The Best New York Style Pizza Dough and 14 Tips for Success!!
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This NY style pizza dough recipe has been winning over home pizza makers for nearly 15 years, earning rave reviews from professional pizzaiolos and native New Yorkers alike. Many years ago, my own quest for the perfect crust lead me to this tried-and-true formula based on wisdom from the pizza masters at www.pizzamaking.com and the late great Dough Doctor, Tom Lehmann. With thousands of successful bakes and countless testimonials from both pros and Big Apple natives who say “this is the real deal,” this recipe continues to help home bakers achieve that authentic New York pizzeria experience in their own kitchens.
Important Variables
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!
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.
Stretching the Pizza Dough
A nice video (from The GoodFellas Pizza School of NY), showing how to stretch the dough:
Freezing the 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)
Pizza Dough Calculator
Need more dough? Less dough? Try out our new Pizza Dough Calculator to calculate the weights to get it just right!
More questions? Please see my NY Pizza FAQ
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The Recipe
📖 Recipe
The Best New York Style Pizza Dough
Equipment
- pizza stone or pizza steel for baking
- Standing mixer optional or hand knead
- kitchen scale highly recommended instead of volume measures
Ingredients
Original Recipe for Four 14-Inch Pizzas; want to make more or less? Use the pizza dough calculator
- 6.5 cups (796 g) all purpose flour or bread flour (weighing is most accurate!)
- 2 1/4 cups (493 g) water barely cold water (17.4 oz per 2 1/4 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
1 Pound of Dough (~454 grams) (use the pizza dough calculator to make more or less dough)
- 2 1/4 cups (274.5 g) all purpose flour or bread flour
- 3/4 cup (170.2 g) water
- 1/2 teaspoon instant dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 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 Pizza Dough Calculator
- 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).
- calculate your own using baker’s percentages: 62% hydration, 0.4% yeast, 2% salt, 1.5% oil, and 1% sugar or use my pizza dough calculator.
Also, how long do i cook the pizza for if my oven only goes up to 500 degrees?
Hi Sophie – It’s best to bake it for 6 minutes or less but you will probably need a few minutes longer since you are using a different temp. Check it at 6 minutes and then if needed just bake it until the crust is golden. Every oven is different.
Thank you for the super quick response! So excited to make this! 🙂
Hi Marie! I am thinking about making this recipe for my family but i am a little nervous! I normally use another recipe but this looks amazing!!! I was wondering if I can use a dough hook to knead the dough on a kitchen aid mixer? If so how long do I knead it and how can i tell it is done kneading?
Thanks!
Sophie
Yes, – I use my Kitchen Aid all the time. I do 4 to 5 minute knead with dough hook on slow speed for a 3-day cold rise. If you plan to use the dough after 1 night, I’d knead it a little longer – maybe 8 minutes or so .
Hi, I followed everything in mixing.. I used active dry instant yeast. I prepped everything and placed the ingredients in my kitchen aid mixer I used the paddle to mix. Then used the dough hook but the consitantcy of pancake mix and a little sticky. I weighed the mix out but only could make two 11.5 blobs. I put everything back together in a mixing bowl and placed it in the refrigerator. I am waiting now to see if it firms up in the next few days. Then I will try and make the dough balls. I’ve made dough before and it seems that the amounts of flower to water is low. Any advice? If I can’t save this then Im just going to junk it.
Note I did follow the active dry yeast and let it poof for 10 min before adding to the dry ingredients and added 1 t of sugar to the yeast , kinda like the sweet bread just a tad.
Hi! Hmmm…it should definitely not be like pancake batter. Not at all. I’m not sure what may have happened. This dough has a hydration value of 62%, which is not that wet. Is it possible that your scale is not working properly? I wish I could be more helpful. If it was only a little sticky, you should be okay, but this recipe doesn’t really produce sticky dough. I wish I could be more helpful:(
Thanks for the quick response. So should I throw it away? Also beside the way you make and use the active yeast vs idy but the amount used is the same?
I know exactly what is the reason for that- your flour. Each flour has different amount of gluten – less gluten > more flour is required, therefore the dough is more heavy. Look to Italian pizza flour or some other local (but more expansive=high quality one), I’m using the “bread” or “pizza” type and it is just perfect. But it took me time to find the one I really like.
Hello Marie! Well after that last post I figured out why my pizza dough looked so soggy and looked like goop for a better term. I used too much olive oil in the recipe. I put 3 TABLE SPOONS instead of teaspoon. Lol. I’ve gotten better and better everytime I’ve made pizza dough. The only issue I have now is the sauce. I cannot for the life of me make a fresh homemade sauce. I’ve googled for recipes and havent had any luck with an authentic NYC Pizzaria style sauce. Ove settled for some italian imported pasta sauce called Tuttorosso with tomato and basil and added Italian seasoning to the sauce and pizza dough while mixing. Anyone have a good sauce recipe. ?
