Easy Homemade Pizza Dough

I've been making Giada's pizza dough recipe for years ever since my cousin Christine told me she makes it. I recently asked her if that's what she still makes, and she said she mostly makes the Sally's Baking Addiction pizza dough recipe these days, as well as the Stromboli recipe which uses the same dough. I finally gave it a try today and it was really good!

I used active dry yeast and let the dough rise for 1.5 hours, then punched it down and let it rise another 1.5 hours before I divided it and spread it in pans. The recipe doesn't say to punch it down, but I had the extra time and I'm used to doing that. I also used Caputo 00 Flour instead of all-purpose.

This recipe makes two 12" pizzas. I like making 3 pizzas because that perfectly uses up one 16-ounce block of mozzarella that I slice up (I never use shredded mozzarella on my pizzas). Since I had never made this recipe before, I did 1.5 times the recipe which worked out fine for 3 pizzas. My pans are 14" big, so next time I think I will double the recipe and see if I like it more with a slightly thicker crust.

Since it's a Friday in Lent, my topping options were limited. One of my sons will only eat cheese pizza, so I made two cheese pizzas with sauce and one "white" pizza with ricotta. I have not made a ricotta pizza in a very long time so I just experimented and I thought it came out pretty good. I like to use ricotta with simple ingredients like the Galbani Double Cream version or Galbani Classic version. I lightly sautéed a few cloves of chopped garlic in olive oil and spread that over the sliced mozzarella. Then I mixed about 8 ounces of ricotta with salt, pepper, oregano and some Romano cheese and spread that on top of the mozzarella and garlic/olive oil mixture and then put more grated Romano cheese on top. Next time I'll put the mozzarella on top of the ricotta to see which way I like better.

This recipe was really good. My husband and sons seemed to enjoy the extra crunch from the cornmeal (my mom has used cornmeal on her pizza pans for years but I usually just use olive oil on my pans). I'm happy to have another delicious pizza dough recipe to use so I'm not always making the same one!

Easy Homemade Pizza Dough

Recipe Courtesy Sally’s Baking Addiction

 

Follow these basic instructions for a thick, crisp, and chewy pizza crust at home. The recipe yields enough pizza dough for two 12-inch pizzas and you can freeze half of the dough for later. Close to 2 pounds of dough total. This recipe is also in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.

 

1⅓ cups (320ml) warm water (about 110°)

1 Tablespoon (13g) granulated sugar

2¼ teaspoons (7g) Platinum Yeast from Red Star instant yeast (1 standard packet)*

3½ to 4 cups (438–500g) unbleached all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed

2 Tablespoons (30ml) extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing 

1 teaspoon salt

Sprinkle of cornmeal, for dusting the pan

 

Whisk the warm water, granulated sugar, and yeast together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or paddle attachment. Cover and allow to rest for 5 minutes. If you don’t have a stand mixer, simply use a large mixing bowl and mix the dough with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula in the next step.

 

Add the flour, olive oil, and salt. Beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

 

Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 5 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 5 full minutes. If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise.

 

Rise: Lightly grease a large bowl with oil—just use the same bowl you used for the dough. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 60–90 minutes or until double in size (see note at the bottom of recipe for rise time depending on which yeast you use).

 

Preheat oven to 475°. Allow it to heat for at least 15–20 minutes as you shape the pizza. (If using a pizza stone, place it in the oven to preheat as well.) Lightly grease baking sheet or pizza pan with olive oil. Sprinkle lightly with cornmeal, which gives the crust extra crunch and flavor.

 

Shape the dough: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release any air bubbles. Divide the dough in half. (If not making 2 pizzas, freeze half of the dough for another time. See freezing instructions below.) On a lightly floured work surface using lightly floured hands or a rolling pin, gently flatten the dough into a disc. Place on prepared pan and, using lightly floured hands, stretch and flatten the disc into a 12-inch circle, about 1/2-inch thick. If the dough keeps shrinking back as you try to stretch it, stop what you’re doing, cover it lightly for 5–10 minutes, then try again. Once shaped into a 12-inch circle, lift the edge of the dough up to create a lip around the edges. I simply pinch the edges up to create the rim. If using a pizza stone, place the dough directly on baker’s peels dusted with cornmeal.

 

Cover dough lightly with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel and allow to rest for a few minutes as you prepare your pizza toppings.

 

Top & bake the pizza: Using your fingers, press dents into the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling. Lightly brush olive oil over the top of the crust (optional). Top with the toppings of your choice and bake for 13–15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

 

Slice hot pizza and serve immediately. Cover leftover pizza tightly and store in the refrigerator.

