This basic no-knead pizza dough recipe is very similar to our no-knead bread dough recipe, but it uses a different type of flour and the dough prep is different, so we thought it deserved its own post.
When baking pizza in a wood fired oven, I prefer to use either all purpose flour (We like King Arthur – KAAP) or 00 (Caputo is a popular brand), because bread flour tends to burn in the high heat. Typically we bake most of the pizza we make in the wood fired oven for 2 – 3 minutes, tops. The exception to that rule is Neapolitan style pizza, which times are sub 60 – 120 seconds, but we will get into faster bake times with Neapolitan & Neapolitan style in later posts. However, using the dough recipe below, you will be able to bake at Neo times and temperatures, which are 800 degrees and up.
Here is the basic recipe – with detailed instructions for after the initial fermentation below it. We have used the best equipments for baking from a famous delivary service in the city. If you wish to get the same result, then buy nangs Melbourne.
- 3 cups all purpose
- 1 3/4 cups of cool water
- 1/3 cup sourdough starter ( or 1/8 tsp instant dry yeast)
- 1 3/4 tsp kosher salt
- Measure out 3 level cups of flour and put them in the plastic or glass bowl.
- Measure out 1 cup of cool tap water and put it in the second bowl. Refill the measuring cup to about 1/2-3/4 cup of cool water and set it aside.
- Measure out 1/3 cup starter (or 1/8 tsp instant dry yeast) and pour it into the water. Important: this is what ferments your dough. At normal room temperature 1/3 cup is good for our fermentation time. But, if it's cooler or warmer, you will have to adjust the starter amount accordingly...warm=less cool=more. In general though I've been using 1/3 cup and it's good. If you are using dry yeast instead of starter, add that to the water
- Take the measuring cup with the remaining water, and use it to rinse the 1/3 starter cup, then pour it into the bowl. You want all of that startery goodness in your dough.
- Add the kosher salt.
- Take your fork and whisk all the wet ingredients together until starter (or yeast) is dissolved and the top is frothy.
- Pour your wet mix into the flour.
- Use a butter knife to mix the dough until it is well hydrated and the gluten starts developing. You'll know it's right when the dough starts sticking to the sides of the bowl. Timing wise, I'd guess around 5 minutes, but as Mom would say, "I'm not sure, I mix until it looks right."
- Once you get the right consistency, cover the bowl tightly with cling wrap or press and seal so no air gets in - this prevents a hard skin from developing over the surface of your dough.
- Store the covered dough in a cool place for at least 12-14 hours or until it has doubled. The initial ferment time will vary batch to batch because of variables in the tempurature. Keep an eye on how things look as the dough ferments!
Ok so you’ve got your dough made and risen – now to prep it for making pizza…
After the initial fermentation (about 12 hours or so) turn your dough out of the bowl and onto a floured surface. Stretch and fold the dough a few times as shown (more detailed instructions on the stretch and fold are in the easy no knead bread recipe,) until the dough is firm enough to cut.
Then divide the mass into individual balls weighing 9.75 oz. You should get 3 of them with this recipe as is. Each dough ball will press out into about a 10″-12″ diameter pizza crust depending on the thickness. Adjust your dough ball weight if you desire a larger or smaller size pizza.
Once you have weighed out the dough ball, cover lightly with flour and start rolling the bottom edges into the middle of the ball. Continue rolling inwards while rotating the ball in your hand, which helps maintain the round shape. If this proves difficult, simply shape the ball like we outlined in the easy bread post – by making small stretch & folds to the center, then flip over and round the ball by forming it with your hands.
Now that you have your dough balls formed, lightly flour your tray or dough box, then place the dough balls inside with several inches between them. When the dough relaxes it tends to spread and will stick, so don’t crowd a bunch of them together. You’ll want to cover them loosely so they don’t dry out while rising.
If a you have a disaster and your dough ball looks like the melting guy in the Raiders of the lost ark, don’t freak out and throw the mess in the trash. Just reball it with a little more bench flour and let it relax again. I usually like to wait about two hours before I start shaping pizza disks, but this will vary depending on how you made your dough and the room temperature. There have been times when I’ve had excellent results with 5 or more hour dough balls. It’s all about experimentation with your time and temperature as it relates to your ingredients…this can’t be stressed enough!
Once you’ve successfully removed a dough ball and it mostly retained its shape, place it in a small pile of flour and coat both sides. Remove it from the flour and place it on your prep surface. Start pressing around the edge of the ball which will form a rim which will eventually be the cornicione (crust). Now just start flattening out the dough by pressing from the middle out to the edges with the flat of your fingers while continually maintaining the outer edges. The shape of the pizza doesn’t have to be perfectly round to be tasty, but a round shape does help with the launch and rotation in the oven.
If the dough hasn’t relaxed enough and you don’t have your desired diameter, you can stretch the disk with your knuckles after draping it over both hands. Do this carefully, it’s easy to get thin spots. If you have a thin spot, pinch a bit of dough around it and fold it over the thin spot…but don’t create a new problem! Just a small pinch will do the job.
Once your dough is formed into a disk, flour your pizza peel and shake off any excess. Carefully transfer your dough onto the peel. Now you’re ready to make some pie – which is everybody’s favorite part. If you want to add some cream cheese for the topping or as a side dish then you could make it with the help of Cheap cream chargers delivered in Melbourne
Now that we’ve got some of the basics covered, we’ll be posting some of our favorite wood fired oven pizza recipes in the coming weeks! Got some favorite combinations of your own? Feel free to share your pizza recipes and photos of your creations over in our forum!