Thanks again for the great Pizza recipe.
Btw bread flour is a must… Taste and handling of regular all purpose flour just doesn’t cut it for this NY style recipe. Where can I find wheat gluten to add to all purpose to make it similar to bread flour
Anyone with
Hi! I have been meaning to officially post a sauce recipe for some time now. I have one in the comments, but I know it would probably be difficult to read through so many comments. I will try to post later today. A good sauce is definitely a must. Keep in mind that the majority of the flavor will come from the brand of sauce that you use, so do some comparisons. Each week, buy different kinds a try then straight out of the can to see which you prefer. I usually like the imported ones the best.
I made my own and it was fantastic…. 3 Fresh tomatoes, small amount of tomato paste, garlic, salt, pepper, tiny amount of crushed red pepper, oregano, and fresh basil. add it all to a food processor and run until it’s saucy. Start off with small quantities, taste, then keep adding more of every ingredient until it tastes right to you.
Marie, Re your March 11 post –
Your hydration percentage is NOT 62% if using the metric equivalents that you give. It is 66%. Your conversions from oz to gm are incorrect. The correct conversion factor is 28.35 gm/oz. Using that, flour should be 794 gm, water 493 gm. (That gives the 62% number.) I haven’t checked if the gram quantities are correct for other ingredients – (they’re probably close enough in any case). You might want to fix these numbers, however. Thanks
Thank you Paul! I just rechecked the original recipe and the grams were a little off…sorry I use ounces for pizza but grams for bread. Very confused, I know. I am slowly moving toward using grams as it is more accurate and universal but old habit die hard. It is supposed to be a 62% hydration as NY style dough that I was taught to use in between 58 to 63% hydration. I’ve corrected the grams…
Thank you so so much for this post! I’ve been trying to make decent pizza dough for years. I stumbled upon your site this week and gave it a try. All I can say is that I will never (ever) use another recipe again!!! I followed all your steps and suggestions (even weighing out the flour and water) and everything turned out just as “promised” and it was super easy! The tips were so very helpful, especially the one about the amount of yeast. Turns out I had been using way too much yeast, lamenting about the flavor-less dough. Even adding extra sugar to try and compensate (hah, don’t laugh!) 🙂 Thanks again! I will never fear making homemade pizza again!!
That’s great, Deborah! I’m so glad that you enjoyed it. I used to use too much yeast also:) It’s probably a common mistake and I often see “popular” recipes that call for too much yeast. Enjoy!!
You are my new favorite person! I have been searching and searching for a good NY Style pizza crust! I was born and raised in upstate NY and worked in mom and pop pizza joints growing up – I moved away to the west and haven’t been able to find any pizza places that even come close to what I grew up with! I’m making this dough tonight and can’t wait to eat it tomorrow! My only question for you is how you mix your dough – by hand, hand mixer, or kitchen aid? Thank you Thank you Thank you!
Hi Danielle – if you are doing an overnight rise, I would use the KitchenAid, and mix it on low speed for about 8 minutes. I know some folks who do a very short knead, by hand, but then you’d probably need at least 3 nights in the fridge. Try both and see what you like better.
Hi Marie,
Just made your dough2 days ago made made first pizza last night, I’m so pumped it turned out great and handled REALLY well! What is your opinion on freezing the dough?
Great! Yes, you can definitely freeze the dough. I’ve done this when I have too much. I place the dough balls in separate plastic freezer bags and freeze. The morning that they are needed, place the dough (keep in bag) in the refrigerator to defrost and then remove from fridge 1 hour or so before you plan to bake.
Going to start my dough today! I’ve been wanting to try this recipe since I found it about 2 weeks ago, but trying to spread out my spending, lol. Still have to get a pizza stone, but I have hopes that I can find one close by. I want to surprise my husband, so I hope I don’t mess this up :/ He loves a good pizza!
Just one question. In the grocery stores where I live they sell a yeast for bread machines. I believe that the packages say Instant Dry Yeast. Is that what I’m looking for?
Hi Karen- I’ve never used bread machine yeast but it looks like it is the same accoding to the 7th question here: http://www.breadworld.com/faq.aspx
A word of caution: if you haven’t purchased a scale. Add flour slowly just until dough comes to tether and is only slightly sticky. All flours weigh different amounts and if you add too much the pizza will not be as good
Hi Marie, I have a regular oven (small) and the other oven is the type you can select to be regular or convection oven. I don´t have a pizza stone.
