no knead dough

A pan pizza recipe for those who love a thick and crispy crust that's golden on the botton, but puffy and soft under the layers of sauce and mozzarella.

Foolproof Pan Pizza Recipe

bread flour (14 ounces;

kosher salt (0.35 ounces;

instant yeast (0.15 ounces;

water (9.5 ounces; about 1 cup plus 3 tablespoons)

extra-virgin olive oil

pizza sauce,

mozzarella cheese (see note)

Toppings

basil leaves (optional)

grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese (optional)

Combine flour, salt, yeast, water, and oil in a large bowl. Mix with hands or a wooden spoon until no dry flour remains. (The bowl should be at least 4 to 6 times the volume of the dough to account for rising.)

Cover bowl tightly with plastic wrap, making sure that the edges are well sealed, then let rest at cool room temperature (no warmer than 75°F) for at least 8 hours and up to 24. Dough should rise dramatically and fill bowl. In a hot kitchen, the dough may overproof near the end of that range.

Sprinkle top of dough lightly with flour, then transfer it to a well-floured work surface. Divide dough into 2 pieces and form each into a ball by holding it with well-floured hands and tucking the dough underneath itself, rotating it until it forms a tight ball.

Pour 1 to 2 tablespoons oil in the bottom of two 10-inch cast iron skillets or round cake pans (see note). Place 1 ball of dough in each pan and turn to coat evenly with oil. Using a flat palm, press dough around the pan, flattening it slightly and spreading oil around the entire bottom and edges of the pan. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let dough sit at room temperature for 2 hours (at room temperatures above 75°F, the dough may require less time to rise; at temperatures below 65°F/18°C deg;F, it may require more time). After the first hour, adjust an oven rack to the middle position and preheat oven to 550°F (290°C).

After 2 hours, dough should be mostly filling the pan up to the edges. Use your fingertips to press it around until it fills in every corner, popping any large bubbles that appear. Lift up one edge of the dough to let any air bubbles underneath escape, then repeat, moving around the dough until there are no air bubbles left underneath and the dough is evenly spread around the pan.

Top each round of dough with 3/4 cup sauce, spreading sauce to the very edge with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle evenly with mozzarella cheese, all the way to the edges. Season with salt. Add other toppings as desired. Drizzle with olive oil and scatter a few basil leaves over the top of each pizza, if desired.

Transfer pan to oven and bake until top is golden brown and bubbly and bottom is golden brown and crisp when you lift it with a thin spatula, 12 to 15 minutes. Immediately sprinkle with grated Parmesan or Pecorino Romano cheese, if using. Using a thin spatula, loosen pizza and peek underneath. If bottom is not as crisp as desired, place pan over a burner and cook on medium heat, moving the pan around to cook evenly until it is crisp, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove the pizzas and transfer to a cutting board. Cut each pizza into 6 slices and serve immediately.

This is a double recipe of the peasant pizza dough in my cookbook, Bread Toast Crumbs.
NOTES:
This recipe yields 4 rounds of dough. Recipe can be halved; dough can be refrigerated for up to three days. I refrigerate individual rounds of dough in quart containers.
Dough can be frozen, too. After the first rise and after you transfer the portioned rounds to quart containers, this is your opportunity to freeze. Transfer the quart containers to the freezer for as long as 3 months. To thaw, remove a container (or more) and let thaw in the refrigerator for 2 days or thaw at room temperature for 1 day. Then, proceed with the recipe.
Yeast: If you need to use active dry yeast instead of instant, sprinkle it over the lukewarm water and let it stand for about 10 minutes or until it gets foamy before adding to the other ingredients.
Warm place to rise:  Here's a trick for making the perfect warm spot for the dough to rise. Turn the oven on and let it preheat for 1 minute; then shut it off. The temperature will be between 80° F and 100° F. you should be able to place your hand on the oven grates without burning them.
Flour: You can use bread flour and all-purpose flour here but if you live in a humid environment, I would consider using bread flour if you can get your hands on it. If you are in Canada or the UK, also consider using bread flour or consider holding back some of the water (see next paragraph). Reference the video for how the texture of the bread should look; then add water back as needed.
Water: As noted above, this is a variation of the peasant pizza dough recipe in my cookbook. If you are unfamiliar, the peasant bread dough is a very wet, no-knead dough. The key when handling it, is to use as much flour as necessary to keep it from sticking to the board and your hands. That said, you absolutely can start with less water to make the dough more manageable. If you live in a humid environment, if you live abroad, if you are using all-purpose flour, if you dislike handling wet doughs, consider starting with 425 grams of water. Add water as needed to get it to the right consistency (reference the video). 
Toppings: Below is a recipe for a kale, parmesan, and crème fraîche pizza. See above for 6 other favorite pizza recipes. Note: In the video I make this a little bit differently than the way it is written below. In the video I use mozzarella; in the instructions I do not. My preferred way of making the pizza is reflected in the recipe — I am constantly experimenting with various topping combinations; use this topping combination as a guide and adapt to your liking. 

Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe (Tons of Tips!)

