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.
The best recipe I’ve found.
Hi Marie,
I made this dough many times with either all purpose flour and bread flour. It turned out great. I have few questions about flour combination: Will it be OK to use combination of flours: All purpose, Bread flour and 00 flour? sometimes I find myself running out of flour. Has anyone used a flour combination before? if so, How did it turn out. I can experiment but I just wanted if it has been done by any user in this page. Thanks!
You certainly can. I use bread or AP flour or in combination – I will also use 00 flour but try to reserve it for my pizza oven since the 00 that i use is more expensive and it is made for high temp baking (Caputo).
Thank you!!! Finally!!! I’ve been trying out dough recipes for over 10 years and you’ve ended my search. This recipe yields exactly the pizza dough we crave without needing to pay for take away. I’m so grateful for the how-to video on how to stretch the dough, I was doing it totally wrong. This is a super simple recipe- and measuring ingredients is way easier!
Hello,
If using active yeast, is the measurement the same as instant yeast?
For the brand I use (RedStar), it is a 1:1 substitution, however, other brands may use less yeast when substituting active dry..see here
Thankyou so much for this recipe and amazing advice! I’ve been making dough for a few years now, with excellent results and it’s all thanks to you!
The method is kind of a shortcut since it goes straight from the mixing bowl to the fridge.
Best dough recipe (duh dough Dr’s… I used them for my cracker crust. )
Video on shaping crust a must see.
Now I need a fresh milk supply. for mozzarella.
If I cut the recipe in half do I also cut the yeast in half?
Yes, you would cut yeast also (it is a percentage of the flour, so when you cut the flour, you cut everything else including yeast). Good question though!
Hi, my dough is fermenting, but I am confused on the flour part. 6 cups is not 28 oz or 796 grams. 28 oz and 793 grams is more like 3.5 cups. Is that what we are supposed to be using? I have a scale and am trying to be very exact.
The rest of the recipe ideas are spot on, especially the cheese. Can’t wait to try this, But please clarify the flour weight.
the most accurate is to use the grams, 796 grams which converts to approximately 28.078 ounces. I use King Arthur flour which has 120 grams per cup but universal measurement is 136 grams per cup. To get volume, 796/120 = 6.6 cups (for King Arthur flour) and 796/136 = 5.85 cups (for an average other brands). Look at the nutrition label on your flour and it will tell you grams per 1/4 cup if you’re in USA. I’m not sure how you get 3.5 cups?
Have made tons of pizza dough in my days, followed this recipe to the gram…horrible result. Dough was too wet to release from the hook, (no I did not add extra water or oil). HAD to add a bit more flour to get it to release. 2 days in refrigerator. Came out way too delicate to stretch…holes all through it…might want to check for typos cause this recipe isn’t correct.
I have also been making pizza for many years. It sounds like you did not measure correctly or did something wrong because this dough is 62% hydration with bread flour – if you’ve been baking for a while you know that is absolutely not a wet dough 🤷🏻♀️🤷🏻♀️
EDIT: in case you are baking at high altitude, here are some suggestions. It looks like at 3500 feet or more, more flour is needed according to King Arthur’s site – I have never baked at high altitude and have no experience with it.
same thing happened to me. I’ve been making Neapolitan pizza having lived in Naples it’s something I could not do without here in the US. I tried this recipe, measured it exactly and refrigerated it for over 3 days. When I got it out it had a layer of moisture, which I assume was the olive oil. I took it out let it sit for over an hour and it was horrible. I couldn’t get it off the peel at all. It tasted delicious though, you could taste that yeast just like NY style but I’m going to stick with my regular recipe without the olive oil and let it ferment for over 3 days.
Do you happen to be in a high altitude area and did you use a scale? Just curious…
Why would you use a NY style dough for a Neapolitan pizza?
If you lived in Italy, you must know that the dough is different and needs an insanely hot oven. I mean, it’s standardized there. How could such a small amount of olive oil create a layer of moisture in a dough?
Also, if you taste yeast, you’ve used too much. One has to use common sense when baking, just like everything else.
I believe the problem was that you used your machine this is a bulk cold ferment you just tumble all the ingredients together pretty quickly turn a couple of times and put it in the refrigerator when you take it out of the refrigerator shape it and then let it rise again
Could also be using a low protein flour…which hold way less water and are not suitable for NY pizza.
Interesting because the recipe calls for shaping into balls before putting in fridge. I like the recipe for the crust and have made many times but , with tweaks. I use more yeast. I find the oil coating to be a mistake; even the lightest of coating creates a gumminess. I don’t immediately put in fridge after shaping the balls but let them set a little while at room temp. Upon taking out of fridge after 3 days, I let them set longer than one hour. they form nicer bubbles, which is the hallmark of good, thin-crust Arthur Ave (Bronx) pizza.
Altitude and general humidity can impact the ratios. Also how much you knead, kind of flour used…
Sometimes crust recipes call for as much hydration as possible for fire baking because the steam release from the dough helps with the crust texture.
