The Only Italian Pizza Dough Recipe You'll Need - From Chef To Home (2024)

Today I am sharing my recipe for Italian Pizza Dough that I have been using for years. I started to make pizza and pizza dough many many moons ago. My earliest memories of making pizza go way back to my middle school days. I can still remember one of my first attempts being a disappointment because I put way too much cheese on the pizza. Seriously, the ratio was soooooo off and the cheese so thick. If it was cold and flipped upside down, the slice would not have flopped. Now that’s some serious cheesiness.

Since then my ratios and pizza making skills have improved tremendously. The Italian pizza dough recipe I am sharing today is one that I found all them years ago while in middle school. Since then I have made slight tweaks, here or there, based on years of experience. As well as trial and error. However, the recipe is virtually unchanged and been a staple in repertoire.

SCROLL DOWN FOR ADDITIONAL TIPS AND TRICKS

The Dough

The dough starts out pretty basic. Simply use water, yeast, sugar, salt, oil and flour. What makes this dough different from any other is not so much the ingredients. It’s the technique.

To start the dough you will need to bloom the yeast. To accomplish this, use warm water a packet of dry yeast and sugar. The yeast will bloom in about five minutes. You’ll see this happen when a layer of foam develops at the top of the water. No foam? Either your water was too cold and did not activate. Or the water was too hot and you killed the yeast, you monster!

Once the yeast has bloomed, move the liquid to a mixing bowl if by hand or your stand mixer bowl if by machine. Add one cup of the flour and begin to mix. Once the flour is incorporated, add your salt and oil here. You add the salt as this point and not before to protect the yeast. Salt kills yeast and adding it after some flour keeps them from fighting. Adding the oil now helps condition and soften the dough. The oil helps make an easy working dough that is terrific to handle.

The Feel

Now add the remaining flour until your create the proper feel. At this point it is not about the amount of flour listed in the recipe. It’s all about the dough telling you how much flour it needs today. The amount of flour needed is based off more than just the amount of water used. The type and brand of flour affects feel. Humidity, temp and time all play a part as well. To stay from getting too technical what you want to create is a dough that is nice and soft, slightly tacky, but not sticky. You should be able to press your fingers lightly into the dough and pull them back with the dough slightly sticking to your fingers, but releasing and not leaving tiny bits.

Once the right feel is achieved, knead the dough for roughly 5-8 minutes by machine and 10-12 minutes by hand. You should end up with a ball of dough that is nice and soft, but smooth like a baby’s bottom. At least that’s what my old professors used to say. Just knead the dough until it is nice and smooth.

Now, roll the dough into a nice ball and place in a covered bowl until the dough doubles in size. Approximately 45 minutes to an hour.

Professional Tips and Tricks For Italian Pizza Dough

• To develop flavor, start with cooler water. This will allow you to retard the dough in the fridge for a few days. Allowing the dough to rest and ferment (retard) in the fridge for an extended time develops a deeper flavor.
• The fermentation period will also allow the dough to develop added texture and chewiness when baked. Most popular pizzerias and bakeries allow their dough to ferment overnight, if not longer.

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