4 cups (512 g) bread flour

2 teaspoons (11 g) kosher salt

1 teaspoon (4 g) instant yeast

olive oil

baby kale

garlic

Sea salt,

crème fraîche

Parmigiano Reggiano,

To make the dough: In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and instant yeast. Add the water. Using a rubber spatula, mix until the water is absorbed and the ingredients form a sticky dough ball. Pour a drop or two of oil over top and rub with your hands to coat. 

Cover the bowl with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap and set aside in a warm spot to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in bulk.

If you are baking the pizzas right away (as opposed to refrigerating the dough for another day), place a Baking Steel or pizza stone in top third of oven and preheat oven to its hottest setting, 550°F. Be sure the Baking Steel heats for at least 45 minutes once the oven temperature reaches 550ºF.

Cover a work surface or cutting board liberally with flour — use at least 1/4 cup and more as needed. The dough is very wet, so don&#8217;t hesitate to use flour as needed. Turn the dough out onto your floured surface and use a bench scraper to divide the dough into 4 equal portions. With floured hands, roll each portion into a ball, using the pinkie-edges of your hands to pinch the dough underneath each ball. If you are not baking the pizza the same day, transfer each round of dough to a plastic quart container, cover, and store in fridge. (At this point, transfer the vessels to the freezer for up to 3 months. See notes above for thawing.) If you are baking right away, let the balls sit on their tucked-in edges for at least 30 minutes without touching.

To Make the Pizzas: If using refrigerated dough, pull out a pizza round from the fridge one hour before you plan on baking. Dust dough with flour and place on a floured work surface. Let rest for about an hour (a little less, a little longer is fine) untouched.

Handling the dough as minimally as possible, shape dough into a 10&#8243;–12&#8243; round. Lay a sheet of parchment paper on a pizza peel, and pour a few drops of oil into the center of it. (Note: the oil is optional. It&#8217;s especially helpful if you find shaping dough using the backs of your hands tricky.) Transfer the dough round to the parchment-lined baking peel.

Top pizza as desired or to make this kale and crème fraîche pizza: Place the kale in a small bowl, drizzle lightly with olive oil, season with sea salt, and toss with your hands till the kale is coated in oil and salt. Spoon crème fraîche over the dough leaving a 1/2-inch border or so—I use 1 to 2 tablespoons per pizza. Sprinkle with the garlic and a handful of the grated Parmigiano Reggiano. Top with the kale. Shimmy the pizza, parchment paper and all into the oven.

Bake pizza until top is blistered, about 5 minutes. Transfer to cutting board. Cut and serve. Discard parchment paper.

Omg.  So so so good!! It was light and airy but chewy and crisp.  Perfection.  Sprayed with olive oil, sprinkled crust with Sesame seeds.  Gotta try it.  

Already thinking about my next pizza.

I've tried several recipes for pizza dough, and this is the best crust so far.  The dough was sticky but manageable.  It came together quickly with very little handling.  I made a half recipe using 00 flour, and proved the dough overnight in the fridge. The dough was easy to stretch after sitting at room temperature for about 1 1/2 hours.  Great oven spring around the outside rim.  We felt that the dough needed more salt.  I added 1/4 tsp each onion and garlic salt to the kosher salt, but the crust still tasted slightly underseasoned.  Thank you for the detailed instructions and tips.  They're very helpful.

Great detail and so helpful at answering many questions I had about this process.  Just to clarify, are you saying to wait 30 minutes after forming into four balls to then form the rounds, then wait ANOTHER 30 minutes before working to make the full 10-12 inch pizza shells?  Similarly, when pulling from the fridge, let sit an hour to get to room temperature, and then form the rounds, and then wait another 30 minutes before forming the shells?  Just want to make sure I'm clear.  Thanks!

I finally found where to give you stars! lol 
Best pizza dough around!

I have been trying my hand at homemade pizza for several months now and each time the crust was “good” but I just wasn’t over the moon about it. I finally found my new go to pizza crust recipe! It was light and airy and absolutely delicious! Oh and did I mention it was the easiest recipe of them all! Thanks so much for sharing this recipe and all the tips with us:)

I have made this pizza dough hundreds of times.  Great recipe.  I freeze it regularly, taking it out in the morning for an evening pizza.  Thanks.

Hi Ali,
Whenever I use the parchment paper in baking process, the final baked dough always sticks to it no matter what. Any idea how I can  solve this problem?
Thanks a lot in advance :)

This is our go-to kitchen-oven crust recipe. I use Peter Reinhart's Napoletana recipe for our outdoor pizza oven, but I find yours works so much better in the kitchen.  (I use a a pizza steel on top of a baking stone, preheat at the highest setting for an hour.  Cook 3-4 minutes, then switch to broil for the last minute.)  This recipe is so forgiving.  I can decide the night before, morning of, or even a few hours before dinner to get started, always with varying levels of greatness.  

