Pizza dough
By Olga Babitskaya
Prep Time:
15m
You may not believe me, but in our family, making homemade pizza dough is strictly my husband’s territory. He has mastered the ideal proportions of different flours and obsessively checks how various proofing parameters affect the result! I even bought him a special container just for the process. He handles all the kneading personally.
Ingredients
Pizza dough:
- 600 gr water
- 1 kg flour (type 00, for pizza, strength about w280)
- 1 gr fresh yeast (not dry!)
- 30 gr salt
Instructions
- Honestly, I would have stopped at the first version of this recipe. I’m sharing that one with you because I only follow the course of his further experiments as a designated taster. All the talk about “you need to add a little more whole grain and lower the temperature, and then…”? I’m happy to listen, but strictly as an observer with a slice in hand🥰😍.
- To be fair, whenever friends come over, no one has ever refused an extra slice. Since today is Friday, and this dough benefits from fermenting for more than a day, it’s the perfect evening to start preparing for a gathering on Saturday. Don’t be intimidated by the 24-hour lead time; your actual participation is only needed for the first 15 minutes to mix the dough and get it into the molds. Typically, premium pizza flour is labeled as “00” and has a strength rating of W250 to W330. We specifically use Caputo pizzeria 00 flour for the best results. If your flour has a strength indicator, aim for about W280. If not, just grab any standard pizza flour. As they say, desperate times call for desperate measures 😀.
- The preparation process is actually quite simple. Combine all the ingredients except the salt, knead until united, then add the salt and knead for another 10 minutes. Cover the dough with a towel (preferably an Italian striped one, just like in the movies) and leave it on the counter at room temperature (23-26°C) for 2 hours for an initial proof. Next, divide the dough into four portions. Form them into smooth balls using a twisting motion and place them in a clean plastic container. Leave them for 24 hours at about 16°C for a long, cold fermentation. Each portion will weigh about 250g, which is perfect for an individual crust. If you don’t bake it the first night, that’s actually better. By tomorrow, the taste becomes even more complex and develops a fantastic flavor. Just remember to gently re-form the dough into a ball once a day.
- Curious about our secret sauce recipe?
