Overnight Pizza Dough
If you follow me on Instagram, there’s a good chance you’ve seen me make pizza nearly every weekend since moving into my new house on stories. When we first walked into the backyard and I laid eyes on the built-in pizza oven, it cemented one of the many reasons to move into our new home to raise our kids.
Through a lot of trial and error, I’m so excited to finally get to share my pizza dough recipe with you - it’s beyond delicious and so easy to make! Its a Neapolitan Style Pizza that is thin at the base of the pizza, yet the crust is a super puffy, light and airy - that’s packed with so much flavor! Get ready to wow your family and friends as you’ll never want to buy another pizza again after making this recipe!
I’ve been working on perfecting this recipe every weekend for the last few months - playing around with hydration levels, amount of flour and yeast. The best part about this pizza dough is that I create it so you don’t need a scale or any fancy flours - just all-purpose flour, a little patience and a big appetite. You can easily make a bigger batch to freeze to use for another day or use all at once for a big pizza party as this recipe can easily be doubled as I do often.
The pizza dough is not only super delicious the next day, but the flavor intensifies the longer it proofs (time to rise). If you’re making pizza on a Friday or Saturday, you can easily make a batch of pizza dough midweek, then leave it in the fridge covered until a few hours before making your pizzas. I’ve tested this recipe overnight for 12 hours in the fridge all the way up to 72 hours and it tastes amazing at every stage. I can’t wait for you to try it and hear what you think!
Ingredients (Makes 2 - 14” or 3 - 12” pizzas):
3 Cups (23oz) All-Purpose Flour
1.25 Teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
13 oz Warm Water (100-110 Degrees F)
1 Tablespoon + 1 Teaspoon Salt
1 Teaspoon Olive Oil
Steps:
Bring 4oz water right up to a boil then transfer to a bowl with 8oz of cold salted water. Once the water is between 100-110 degrees, add active dry yeast and let sit for 5 minutes.
Using a stand mixer, fold in the flour into the water with the mixer on the lowest speed for 10 minutes, it may be a wet and sticky consistency. (If by hand, mix in a bowl until fully combined). Once fully mixed for 10 minutes, flour a surface, remove dough from the mixer and knead for 2 minutes forming it into a large dough ball. Transfer back to a large bowl, finish with a drizzle olive oil before covering and place in the fridge overnight or up to 72 hours.
Once ready to cook your dough, remove from the fridge 2-3 hours before you plan on cooking. At that time, divide into equal sized pieces either eyeballing it or using a scale (2-3 based on preferred size pizza).
Form each piece of dough by pinching and rotating pizza dough around until it turns into a smooth dough ball. Flour a bowl, transfer the dough ball into the bowl and cover until room temperature (2-3 hours).
Once your oven is hot - dust a surface with flour, remove the dough from the bowl / tray and start forming your pizza. It should be very easy to stretch, if not toss back in your tray and cover for 30 minutes. Start by working the dough from the center out with your finger tips then let it rest over your knuckles allowing gravity to do the work while rotating in a circle. Place back down on your surface, stretch a little more (it’s better to under stretch than over stretch the dough). If the dough rips, pinch it back together. Now place the dough onto your pizza peel (dusted with cornmeal - helps keep the dough from sticking) and top with your favorite toppings.
Have fun with the process. It may take you a few times and that’s totally oka, like anything - the more you make it, the better you’ll get at it. I highly recommend keeping notes every time you make your dough (ie. what time you prepared the dough, indoor temperature, etc) these all will factor into how the dough turns out. If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to leave a comment below or DM me on Instagram and Tiktok - I’m happy to help! Can’t wait to see all your pizza dough creations!
All the Best,
Mike