Also: I've tried *so* many pizza white-sauce recipes, and none of them ever hit the spot.  Just using crème fraîche?  What an epiphany!  SO good and so easy.  Our favourites:  

- crème fraîche/sour cream, kale, bacon, parmesan, olive oil, fancy salt; and
- simple pizza sauce (San Marzano tomatoes/olive oil/salt), BBQ chicken, roasted red peppers, mozzarella, parmesan, olive oil, fancy salt.  

Thank you so much for making our oven pizzas so much easier, tastier and just plain ol' better!

I made this a couple of weeks ago. It tasted delicious but I sucked at shaping the dough. I found it really hard working with such a wet dough. I cooked it in a Gozney Roccbox, so found it hard getting it off the peel into the oven because of the hydration level. I definitely needed to use more flour. I'm trying again this week, fingers crossed!

Hi -- the recommended pizza steel is currently unavailable on amazon.  Is there another one that you could recommend?  Thanks.

Thanks,  perfect dough after 2 days ref fermentation.  Crunchy, chewy and soft which I prefer most.  I substituted kale with 2 layers spinach,  watery but next time should try kale instead.

I have used 2 cups bread flour and 2 cups wheat flour... turned really perfect.

Can’t stop making this! Although I own BTC, it was your blog posts that inspired me to try this pizza dough recipe. Your instructions and visuals are so clear and helpful. The only downside is now my husband will only eat fresh baked bread! 

This has been my go to pizza dough recipe for the past year and it never disappoints. It is so easy and so delicious! I can't believe I was buying premade pizza dough from the supermarket for so many years. I want to try the sourdough recipe next! 

I’ve been on the hunt to find a perfect pizza dough recipe and this is it! I made the full recipe keeping 2 dough balls in the fridge for a couple days and froze 2 balls of dough and they have thawed perfectly. 

Made the dough before my kids came home from school and left to rest. We then divided, and added toppings one person at a time while the last pizza was cooking, as each pizza took just ten minutes. The whole recipe worked perfectly, no tweaking necessary. Tasted like the pizzas we had in Naples, absolutely delicious! Will definitely use again and have shared already. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ooe0qlDbfB8

Up your pizza game with this simple recipe for homemade pizza dough. If you love a pizza with ballooned and blistered edges and a crisp but pliable crusts, this is the pizza dough recipe you’ll come back to again and again. It's no-knead, made with 4 ingredients, and a snap to throw together. 

Also included in the video is a recipe for kale, parmesan, and crème fraîche pizza, one of my favorites. Get the full recipe here: https://alexandracooks.com/2019/01/31/kale-creme-fraiche-pizza-how-to-make-great-neapolitan-style-pizza-at-home/

Simple Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe 🍕🍕🍕 + Kale and Creme Fraiche Pizza

From Cooks Illustrated Deep Dish Pizza with crispy edges

Cast Iron Pan Pizza

bread Flour ; (11 ounces)

Salt

Yeast ; instant or rapid rise

Water (105 - 110 degrees)

Whole Peeled Tomatoes ; (14.5 ounces)

Extra virgin olive oil

Garlic ; minced

Sugar

Oregano

Red pepper flakes

Monterey jack cheese ; shredded (1 cup)

Whole milk mozzarella cheese ; shredded (1 3/4 cup)

Mushrooms of choice! Saute' mushrooms

sweet onions, bell

For the dough Start the day before!!!

Using a wooden spoon or spatula, stir flour, salt, and yeast together in bowl. Add warm water and mix until most of flour is moistened. Using your hands, knead dough in bowl until dough forms sticky ball, about 1 minute. Spray 9 inch pie plate or cake pan with oil spray. Transfer dough to prepared plate and press into7 - 8 inch disk. Spray top of dough with oil spray. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 12 - 24 hours.

For the Sauce (so easy, no cooking. Ok, or use your favorite marinara, it’s okay)

Place tomatoes in fine-mesh strainer and crush with your hands. Drain well, then transfer to food processor. Add oil, garlic, sugar, salt oregano and pepper flakes and process until smooth, about 30 seconds.

For Pizza (You will need to start 2.5 hours before eating time)

Two hours before baking, remove dough for refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 30 minutes. Coat bottom of 12 inch cast-iron skillet with oil. Transfer dough to prepared skillet and use your fingers to flatten dough until it is 1/8 inch from edge of skillet. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and let rest until slightly puffy, about 1.5 hours.

Thirty minutes before baking, adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 400 degrees. Spread 1/2 cup sauce evenly over top of dough. Sprinkle Monterey Jack evenly over the border. Press Monterey Jack into side of skillet, forming 1/2 to 3/4 inch tall wall. (Not all cheese will stick to side of skillet). Evenly sprinkle mozzarella over sauce. Bake until cheese at edge of skillet is well browned, 25 - 30 minutes.

Transfer skillet to stovetop and let sit until sizzling stops, about 3 minutes. Run butter knife around rim of skillet to loosen pizza. Using thin metal spatula, gently lift edge of pizza and peek at underside to assess browning. Cook pizza over medium heat until bottom crust is browned, 2 - 5 minutes. Using two spatulas, transfer pizza to wire rack and let cool for ten minutes.

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