 

NOTES:

Freezing Instructions: This recipe yields enough dough for two 12-inch pizzas, a little less than 2 pounds (900g) total. After the pizza dough rises and you divide the dough in half (step 5), you can freeze one of the balls of dough to make pizza at a later time. Or you can simply freeze both balls of dough separately. Lightly coat all sides of the dough ball(s) with nonstick spray or olive oil. Place the dough ball(s) into individual zipped-top bag(s) and seal tightly, squeezing out all the air. Freeze for up to 3 months. To thaw, place the frozen pizza dough in the refrigerator for about 8 hours or overnight. When ready to make pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator and allow to rest for 1 hour on the counter. Preheat the oven and continue with step 5, punching down the dough to release air if needed.

 

Overnight/All Day Instructions: Prepare the dough through step 3, but allow the dough to rise for 8–12 hours in the refrigerator. (If it needs to be in the refrigerator for longer, use cooler water (about 70°) in the dough, which will slow the dough’s rise and allow for more time.) The slow rise gives the pizza dough wonderful flavor! When ready, continue with step 4. If the dough didn’t quite double in size overnight, let it sit at room temperature for 30–45 minutes before punching down (step 5).

 

Yeast: Red Star Platinum yeast is an instant yeast. You can use active dry yeast instead. The rise time will be at least 90 minutes.

Ooni Cold-Proof Pizza Dough

This year we had our fourth annual 4th of July pizza party. Last year I made 4 recipes (16 12" pizzas) and made all of the pizza dough the morning of the party. It worked out fine, but this year I wanted to invite more people which meant more pizzas, so I wanted to try the Ooni cold-proof pizza dough. This is basically the same Ooni pizza dough recipe I have always made but with less yeast, and it proofs in the refrigerator for 24-72 hours (rather than on the counter for 2 hours), then you divide it into individual dough balls before the final 5-hour rise (rather than 1 hour) where it comes to room temperature before stretching the dough and topping and baking the pizzas. This is the perfect recipe to use if you can plan ahead and don't want to do all of the work in one day, which is ideal when making so many pizzas.

I highly suggest weighing the ingredients for accuracy - I weighed everything but the yeast, only because my scale doesn't have decimal weights for grams.

Since my party was on a Friday, I made 6 recipes of dough (two triple recipes in my Ankarsrum mixer, which is enough for 24 12" pizzas) on Tuesday, and then took them out of the fridge around 12:30pm on Friday and divided the dough into 24 250-gram dough balls and put them in Pizza Dough Proofing Boxes (you can also use Silicone Dough Proofing Containers). It would help next time to separate the second batch into dough balls 30-60 minutes after the first batch, so that dough doesn't over proof by the time I use it. My last dough ball was only about 165 grams, but my husband used it to make a dessert pizza so it worked out well. I started making the pizzas around 5:30pm and it took about 2 hours of pizza making before they were all finished baking. We had 5 pizzas left over, which was great because it meant I didn't have to cook the following night! I gave one to my brother-in-law who was working and sent some leftovers to my brother, so we fed 25 people in total.

This was my first time making this much dough in my Ankarsrum mixer, which I bought last year right after we had our 4th of July party (last year I made 4 recipes the morning of our party, one at a time, in my KitchenAid mixer, which took over an hour and strained the motor). This new mixer didn't struggle at all with 3 recipes in each batch! I mixed each batch of dough for about 15 minutes, so it took me almost half the time as last year to make a lot more dough. I realized that I need some bigger bowls to proof the dough in the refrigerator, but other than that this worked out much better than last year, and the dough was much easier to stretch and work with too.

This year I kept it simple with the toppings, because last year when I had onions and peppers and fresh tomatoes I hardly used them - everyone just kept asking for cheese, pepperoni and sausage pizzas. So I mostly made those three again this year, but I also made some with pepperoni and sausage, sausage and olives, and two with fontina cheese, prosciutto and arugula (my personal favorite).

Once the first pizza was in the oven and I took a picture of it, I didn't take any more pictures since I was busy making pizzas. My husband took a few photos of the baked pizzas which I included below.

From now on, as long as I can plan at least 24 hours in advance, I'll be making this recipe instead of the regular recipe, because this dough was so much easier to work with, and the pizza was the best I've made yet!

A few more notes from my cousin Michael who regularly makes pizza. When trying to determine how many pizzas to make, he figures 3 kids per pizza and 3/4 pizza for each adult (or 1 pizza per adult, but expect leftovers). He used to make enough for 1 pizza per person but they always had way too much dough left. It also depends on if you are serving anything else with the pizza (wings, salad, etc.).