1. What settings in temperature should I use?
2. I have a rectangular flat sheet. Might it work as a pizza peel for the whole dough amount?
Hi Adriana – I would use the convection setting at 550 degrees. Your pizza will probably bake sooner than someone whose oven runs cooler. You have to keep an eye on it without opening the oven door if possible (ie, through the glass with the light on)
With regard to the lack of stone, I’ve used a metal sheet in place of a stone before but not as a pizza peel – if it’s flat, I guess it could work. I’m not sure what you mean when you say the “whole amount”. The recipe is for 4 dough balls that will give you four 14-inch pizzas. I suggest you scale down the recipe if you want to make only one pizza. Spread the dough onto a pizza pan and place it in the oven – it won’t be the same as a pizza baked on a pizza stone but it’ll still be very good…more “homestyle”
Hi Marie, when I say the whole amount, I mean the whole dough as one big pizza on the metal sheet; a big rectangular pizza.
That’s tough to say because I don’t know how big your sheet is; for NY style pizza, the slices are pretty thin. I’m fairly certain that if you use the whole dough amount you will end up with a very very thick pizza and the bake times would differ.
I would at least divide the dough in half so that you end up with 2 balls that are about 22 oz each – still thick pizza! Depends on how large you stretch the dough, etc.
I also don’t have a stone and need to use a round metal pan. Can I lightly oil the pan and stretch the dough out right on the pan?
Hi Natalie, sure that will still work but the pizza will have less of an authentic NY crust feel/taste. If you have a cookie sheet you can flip that upside down, place in oven, and heat oven up. In the meantime, form your pizza and lay it on a sheet of parchment paper and them slide the pizza with parchment onto the cookie sheet. You can use a pizza pan to transfer the dough and parchment. Just an idea. You can do it both ways and see how they compare.
Hi Marie.
I finally spent some time to do this recipe. I have been wanting to do it for some time now. Unfortunately it has been 24hours in the fridge and no rise 🙁
I just cannot figure out what I did wrong. It is like a rock! I did use wheat flour but still King Author’s. I did divide the recipe by 4 to make one pizza crust. I went back to store to buy Instant Dry Yeast instead of the one labeled Active Dry Yeast. I know nothing about it. Both are Red Star. The one I used says Quick Rise 50% faster Instant Dry Yeast. Could this be the issue?
My only other possible issue was using a machine to mix the dough. It has a dough paddle & it claims using it for pizza. Unless the amount of ingredients were off.
thank you.
Hi Christina – I’m sorry to hear that your dough is like a rock. I’m not sure what happened. The dough ball should weigh 11.5 ounces if you made just one. If it weighs more, then the ingredients were somehow off. I’m guessing too much flour if the dough is very hard. I’ve never made pizza dough with whole wheat flour and don’t have much experience with it – sorry – but I’d like to experiment with it someday soon. I also don’t have experience with the quick rise IDY. Here’s some more info on the yeast:
http://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-difference-instant-a-54252 By the way, the dough doesn’t really rise in the fridge but you’ll see some
“activity” on the bottom on the ball (if you have a clear plastic container, you can see this). If the dough isn’t too hard, let it sit for another day or even two – you may be surprised.
I’m working to add the measurements for a single dough ball for folks like you who only want to make one pizza
Hi Christina – I came across some information that stated wheat flours generally require much higher hydrations (ie, water) than all purpose or bread flour. I think that was part of your issue – if you are going to use wheat flour you must add more water. I can’t give you specifics but I just wanted to mention that this was probably part of your problem. Unfortunately, you can’t substitute whole wheat for bread flour in this recipe.
Your problem was indeed using whole wheat flour instead of bread flour. You cannot do a straight substitution of whole wheat flour for any other type of flour – not only are the required hydration levels vastly different, but the percentage of protein (very important in pizza dough) is also way off. If you’re going to try to add whole wheat flour to a recipe that doesn’t call for it, then you should replace at most 1/3 of the AP or bread flour with whole wheat flour. That will keep the protein percentages from getting too far out of whack, and the hydration levels required shouldn’t be too different (though you’ll still probably need to add an extra 1/4-1/3 cup of water).
I’ve been looking a long time for a good NY Style pizza dough recipe, and though my first batch is still fermenting in the fridge, it sure looked and smelled like the real thing based on the few times I’ve been lucky enough to get into a genuine pizza kitchen!
The recipe looks great and great technique – definitely gonna try this out!! I showed the video to my Mom and she instantly gave two minus points for having a ring on and no apron on when cooking, heh!
Hi Marie,
They washed the flour just to show what gluten looked like, it wasn’t part of the recipe.
I usually have to read something 3 or 4 times before I get it right.
