If you follow our Instagram or Facebook pages, you may have seen a recent post on our pizza oven. This week’s recipes (you 2 this week as a bonus!) are for just that, an authentic easy pizza dough you can cook at home, to make super tasty pizzas!
These pizza dough recipes will give you a base that is light, chewy, and super tasty. So, it doesn’t matter whether you’re a lover of the classic Margarita, Hawaiian, or Capricciosa, this is the post for you!
You won’t need a lot of equipment or ingredients, just some kitchen essentials: mixing bowls, rolling pin, jug, scales, pizza stone, and a stand mixer if you prefer. For ingredients, it’s: 00 flour or AP flour, yeast, and salt for both recipes, and sugar for the ‘quick’ method, for a speedy lift.
How to Make Pizza Dough
How about a quick Q&A?
Is making pizza hard? No, not at all. But, it is hands-on, and it does take time. If you’re making a ‘quick’ pizza, expect it to take about an hour. If you’re making a ‘slow’ pizza, then it can be a few hours, even over night.
Why so long? It’s about the flavour. The longer and cooler ‘prove’ that you’ll get from doing the slow method will develop a dough that’s chewy, light, and has more flavour to it than the ‘quick’ version.
Why do a quick dough? Well, as much as we all like a full-flavoured dough, time ain’t always on our side. When that’s the case, go for the quicker option, and you’ll be enjoying a great pizza sooner than you think!
Will pizza dough keep? Absolutely! Follow the recipes, but when you go to do the ‘proving’ on the bench, just bag it up in a couple of layers of plastic bag, and pop it in your freezer. But, remember to take the dough out at least 1hr before you want to eat, so the dough can thaw and begin to prove again.
How do you make pizza? It’s really easy: mix the ingredients, leave to grow, roll out, top and bake. Okay, that’s maybe an over simplification, but not by much. Whilst it’s easy to go into the chemical and fermentation processes that happen when yeast, flour, and water meet, that’s not necessary. Mix, grow, roll, top, bake, remember that and you’re all set!
Now, onto the all important part:
The BEST Pizza Dough Recipes
Here’s our best pizza dough recipe:
Pizza Dough - Slow Method
Equipment
- Mixing bowls
- Stand mixer
- Rolling Pin
- Scales
- Pizza stone or baking tray
Ingredients
- 153 gr ’00’/Bread flour
- 153 gr All-Purpose flour
- 200 gr Water lukewarm
- 8 gr fine Sea Salt
- 3 gr Active Dry Yeast
- 4 gr Extra-Virgin Olive Oil
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to the hottest it will go (around 240°C, fan 220°C, gas 9). Whilst heating, place pizza stones as high as possible in the oven.
- Combine flours and salt in a large bowl, or stand mixer bowl. Roughly divide in half, for the next step.
- In another bowl or jug, mix water, yeast, and the olive oil.
- When the yeast begins to foam, add it to the flour in the mixer bowl, and mix until combined, about 2-3 mins. Leave the dough to rest for 15 mins (autolyse).
- Add the rested dough mix add the remaining flour, and knead with your hands, or with your stand mixer, for 3-5mins on a low-medium speed.
- Cut into 2 equal pieces and shape each into a ball.
- On a board, or plate, add a heavy dusting of flour, and leave the dough covered with dampened cloth, for 3 to 4 hours at room temperature. You can also do this for 8 to 24 hours in the refrigerator, and this will develop a much better taste. (Remember: if you refrigerate the dough, it will need 30 to 45 minutes to come back to room temperature before you begin to shape it into a pizza.)
- To make pizza, place each dough ball on a heavily floured surface and use your fingers to stretch it, then your hands to shape it into rounds or squares. Top and bake.
And now, our Quick recipe!
Pizza Dough - Quick Method
Equipment
- Stand mixer
- Mixing bowls
- Rolling Pin
- Jug
- Pizza stone
- Parchment paper
- Pizza Peel
Ingredients
- 400 g ’00’/Bread flour
- 225 ml Lukewarm water
- 7 g Active Dried Yeast
- 1 tsp fine Sea Salt
- 1 tsp Sugar
- 2 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 tbsp Semolina for rolling dough
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to the hottest it will go (around 240°C, fan 220°C, gas 9). Whilst heating, place pizza stones as high as possible in the oven.
- Combine the flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a bowl, or bowl of a stand mixer. Add the water and mix to form a dough ball.
- If kneading by hand, place on a floured surface, and knead for 2-3mins, until silky smooth.
- Rest on a floured surface with a damp cloth to cover it for 30mins.
- Divide dough into 2 balls, and roll out each ball on a lightly floured surface. Each ball of dough should make a pizza about 15-20cm in diameter.
- Scatter the semolina over either a sheet of baking paper, or a ‘peel’, and lift the dough onto the surface.
- Begin to press and stretch the dough outwards until it forms a circle approx. 30cm in diameter. You can create a thicker crust by pushing from the centre out, and stretching towards the edge.
- Make sure the centre of the pizza is about 3-5mm thick, and the crust about 1cm deep.
- Top your dough with sauce, and your choice of toppings - don’t get carried away and add too much, or you’ll have a soggy centre that won’t cook properly.
- Let the pizza rest for 10-15 minutes prior to baking, this will encourage the dough to rise.
- When you’re ready, slide the pizzas onto the preheated stone, or a baking tray if you don’t have one, you can also leave the pizza on the parchment paper if you prefer, though this shouldn’t be necessary.
- Cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the base puffs up and goes golden and crisp.
Thanks for checking out this post on how to make authentic easy pizza dough. If you make this recipe at home, please come back and post a comment, or share a photo with the tag: #LarderPantryandGarden.
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