Michael also said the pizza tastes best when you make the dough 2 nights ahead of time, refrigerate it for 24 hours in a big ball, then separate it into smaller dough balls, put them in the proofing boxes and refrigerate them overnight again. Take them out of the refrigerator about 5 hours before using and let the dough come to room temperature. If you take it out too early, the dough will overproof. This is also a great way to prep everything ahead of time if you're taking the dough somewhere else, like camping, or if you want minimal work the day of your pizza party. Remember to always keep your dough covered until you are ready to stretch the dough and make the pizzas or it will dry out.

Ooni Cold-Proof Pizza Dough

Recipe Courtesy Ooni

 

Good things come to those who wait, and pizza dough is certainly no exception. Cold-proofing, also known as cold rising or cold fermentation, is a great technique for anyone who wants to up their pizza-making game. The dough goes through a simple process (just leave it in the fridge!) of slow fermentation – usually 24 to 96 hours – and that extra time brings several tasty benefits:

enhanced flavor development, improved texture and structure, and dough that is easier to handle.

 

Although cold-proofing requires a bit more time and planning, the technique is super accessible, and the results are well worth the wait. Note: don’t wait too long, as there is such a thing as over-proofing! (Three to five days is generally the longest you’ll want to go.) Just mix the ingredients together, cover, then pop the pizza dough in the fridge, and let the yeast work its magic. Soon enough, you’ll have a more flavorful (and enviable) pizza to dig into.

 

This recipe is similar to our Classic Pizza Dough but with the quantity of yeast adjusted for cold-proofing.

 

1½ cups plus 1 tablespoon (368 grams) lukewarm water

⅓ teaspoon (1.6 grams) active dried yeast, or (scant ½ teaspoon) 1.4 grams instant dried yeast or ½ teaspoon (4.1 grams) fresh yeast

5¼ cups (613 grams) “00” flour, plus extra for dusting

3 teaspoons (18 grams) sea salt

 

Tip: We recommend using your Ooni Dual Platform Digital Scales for maximum accuracy.

 

Note: This recipe takes time. For the best-tasting pizza dough, be sure to set aside 24 to 72 hours for the cold proof before you begin cooking. We always suggest checking the activation instructions on your yeast packets and testing accordingly. 

 

Add the water and yeast to a large bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer) and whisk until thoroughly blended. Combine the flour and salt in a medium bowl, then add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients.

 

If using a mixer: Fit the mixer with the dough hook and place the flour in the bowl. Turn the machine on at a low speed and gradually add the yeast mixture to the flour. Once combined, leave the dough mixing at the same speed for 5 to 10 minutes or until the dough is firm and stretchy. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap (cling film).

 

If mixing by hand: Place the flour in a large bowl and pour the yeast mixture into it. Stir with a wooden spoon until a dough starts to form. Continue mixing by hand until the dough comes together in a ball. Turn it onto a lightly floured surface and knead with both hands for about 10 minutes, until it is firm and stretchy. Return the dough to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap (cling film).

 

Place the covered pizza dough in the fridge to cold-proof for 24 to 72 hours. When the dough has roughly doubled in size, remove the dough from the fridge.

 

Divide the cold-proofed dough into 3 or 4 equal pieces, depending on what size you want your pizzas to be, either 12 inches (30 centimeters) or 16 inches (40 centimeters) wide. Shape each piece into a ball, and place each pizza dough ball in a separate bowl or tray. Cover with cling film and leave to rise for 5 hours on your kitchen counter so they can come up to room temperature and double in size.

 

Once the second proof is complete, preheat your oven to between 850°F and 950°F. Use the infrared thermometer to quickly and accurately check the temperature of the middle of the stone.

 

Place your first dough ball on a lightly floured surface, flour your hands and use your fingertips to press the dough into a small, flat disc. Working from the center, push the dough outwards while spreading your fingers, making the disc slightly bigger. Pick up the dough and gently pinch it all around the edge, allowing gravity to pull it downwards into a 12-inch (30-centimeter) circle. Neapolitan-style pizza bases are very thin, so you should be able to see through the base when you hold it up to the light. Take care when doing this – you don’t want it to tear.

 

Once the dough is fully stretched, lightly flour your pizza peel and lay the base on it. If you see any small holes in the dough, gently pinch them back together.

 

Once you’re happy with the base, add your toppings and bake in the oven according to the recommended temperature given in your recipe of choice.

