Making pizza can get very technical if you are not 100% committed to becoming the best pizza maker in your neighborhood. To make it easier, we created this homemade pizza recipe for those of you trying to make a great pizza from home.
First and foremost, let’s define some basics to get us going, and then we will flow into the recipe.
Pizza Dough Basics
Pizza doughs are made using four simple ingredients that you can find in most grocery stores: Flour, Instant or Active Dry Yeast, Salt, and Water. While the ingredient list is short to get the best result you must understand some basic principles of pizza dough.
Hydration
Hydration refers to the amount of water in the dough as a percent of the total flour weight. So, for example, if you have 1kg of flour (1,000 grams) then adding 650 grams of water will yield a 65% hydration dough. This concept is important to understand since when you are cooking the pizza in the oven water will evaporate from the dough and help define the level of crispiness or chewiness of your final dough. But because you will be using a traditional home oven and not a pizza oven, and the maximum temperature is around 500F we have a certain range to play with regarding hydration.
Fermentation
The process of fermentation is what allows your dough to rise and become fluffy and malleable. Fermentation is important since it will influence the flavor and consistency of your final dough. Fermentation is traditionally broken down into two steps. The bulk rise comes first, and the main goal of this step is to allow your dough mixture to double in size as the gluten structure develops in the dough. This typically takes about 2 hrs at room temperature (75F). Then, you have the dough ball rise. Which can range from a few hours to overnight and this depends on how much time or patience you have or how complex you want your final flavor profile to be.
Hydration and fermentation are a few of the key concepts to know as home pizzaiolo. Once you test out this recipe you will be able to continue experimenting with fermentation and hydration to perfect your homemade pizza dough.
For this recipe, we will follow an artisan style dough. This dough should closely resemble traditional Neapolitan practices but simplified for the home pizzaiolo to have fun and enjoy with family. It is an easy homemade pizza dough recipe to follow and can be done within a few hours of time.
This dough recipe is designed to yield four 10” to 12” pizzas.
Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe
For this recipe, you will need the following ingredients.
Dough Ingredients
- 620 g. of Bread Flour
- 400 g. of Water
- 1 g. of Instant Dry Yeast
- 18 g. of Sea Salt
Assembling the Dough
- The first step is to measure the ingredients in the quantities defined above in separate containers. These quantities will provide you with a 65% hydration dough that is easy to work with and will be perfect in your home oven.
- Once you have the ingredients in the quantities defined above use a large mixing bowl to mix the yeast and water. Let it rest for 1 min until dissolved. For this it is easier to use room temperature water 75F to 80F.
- Then add half of the flour to the water and yeast mixture and slowly knead to incorporate the flour and the water until you start noticing a homogeneous mixture. Once at this point incorporate the rest of the flour and continue to knead.
- Continue to knead for about 10 minutes until you can form a smooth dough ball and you can notice that the flour and water are well incorporated. Keep in mind that the process of kneading helps introduce air to the dough which provides structure and helps the fermentation process.
This post by The Perfect Loaf explains a kneading technique that can help you shape your dough before the bulk rise.
Fermentation Process
Now that you have the dough ready it’s time to start the fermentation process. Keep in mind that fermentation and dough hydration are two elements that you must experiment with to get just right. For this recipe, we are showing a short rise of just six hours.
Let the dough double in size by placing it in an airtight container and letting it rest for approximately 2 hours at room temperature (70F). During this process, the live yeast in your dough will release gases that will help your dough ferment.
After your 2 hours, it’s time for the final fermentation step. This step has many names from ball rise to proofing. To shape the dough balls, simply divide your bulk dough into 4 equal parts that should weigh approximately 250 to 260 g each. Then, once the dough balls are ready, lightly flour an airtight container and place each dough ball in a container.
Let the dough ball rest for another four hours at room temperature or until they are ready to use. But don’t leave them for more than 6 hours at room temperature. If necessary, refrigerate for later use and simply remove back to room temperature an hour before using. Remember the dough needs to be at room temperature for the proper shaping of the pizza.
Voila! After 6 total hours of fermentation, you are ready to make the perfect homemade pizza!