I have been making this pizza dough ever since it was published in Bon Appetit a while back. It has even replaced my go-to recipe for our wood-fired pizza oven so that tells you just how good it is. I have gone back to baking my pizzas in a pan! It results in a thicker crust, but it is nice and crispy and chewy and has a fantastic texture.
This dough is very forgiving and most times I will make it in the morning and put it in a very large bowl, cover it and let it rise all day until it is time to bake pizza. I find that the longer the dough rises, the better the flavour is. I have even put it in a plastic bag and kept it in the fridge for a few days before baking it and it was fantastic.
So back to the wood-fired pizza oven, because this dough has a quite a bit of oil in it, it is very difficult to put on a pizza peel and slide onto the stone. I can tell you this because I tried it and ended up with a really ugly looking calzone stuck to the bottom of my pizza oven! It smelled really good until it started to burn, but then at least I could scrape it off and start over. So if you do decide to slide it directly on to your stone, ensure you sprinkle lots of cornmeal down first ! That’s when I decided to make the pizza on a baking sheet and put the sheet directly on to the stone. That pizza was terrific!
If you don’t have a pizza oven, no worries, this pizza will cook up beautifully in a really hot oven. I like at least 450ºF. Remember to always put your pizza stone in the oven before you turn it on, this way it will have lots of time to absorb the heat. It is a good idea to let the oven come to temperature and then wait at least another 10-15 minutes for the stone to get really good and hot. If it is a hot day and you still want to make pizza, you can use your gas/propane bbq to cook your pizza, just put your pizza stone on the grill and let it heat up and away you go – a pizza oven outside!
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for bowl, plus more for pan
- 2 teaspoons sea salt
- 4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ c warm water
- Whisk together yeast and 1½ cups warm water (105–110°) in bowl of stand mixer; let stand until yeast starts to foam, about 5-10 minutes.
- Add in 2 Tbsp. oil, then flour and sprinkle salt on top.
- Using dough hook, mix on low speed until dough comes together, then continue to mix with dough hook until smooth and soft. This usually takes about 5 - 7 minutes.
- Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turning it a few times so that it is well coated. Ensure the bowl is large enough that will allow the dough to at least double, more is better. Cover loosely with plastic wrap.
- At this point you can refrigerate the dough if using the next day. If using same day, put in draft free spot and let rise. If the dough starts to climb over the top, gently push down with the palms of your hands through the plastic wrap.
- Best if you let rise at least 4-6 hours, preferably 8.
- When ready to make pizza,coat a sheet pan or a cookie sheet with raised edges liberally with olive oil. Gently turn dough out of bowl onto pan. Let it rest for 10 minutes before attempting to work with the dough.Then using your fingers work the dough out into the pan, if it starts to spring back, let it rest again. You may need to do this a few times before you have it reaching all sides.
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let it rise again about 30 minutes. At this point put your pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 450 degrees. Once the dough has puffed, gently spread your sauce and add your toppings.
- Place on pizza stone and bake for about 15-20 minutes or until golden around the edges and cheese is melted.
- With a wooden or metal spatula, slide the pizza onto a wooden cutting board. Let sit for 5 minutes before slicing.
- Adapted from Bon-Appetit
Hi Tammy,
I can’t wait to try this! Would you adjust the recipe in anyway if you were to use 00 pizza flour?
🤤
Hi Sam. I have been using the 00 flour and find that it requires about 1/2 cup less. I added 2 1/2 cups to the liquid at the beginning and then added it a few tblsp at a time until it came together. Makes a really nice crispy crust.
Thanks Tammy! I will let you know how it goes.