 

Yield: Four 12-inch (30-centimeter) pizzas (for 250-gram dough balls) or three 16-inch (40-centimeter) pizzas (for 330-gram dough balls)

Triple Recipe (12 12-inch pizzas):

1104 grams lukewarm water

1 teaspoon (4.8 grams) active dried yeast

1839 grams “00” flour, plus extra for dusting

54 grams sea salt

Triple recipe of dough ready to be refrigerated for 3 days

Triple recipe of dough ready to be refrigerated for 3 days

Triple recipe of dough ready to be divided into 12 250-gram dough balls

Triple recipe of dough ready to be divided into 12 250-gram dough balls

24 250-gram dough balls (6 recipes of dough)

Sitting at room temp for 5 hours before using

Ready to start stretching and topping

First pizza in the oven

Sausage pizza

Cheese pizza

Pepperoni pizza

Fontina pizza (topped with prosciutto and arugula after baking)

Sausage & olive pizza

Alfa Forni Moderno 1 Gas Pizza Oven

I recently posted an Ooni Pizza Dough recipe and linked the Ooni pizza oven and accessories that we have. I bought the Ooni as a Christmas gift for my husband about 2.5 years ago. It turns out that my husband likes to use the oven for more than just pizza (wings, steak, fish, etc.) and the size of the oven is a bit limiting since he can't fit his cast iron skillet inside. I recently looked into upgrading to something bigger, perhaps a larger Ooni, but it wasn't quite what I was looking for. I wanted something we could keep outside all the time and use for more than just pizza.

I started looking at Alfa Forni, which are made in Italy. My cousin has an Alfa Brio and loves it, however it's much larger than we need for our small family of 4 and way too expensive for us. Alfa makes various ovens that can hold anywhere from 1 to 5 pizzas at a time - some are wood burning only, some are gas only, and others are hybrid and can use either wood or gas if you purchase the hybrid kit. My husband has used both wood and gas in his Ooni, but gas is much faster and easier and doesn't make a mess.

Alfa makes two small ovens - the smallest is called the Portable and the next size up is called the called the Moderno 1 Pizza (previously called the One and the Nano). These used to come in either gas or wood - there was no option for a hybrid kit with these two smaller ovens, however it looks like a newer version of the Moderno 1 Pizza can now be ordered with a hybrid option. After some research, I decided to go for the Alfa Moderno 1 gas only oven. It makes one 12-14" pizza at a time. Since they only take about 90 seconds to bake, cooking one at a time is fine for us. It is larger than our Ooni, but not so big that it's overkill for us. It's also not so small that it can't crank out 16-20 pizzas when we have larger parties. The oven will easily bake the pizzas faster than we can prepare them. I prefer the smaller size oven so it won't use as much propane and it will heat up quicker than the larger ovens would. The smaller footprint will work better on our deck and not take up as much space. There is also a very big difference in price between this oven and the next size up, the Moderno 2 Pizze, which can hold 2 pizzas at a time. If I could have swung it financially and we had a better outdoor food prep set up, this is the largest oven I would have considered. However, it was both too expensive and too big and heavy for us considering we want to keep it on our deck. The base for this is also a lot more expensive than the base for the Moderno 1. The next size up from that is the Moderno 3 Pizze (this replaced the Brio and can hold 3 pizzas), and then the Moderno 5 Pizze. Alfa also makes professional ovens and other lines of domestic ovens including the Classico, Futuro, and some Limited Edition, however I only looked at the Moderno ovens.

Some of the Alfa Moderno ovens come in a choice of colors (Antique Red, Fire Yellow, Ardesia Grey), but the Nano gas oven only comes in a dark brown color called Copper. We plan to keep the oven on our Trex deck, which is also a dark brown color, so the oven will look nice there. This oven has a base with casters on it that is available for an additional cost in the same Copper color or in Black.

Once I knew which oven I wanted, I started looking around for the best price. I found two online retailers that were offering the coordinating base/stand for free with the purchase of the oven. This was great since I would have had to purchase a steel table or something else to keep the oven on. The base looks nicer, hides the propane tank, and has very good casters that lock, which will make it easy to move around. They both also offered a 5% discount. While trying to see if I could find a better deal anywhere else, I found a website for a small family-owned business in Oregon called Smokey Mountain Fireplaces and they do not charge sales tax. I reached out to them to ask if they would match the promotion for the free base and 5% discount. They were happy to do so, and even offered to send me some firewood for free. It was really nice to communicate with someone from a small business, and not just an online chat with someone in another country who did not really know much about these ovens. I always prefer to spend my money at a small business, so I was very happy that I came across this one - and because they don't charge sales tax, they had the best price! If you are looking to purchase one of these ovens, I highly recommend contacting them.

