Description

This Artisan Pizza Dough recipe yields a crispy, chewy, and bubbly crust perfect for homemade pizza lovers. The dough combines bread flour, water, and instant yeast, followed by an autolyse period, salt incorporation, a slow room temperature rise, and a cold fermentation to develop flavor and texture. Baking on a preheated pizza stone at a high temperature ensures a beautifully blistered crust.

Ingredients

Scale

Dough Ingredients

500 grams (about 4 cups) bread flour
375 grams (1 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon) water, room temperature
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
2 grams (1/2 teaspoon) instant yeast
1 tablespoon olive oil (for coating)

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Instructions

Mix the Dough: In a large bowl, combine the bread flour and instant yeast. Gradually add the room-temperature water, mixing until no dry flour remains and the dough feels sticky and shaggy.
Autolyse: Cover the dough with a damp towel and let it rest for 30 minutes to hydrate the flour fully and improve gluten development.
Add Salt: Sprinkle the salt evenly over the dough. Fold the dough over itself repeatedly until it becomes smooth and elastic.
First Rise: Cover the bowl and let the dough rise at room temperature for 2 to 3 hours until it doubles in size.
Stretch and Fold: During the first rise, perform stretch and folds every 30 minutes to strengthen the gluten network and improve dough structure.
Cold Fermentation: After the initial rise, cover the dough tightly and refrigerate it for 24 to 72 hours. This slow fermentation enhances flavor and texture.
Shape the Dough: Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let it come to room temperature. Divide it into portions, shape each into a tight ball, and rest for 30 minutes to relax the gluten.
Preheat Oven: Preheat your oven to 500°F (or higher if possible) with a pizza stone or steel inside to ensure a hot baking surface.
Stretch and Bake: Stretch each dough ball into a pizza shape by hand, add your favorite toppings, and bake the pizza on the preheated stone for 7 to 10 minutes until the crust is bubbly, golden, and slightly blistered.

Notes

Using bread flour increases gluten content, resulting in a chewier crust.
Cold fermentation can be extended up to 72 hours for deeper flavor development.
The dough should be sticky but manageable; avoid adding too much extra flour during mixing or shaping.
Preheating the pizza stone or steel is essential for achieving a crispy bottom crust.
If you don’t have a pizza stone, use a heavy baking sheet turned upside down and preheated in the oven.
Allow the dough to come to room temperature before shaping for easier handling and better oven spring.