These might explain different results from the same recipe. You’ll probably want to tweak the recipe based on your local factors. The recipe worked for me as it but it is a bit on the wetter side which is good for cooking for a shorter duration with high heat which this recipe calls for (most electric ovens don’t go above the 500s unless you break the lock and set it on the cleaning cycle.
Brian, the symptoms you described amount to over-hydration, plain and simple. The recipe is a little heavy on yeast (should probably be .2% for a 96-hr cold fermentation, not .4%) — but since you said that it was too wet even as early as the mixing stage, we can eliminate IDY as a culprit.
You didn’t say what kind of flour you used or by what metric you portioned your ingredients. But as someone who is highly experienced making pizza, you well know that 62% hydration for a high-protein bread flour, is not unreasonable. The recipe is fine.
The most common mistake leading to over hydration, is using the wrong flour. For example 00 flour simply can’t absorb the amount of water called for in this recipe, and will end up soupy just the way you described yours. I use Canadian bread flour, which has the opposite problem — it’s much thirstier, so I need to push it to 70% hydration. But for 62% hydration, King Arthur BF should be just right, with adjustments depending on the elevation where you live. The other thing is, never portion your ingredients by volume (cups): always by weight. You probably know that well, but I’m throwing it in there just in case.
With all of these things in check, it narrows the possible culprits down to simple human error. It happens, and unfortunately you’ll typically never know you made the mistake no matter how hard you retrace your steps. It’s frustrating, but it happens.
Great recipe flavor and crispness.
This recipe is AMAZING. Truly I couldn’t believe how the dough stretched and tasted and was so easy to work with.
I have a question. My cheese melted/almost burned before my crust was brown on top.
Any tips. I cooked mine at the bottom of the oven because it’s gas and that’s where the broiler is. Should I put it at the top even though it’s further from the heat element? Cook it in broiler? Cook the dough for a minute before toppings are on?
yes, I know what you mean – in the past, I have frozen the cheese, which helps – also can try to drizzle a little olive oil on cheese, add a touch more sauce, and/or definitely make sure you’re NOT using finely grated cheese, which will melt a lot faster. Hope that helps a bit. What helps me the most is freezing the cheese…
Yes par bake the dough for 3-4 minutes with just the sauce, take out and decorate, then broil to finish.
According to Tom Lehmann:
“The yeast should never be allowed to come into direct contact with the salt, and when you have combined the salt and sugar, even in a slurry, you are leaving the door open to inconsistent yeast performance.”
https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=25247.msg255056;topicseen#msg255056
Instant dry yeast can be added directly to the flour, ADY should be hydrated, according to Tom.
“The problem though is that ADY doesn’t hydrate well by itself without warm (100F) water so if it is used in a dry mix inconsistent results are the order of the day, however when IDY is used in the dry mix and the dry mix is then added directly to the flour this actually becomes an acceptable way of adding IDY (mixed into the flour) so all is good for the yeast and excellent dough performance and consistency are achieved.
https://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php?topic=45656.0
Thanks Douglas! I typically follow the advice from Red Star/SAF which can be added directly to dry ingredients (even active dry yeast) – I suppose it doesn’t hurt to err on side of caution and hydrate it in case using other brands 🙂
People this is a great recipe for dough, easy you might have to use your brain a little, but always turns out great.
Agreed.
BEST PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE EVER! I’ve been using this recipe for just over a year, right after purchasing my Ooni (#freeadvertisement). I started out using as is w/ the bread flour (great pizza results) but then I found that ’00’ pizza flour and OMGosh, it’s a game changer! The hydration percentage of this dough is perfect and it comes together so easy if you have a scale (get a scale, worth it). I make the entire recipe, split into four containers, and let it sit in fridge for up to two weeks…I can’t rave enough about this recipe. Thank you!!!
Hehe, I also used this recipe in my Ooni with 00 flour. I wish I had a bigger one! I can only do a 12” pizza in my Karu. Good stuff!
Hi Marie,
I’ve been making your NY pizza recipe for years and my family loves it! Pizza night is always a hit, so thank you!
Side note: I recently came across a Youtube video by Adam Ragusea where he uses your exact recipe on his channel but doesn’t credit you for it. I know pizza only has limited ingredients and methods, so it’s hard to say any pizza recipe is truly original, but I just thought I would point it out.
Hi Jess – I’m so glad you like it! I’ll have to check out Adam’s channel. Thanks 🙂
do you use a dough hook or just the mixing paddle?
I use a dough hook
HI! Can I half the recipe by halving all the weights (that is, the grams and ounces). Will that be accurate enough for the recipe to come out the same?
yes, absolutely!
The pizzas turned out great. I used 80 degree water and that seemed to allow for a good amount of rise during the 3 days in the fridge. Next time I’ll cut out or back the sugar as the crust was a little dark on bottom. Make sure you let the dough come to room temperature or it will be tough to stretch.
I made this dough the other day and let it ferment for one day.We made two pizzas and they came out great.The crust was perfect.I couldn’t believe how stretchy the dough was. The video helped show how to work with the dough.I still have two balls of dough in the refrigerator. Can I freeze them now even though they have been in the refrigerator for three days now?
Yes, I have frozen the dough after 3 days – works fine 🙂