I ordered the oven on a Tuesday and it arrived the following Tuesday. It is large and heavy and is delivered like an appliance, on a pallet. The delivery company, Custom Global Logistics, called me from Dulles International Airport to schedule a 4-hour window to deliver it and I was asked by the company I purchased it from to open and inspect everything for damages before the delivery company left, in case I needed to refuse the delivery. Luckily, everything looked great.

The base was very easy to install and looks nice!

There's not much to assembling the oven. All of the pieces that come with it are stored inside the oven, so we just removed those and unwrapped them, and then placed the oven on top of the cart and secured it. We removed all of the protective film. We don't need the 4 feet since we are putting it on a cart, but if you are placing the oven on a table you will need to install those. Lastly, my husband hooked up the propane tank, turned the oven on to preheat it and then prepped dinner! Since this oven is smaller and lighter weight than the others, it was pretty easy for my husband to do most of this by himself. I only helped lift the oven on to the base.

Since all of our deck furniture is Polywood (made out of recycled material, similar to Trex material) and I don't want any of it to melt or get damaged, I bought a folding stainless steel table we can use as a prep table and to keep the pizza peels on and the hot items that come out of the oven. We will have to store this inside so it doesn't rust, but it is small and lightweight enough that carrying it inside and out shouldn't be an issue. We'll put it to the right of the oven that should still leave plenty of space for us to keep all the furniture where we've had it the past few years.

As far as accessories go, we already have most of what we need from using our Ooni. Since the oven will stay outside on our deck year-round and there are trees above our deck that make a mess with leaves and pollen, I wanted a good cover for it. Alfa sells their own covers which cover either just the oven or cover the oven and the base, but neither option covers the smokestack. I also read that they are not the best quality covers and expensive given the lack of quality. My husband wanted a cover that would go over the smokestack so he wouldn't have to attach and remove it every time we use the oven. I read that Coverstore makes good custom covers (they offer a free swatch kit) and their reviews were better than the ones on Covers&All (they offer a free swatch kit as well). Coverstore was having a 40% off Memorial Day weekend sale, but I wanted to wait and measure the oven, smokestack and base (with propane tank connected) myself once we put it all together to make sure I had accurate dimensions for the cover, and they offered to apply the discount for me once I was able to measure it myself and place my order, even though the sale would be over by then. I contacted both companies, and was definitely more impressed with the customer service responses from Coverstore. Because of the 40% off sale price, I decided to order the most expensive material which carries a 10 year warranty. This cover is much better quality and cost less than the Alfa one! I'm also glad I waited to measure everything myself, because the dimensions were slightly different from what the manufacturer provided.

The only other accessory I decided to get was an Alfa 3-piece set with a medium (12") pizza peel, turner and brush. The brush would be helpful for cleaning the pizza stone, and having a second pizza peel would be helpful too. Unfortunately, this set is made in China, not in Italy like the ovens, so I initially hesitated to buy it, but it looked like a much nicer set than the Ooni peels we have and we don't have a brush, and it has adjustable handles for all 3 pieces which is nice. I didn't want to pay full price for this set and could not find any sales on it, but luckily, I found someone selling a brand new, sealed set on Facebook Marketplace and decided to buy it.

We will use our Lodge cast iron 12" skillet and 10.25" skillet in this oven to make all sorts of things. We've had both of these skillets for over 10 years and they are indestructible. I prefer to cook with my Le Creuset enameled cast iron, but I won't be putting those in an outside oven! The Lodge cast iron is perfect for it though and my husband prefers to use those when he cooks. For our first meal in the Alfa, we used the 12" skillet for sausage and peppers and made hot dogs in the 10.25" skillet. It was delicious and cooked pretty fast! We also made wings in the skillet and they were delicious as well!

First meal from our pizza oven - sausage and peppers!

and hot dogs for the kids

The first time we used it for pizza was on the 4th of July when I made 4 recipes of the Ooni pizza dough - enough for 16 pizzas. We had 3 of my sisters and their families over for dinner (23 people total) and I unfortunately did not take any pictures once I started putting the pizzas together, but my husband took one photo. The pizzas were delicious and everyone loved them. We only had 1 slice of pizza left!

4 recipes of Ooni pizza dough

Divide each recipe into 4 dough balls after the first rise

After the second rise - ready to use!

The only pizza picture my husband took

This oven is built like a tank (it's made in Italy!), looks nice, and cooks delicious meals. While most people who buy these ovens probably go for the larger sizes, the Moderno 1 is the perfect size for a small family like ours, and it is certainly a major upgrade from any Ooni oven! We are looking forward to using it year-round for many years.