#Pizza dough like anything takes practice. The first thing you’ll notice is ingredients are key. Don’t skimp on the flour and yeast! A good Italian 00 flour is your best friend. The best I’ve found is Caputo. They call themselves the “Mill of Naples” for a reason! They slowly grind the wheat (No additives just wheat) which doesn’t damage the starch and protein. It’s soft and light which creates the perfect texture and airy thin crust that makes a #Neapolitan Pizza THE best you’ll try.
As for yeast I also use Caputo’s 100% Italian Dry Yeast. The smell it creates within your kitchen will sweep you into your local pizzeria and maybe into Naples! For salt I usually just use Kirklands fine sea salt. One of these days maybe I’ll use some Italian sea salt.
Water should be filtered and at room temperature. I pour about 90% of the water into a large mixing bowl and add the salt and yeast to it. I mix it until it’s dissolved and fully incorporated. Do this slowly and gently. Then by hand I slowly mix in the flour. Just a little bit at a time until it’s fully incorporated then add more. Reserve about 3-5% of the flour for later. Your dough shouldn’t be too sticky nor too dry. You may need to add a little water and or flour to make it the perfect consistency.
I find that the flour is your friend. A light dusting on the dough ball and your hands will allow you to handle it more easily. I transfer my dough into a lightly floured bowl from the one I used to mix in, cover it with cling wrap and let it sit for at least 4 hours. Actually 10-12 is even better! It should at least double in size and will do more. Once you’ve let it rise it’s time to separate into balls. You can get 4-6 decent sized pizzas from this.
Either place your dough balls into individual covered containers or you can get dough trays, which I have and use those to let your dough proof. This needs to be done for a minimum of 2 hours. Then you can put them into the fridge to slow the process down. I think the dough is perfect after 48 hours in the fridge. Pull it out 2 hours prior to use to let it come to room temperature.
Then you can make your favorite pizza with better than delivery crust in preferably a pizza oven like the Ooni I have. Toppings should be few and light, don’t pile them on. My favorite is #pesto sauce with crimini mushrooms and sautéed sweet peppers with pancetta along with a little fresh mozzarella and a light 4 Italian cheese mixture dusting. My Ooni cooks it fast at a very high temperature. It is so very tasty! In the words of Ferris Bueller “If you have the means I highly suggest you get one”. A pizza oven that is 😜
Dough Ingredients:
4 Cups of 00 Flour
4 Teaspoons of salt
2 Teaspoons of yeast
13 Ounces of water