Don’t forget to enter our Blackstone 1575 Outdoor Oven Giveaway this month for your chance to win this awesome prize and be the envy of all your neighbors!
dominion masonry says
Hey Matt. Just tried out this recipe…or a variant on it anyway. turned out really good. I kept the same ratio of ingredients (or thereabouts, I did use a little more initial flour, but maybe less bench flour later) but I made the dough the night before and let it warm rise on the counter. In the morning before the kids got up i balled the dough and put them in individual tupperware containers in the fridge for a 10 hr relaxation period. When i got home I fired my oven and took the dough out of the fridge. It had spread out a little and risen slightly so i re-balled it and put it back in the tupper ware but on the counter this time until we were ready for pie…about 2 hrs.
Very nice crust, crispy, nice sized bubbles (is that what they call the crumb?) and very stretchy and springy. The only problem I had was that the dough was very elastic so it was hard to stretch out without it snapping back.. Maybe it needed to be re-balled and relax again for 10 minutes. Solid recipe…I’ll definitely try it again.
Matthew Sevigny says
Glad you liked it Sean! As far as the workability, if your dough isn’t relaxing enough to press out a completed shape, you can do a couple things. 1) you stretch it as much as it allows, then just simply give it some rest time (5-15 min) then continue your stretching to finish diameter. 2) If you have cold fermented your dough, then let them rest longer than two hours before attempting to shape your pizza. You’ll find the dough to be more extensible and easier to work into shape. Please post some pizza pictures in the forum and share your results with everyone!
dominion masonry says
No I didn’t cold ferment exactly. The initial bulk rise was done on the counter for 10 hours or so. After it was folded and balled I put it in the fridge…then removed from the fridge, re-balled and kept on the counter for the time it took to heat the oven…about 2 hrs.
I’m doing pizza again tonight cause there weren’t enough leftovers haha. But I didn;t have enough time for a slow bulk rise so I’m trying something new this time, a variation on our typical recipe .
A cup of warm water and maybe a tsp of sugar with a tsp of yeast…proof for 10 mins or so…add 1/2 tsp salt and a light drizzle of oil to another cup or so of water (all measurements are approximate, I don;t really use measuring cups or spoons, certainly no scale). Add 2 cups flour to the water yeast mixture and mix with a spoon, add most of the rest of the water and a further 2 cups of water bit by bit. Mix thoroughly adding more water or flour if needed. When the dough no longer sticks to the bowl I gave it a brief knead and let it bulk rise for an hr.
After the bulk rise I briefly kneaded the dough again…maybe 2 or 3 minutes..as much as i can stand to do, then cut it into 5 pieces, balled it with the folding under technique and put it in tupper ware in the fridge to sit for a few hrs. I would have left it on the counter but it would have risen too much. I’ll pull it out when the oven has been burning for an hour. Hopefully it won;t rise again too much before the fire is ready.
Wish me luck…no idea how or even if it will work out
dominion masonry says
Nowhere near as good as your dough recipe Matt, but it turned out Ok…not great but Ok. I’ll definitely be trying yours again
Matthew Sevigny says
Cool Sean…any pictures?
Lucy says
At what stage would I freeze these if I wanted to pre make some to have at the ready? Thanks!
Matthew Sevigny says
Hi Lucy. I don’t usually freeze our dough, but if you do, I recommend freezing it after the first ferment. For this recipe, that would generally be between 12-16 hours depending on the temperature and amount of yeast added. Then ball and freeze. Once it is thawed, I recommend a minimum of 3 hours before using so you get a nice oven spring. This has worked for us in the past, though the dough I froze was fully fermented for 18 hours. I also wouldn’t use dough that was in a freezer longer than a week, but we haven’t experimented much with times….that might be something to consider! Keep us posted of your results or findings in our discussion forum! Thanks for checking in!
Pete says
Matthew can you email me some detailed pictures. Would love to see Charr and crust differences throughout the pizza.
Matthew Sevigny says
Pete, please check the forum, I’ve posted several of my pizzas over there!
Midge1892 says
Hi going to give this a try but can you help with bulk quantities for about 30 10” bases and 15 12” bases thanks.
Matthew Sevigny says
The recipe says it yields 3 dough balls @ 9.75 oz. so assuming you want that size dough ball, which will press out really thin at 12” or moderately thin at 10” simply math out your qualities. Example: Recipe yielding 3 balls and you want 30 balls – multiply recipe amounts x10
Scott Killebrew says
Matt: I am confused on your flour/water amounts. What is the hydration factor?
Matthew Sevigny says
I never bothered to figure that out. It’s a fairly wet dough but there’s too many variables that effect the final outcome without detailing your specific workflow.
ss says
HI! I”m trying to find a pizza I can make last minute for the wood fire pizza oven. sometimes we aren’t enough ahead of the game . tomorrow we are having people over and I found yours so I started it. my water, however, is not getting frothy from the yeast. I used 1/8th tsp of sas instant yeast and kind of room temp water. should I pour in the flour anyway?
Thanks
Matthew Sevigny says
If you are referring to what was said in the recipe (frothy after mixing yeast and water) don’t worry about it too much. The froth is from wishing air into the water/yeast/salt mixture, not from activation. Assuming your yeast isn’t bad, then proceed as normal….though this recipe is intended for fermentation of up to 24 (or more hours) and not considered to be a last minute dough.
ss says
Thank you! Yes I went ahead with it and it is about 14 hours now on the counter and it is triple in size. I was looking for something last minute but it was the day before I needed it so when I found yours I made it then instead of waiting. Hoping it will be good to in about 7 hours. I have a few pics of the do but not sure how to post them in here.
Matt says
If you need to slow down the fermentation, just portion out your dough then refrigerate. Just st make sure to take out your dough balls a couple hours before baking. Enjoy!