Thin-crust pizza dough

Four ingredients and the hot-oven trick. Crispy outside, tender inside.

24 h 30 min
Total time: 30 min
Hands-on: 4 servings
Servings: 380 cal
Per serving: Medium
Difficulty: Oven
Method

Photo: N i c o l a from Fiumicino (Rome), Italy · CC BY 2.0 (via Wikimedia Commons)

Ingredients

4 servings

Nutrition facts

per serving

380cal

Protein: 11 g12 %
Carbs: 74 g79 %
Fat: 4 g10 %
Fiber: 3 g
Sugarstotal, including the natural sugars in fruit and dairy: 1 g

Approximate values, calculated from food composition tables. They vary with the brands and cuts you use.

Step by step

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Thin-crust pizza dough

Four ingredients and the hot-oven trick. Crispy outside, tender inside.

1Step 1 of 6

Mix and rest 20 minutes

Mix the flour and water until there's no dry flour left and let it rest, covered, for 20 minutes. In that time the flour hydrates on its own and kneading afterwards takes half the effort.

Tip: This is called autolyse, and it's the most rewarding shortcut in home baking.

20:0020 min · Mix and rest 20 minutes

2Step 2 of 6

Add salt, yeast and oil

Add the salt, yeast and oil and knead for 8 minutes on the counter, or 5 minutes in a stand mixer. The dough should go from sticky to smooth and elastic.

08:008 min · Add salt, yeast and oil

3Step 3 of 6

24 hours in the fridge

Divide into two balls, put them in covered containers and refrigerate for 24 to 48 hours. This is the step that creates the flavor: there's no shortcut that replaces it.

4Step 4 of 6

Bring to room temperature for 2 hours

Take the balls out 2 hours before baking. Cold dough won't stretch: it springs back and tears.

2:00:00120 min · Bring to room temperature for 2 hours

5Step 5 of 6

Stretch by hand

On semolina, press the ball out from the center with your fingertips, leaving a finger-width rim untouched. Never use a rolling pin: it crushes the air bubbles that form the puffy crust.

Tip: Stretch with your hands and be patient. If it resists, let it rest for five minutes and try again.

6Step 6 of 6

Oven at full heat

Preheat the oven as hot as it goes (500–525 °F / 250–275 °C) for 30 minutes with the baking sheet inside. Slide the pizza onto the scorching sheet and bake for 8–10 minutes, until the crust puffs and gets brown spots.

Tip: The hot sheet cooks the base from below all at once. It's the difference between a crispy crust and a soggy one.

10:0010 min · Oven at full heat

About this recipe

Pizza dough is four ingredients: flour, water, salt and yeast. What separates a decent homemade pizza from a great one isn't on the shopping list: it's two decisions.

The first is a long cold rise: 24 hours in the fridge develop a flavor that a one-hour rise doesn't come close to. The second is the oven at full blast with the baking sheet already hot inside, the closest thing to a wood-fired oven we have at home.

It makes two medium pizzas. The dough keeps three days in the fridge and freezes perfectly in balls.

Tips for getting it right

Go light on sauce and cheese. Homemade pizza is almost always ruined by too many toppings, which release water and soften the base.
Use raw crushed tomatoes with a pinch of salt. No need to cook the sauce: it cooks in the oven.
Drain fresh mozzarella for half an hour first or it will release a lot of water.

Storage

The dough keeps 3 days in the fridge and 3 months frozen in balls. Thaw it in the fridge the night before.

Questions

Frequently asked questions

Why let pizza dough rise for 24 hours?

Because in the cold the yeast works slowly while enzymes break down the starches, and that creates aromas a quick rise doesn't produce. The same dough with a one-hour rise tastes noticeably flatter.

Can I make it the same day?

Yes: increase the yeast to 7 g and let it rise for 2 hours at room temperature. You'll get a good pizza, just with less flavor.

Do I need a pizza stone?

No. An upside-down baking sheet preheated for 30 minutes at maximum temperature does a very similar job. A stone improves things a little, but the hot sheet gets you 80 % of the way.

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