Recipe
24 to 48 hour Pizza Dough
| Active time: About 30 minutes Inactive time: 16 to 48 hours Yield: Makes 3 regular or 5 thin-crust dough balls 350 grams water (1½ cups) 13 grams sea salt (scant 2½ teaspoon) 1½ grams instant dried yeast (¾ of ½ teaspoon) 500 grams white flour, preferably 00 (4 cups) |
Measure and Combine the Ingredients. Using your digital scale, |
| measure 350 grams of 90° to 95°F (32° to 35°C) water into a 6-quart | |
| dough tub. Measure 13 grams of sea salt, add it to the water, and stir | |
| or swish around in the tub until it’s dissolved. Measure 1½ grams (¾ of | |
| ½ teaspoon) of instant dried yeast. Add the yeast to the water, let it | |
| rest there for a minute to hydrate, then swish it around until | |
| dissolved. Add 500 grams of flour (preferably 00) to the | |
| water-salt-yeast mixture. Mix the Dough. Mix by hand, first by stirring your hand around |
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| inside the dough tub to integrate the flour, water, salt, and yeast into | |
| a single mass of dough. Then use the pincer method to cut the dough in | |
| sections with your hand, alternating with folding the dough to develop | |
| it back into a unified mass. Continue for just 30 seconds to 1 minute. | |
| The target dough temperature at the end of the mix is 80°F (27°C); use | |
| your probe thermometer to check it. Knead and First Rise. Let the dough rest for 20 minutes, then knead |
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| it on a work surface with a very light dusting of flour for about 30 | |
| seconds to 1 minute. The skin of the dough should be very smooth. Place | |
| the dough ball seam side down in the lightly oiled dough tub. Cover with | |
| a tight-fitting lid. Hold the dough for 2 hours at room temperature | |
| (assuming 70° to 74°F/21° to 23°C) for the first rise. Shape. Divide the dough and shape it into dough balls. Moderately |
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| flour a work surface about 2 feet wide. With floured hands, gently ease | |
| the dough out of the tub. With your hands still floured, pick up the | |
| dough and ease it back down onto the work surface in a somewhat even | |
| shape. Dust the entire top of the dough with flour, then cut it into 3 | |
| or 5 equal-sized pieces, depending on the style of pizza. Use your scale | |
| to get evenly sized dough balls. Shape each piece of dough into a | |
| medium-tight round, working gently and being careful not to tear the | |
| dough. There is no floor time for these dough balls before going into | |
| the refrigerator. Second Fermentation. Put the dough balls on one lightly floured tray |
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| (or two dinner plates), leaving space between them to allow for | |
| expansion. Lightly flour the tops, tightly cover with plastic wrap, and | |
| put them into the refrigerator. Refrigerate until ready to make pizza, | |
| either the next evening (ideal) or the day after (still good). Make Pizza. Remove the dough balls from the fridge 60 to 90 minutes |
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| before making pizza. |
Timetable
Bulk fermentation: 2 hours
Divide, shape and cover dough: 10 minutes
Second fermentation: 16 to 48 hours refrigerated
Sample Schedule: Mix the dough at 7p, shape into dough balls at 9p, cover and refrigerate, make pizza the next evening (optimal) or the day after that (still very good).
Notes
This is probably the best dough recipe a home pizzaiolo could ever hope to serve. It is largely fool-proof, and the crusts have flavor that will blow your mind.
I prefer to split the difference in the number of dough balls, opting to split into 4. This allows me to keep the crusts on the thin side, while still giving them more heft.
Adapted from The Elements of Pizza by Ken Forkish