David
Hi Marie,
One place I have seen this is at Americas test kitchen, search NY Style pizza on their web page. It seems like a lot of extra work and don’t know of any benefit, I’ll have to back and see if I can see why. Thank you,
David
I hydrated my last batch of dough. I put 2 cups flour, 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar and 1.5 cups water into a mixing bowl and mixed well, then covered it and left it overnight. It was like a thick pancake batter. This morning the dough was already nice and gummy before I added the remaining flour and the rest of the ingredients. It seems like the dough set-up faster, it was already pulling cleanly away from the bowl as soon as I began kneading.
It’s really not too much more effort. I spent 10 minutes last night, another 20 minutes this morning. If you want to try using whole wheat flour, this method definitely makes a dough comparable to a white flour dough.
Hi Bob – I don’t use a pre-ferment for my dough anymore, but I used to use Jeff Varasano’s method using a starter. Similar idea, I guess – the dough was really very flavorful. I’d like to try a preferment sometime, but just wanted to put this basic ny style dough out there because there is definitely a lack of true NY style dough recipes out there. It’s great to see suggestions on how to modify and individualize the dough to your own tastes. Thanks!
Hi Marie,
I am new to this and have been reading a bit on the internet and have a question for you.
I have seen some recipes call for washing the flour first, can you comment on this procedure?
Hi David – I’ve never heard of “washing the flour”. Do you mean an autolyse period, where you allow the flour and water to sit undisturbed in the bowl for 20 minutes or so? If that’s what you are referring to, no – I don’t use that procedure to make pizza. From what I’ve read, that is more geared toward the breadmakers. Still, I have heard of people that do this for pizza, but I can’t say the effects because I haven’t done this in while and I don’t believe it’s used for making authentic NY dough.
I’ve only been making pizza dough for about 6 months. I still get a slightly crispy bottom using a pizza stone. It seems my dough works better on a metal pan if I want a softer crust. I tend to make my dough a little wetter, which makes using a peel difficult — the perfectly round pizza ends up oval-shaped after shaking the dough off the peel onto the stone.
There are a few tricks I’ve been using lately. The first one is using my microwave oven as a proofing box. I put a bowl of water in, bring it to a boil, then place the 3 cup round zip-loc container of dough in there to rise. I stick a remote thermometer in to see how warm it is, usually around 90 – 100 degrees. It helps speed up the rising by waking up the yeast.
Another trick is adding a tablespoon of organic apple cider vinegar to give it a slightly sourdough flavor.
I’ve also tried different beers in place of water. That seems to give the dough a nice musky taste. A 12 oz bottle of beer in place of 1 1/2 cups of water.
The sauce is usually just any can of stewed, diced, chopped, or whatever tomatoes — uncooked, with just salt, pepper, oregano and basil. Pureed if it isn’t already that way out of the can, seeds removed if possible (they seem to make the sauce a little too bitter. a dash of sugar can sometimes offset that bitterness.)
I’m going to take some of your tips, and experiment some more. Thanks.
Hi Bob! Thanks for stopping by and for commenting. I’ve heard of folks using beer and vinegar to impart flavor. I’ll have to try it sometime!
I’d love to hear your opinion on the cold rise dough. I’m assuming you do a same-day dough using a warm rise (the microwave method that you mentioned)? If you use the cold rise in the refrigerator, I think you may be able to use your peel more effectively because the dough will change considerably even at the higher hydration that it sounds like you use. Be sure to rub flour into your peel using a circular motion – that helped me considerably and also to flour each side of your dough ball before opening them up.
I used your tip, rubbing the flour into the peel. Then I used a mesh strainer to sprinkle more flour on top of that, to avoid bare spots. That helps. I think I just need to master the technique. Shorter, quicker jerks, a little higher angle.
I usually divide my dough up into 4 3-cup ziploc containers, stick 3 in the fridge for the week, then warm rise one to use immediately. The last portion in the batch usually has the best flavor, 4 or 5 days later.
I also found that I’ve been cooking too long. I shortened my cooking time to 4, 4.5 minutes and used room temp sauce, cheese and toppings. Now the crust is nice and just on the verge of being crispy, instead of being all crunchy.
As for getting it cleanly off the peel…when ready to slide in the oven, take a piece of dental floss and run it between crust and peel. Transfers perfectly from peel to oven every time.
Great tip!
Touchdown!!! This recipe is a keeper & my daughter was delighted to see me throw the round pizza dough in air, the dough was workable & not sticky or spongy..great pizza shop quality dough that made me so happy & elated. What was so great is how easy it was to make, stored it overnight in fridge in airtight containers..I removed it from fridge & let it rest on the counter the next day for a few hours & it rose some while coming to room temperature. It cooked great & was absolutley delicious. I really can’t thank you enough!!