor to Italy I’ve tried many pizza recipes over the years… this has become my go to pizza recipe… many thanks for sharing 👍
Marie says
That’s so nice to hear John! You’re so lucky to be able to visit Italy often. I’m very much overdue for a visit!
Vik says
What kind of topings did you use for this pizza?
Marie says
It’s a plain pizza – tomato sauce and cheese (mozzarella)
Anonymous says
I know you need to make ad revenue, but you may want to reconsider the actual positioning of the ads– there are ads actually covering the recipe so there’s no way for me to read your words. There’s no option to close the ad, either, so the recipe is incomplete for me.
Marie says
Thanks Anonymous (and recipe ratings are reserved for the recipe not for rating your frustration with ads). That said- you can report or hide ads by clicking on the little “M” (it looks like three lines) in the bottom corner of the Ad and use the drop-down box that will appear to describe the issue you’re having with the advertisement