Pizza Dough

After making pizzas from scratch at home for the last year I've been trying so many different recipes and tweaking each ingredients ratio every time and I think I've finally perfected it! This is as close as I can get to a Neapolitan style pizza, which is my favourite. 

The perfect pizza to me is one that has a crispy, sturdy yet thin base with pillowy, fluffy crusts and minimal toppings.

My recipe calls for a mixture of pizza or plain flour and Tipo 00 pasta flour. It also only needs 4 hours to rise, which I purposely created so you can enjoy it the day you make the dough. I tried a few 24 hour dough recipes this method to be just as good, faster and easier. 

In terms of toppings, you can put on literally anything you like, but my all time go-to is a simple Margherita with tomatoes, basil and Buffalo Mozzarella. Simple and underrated. 

Makes 4 pizza bases
Ingredients 7
Cooking Time 45 minutes, plus 4 hours resting time
Skill Level Easy

Ingredients

• 300g of Pizza flour or plain flour, sifted
• 300g of Tip 00 flour, salted
• 400ml of warm water (approx. 37 degrees, body temp)
• 20g salt
• 1 teaspoon of honey
• 6g yeast, I use dry yeast
• 10g olive oil

Watch the process

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Method

1. Dissolve your honey into your bowl of warm water and then stir in your yeast and olive oil. Allow your yeast mixture to activate for 10 minutes. You should see bubbles and a frothy creaminess develop on the top.
2. Whilst waiting for your yeast mixture to activate, combine your dry ingredients. Sift your two flours into a large bowl and mix in the salt with your hands.
3. Now pour your yeast mixture into your bowl of dry ingredients and using your hands, mix to combine into a rough ball using your hands. Place the ball back into your bowl, cover with a tea towel and rest for 15 minutes.
4. After 15 minutes, start kneading your dough on a floured bench top for about 5 minutes or until the dough becomes smooth.
5. Using a knife of bench scraper, cut your dough into 4 equal sections. Take one piece at a time and roll it into a ball. Fold the edges into the centre and cup the ends around the chopping board for a perfectly smooth ball. 
6. Roll the remaining three sections into balls, and place on a floured tray covered with a tea towel to rise for 4 hours or until it has doubled in size.
7. Once the dough has rested, and you're ready to cook pizzas, take your dough and using your fingers flatten it down your floured bench top.
8. Then stretch the dough over your knuckles and fingers so that it is as thin as possible, almost as though you can see through it.
9. Now add your desired toppings to your pizza base in your preferred order.
10. To cook:
1. In a Gozney or Ooni Pizza Oven- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees celsius. Using a well floured pizza peel, place your pizza onto the peel and slide the pizza into the oven. Allow the pizza edge closest to the flames to puff up and golden for 30 seconds and then use the peel to pull out and pivot the pizza every 15-20 seconds so that all sections of the pizza and crust cook evenly. Take out once the pizza is fully cooked (cheese has melted and the crust is fully puffed up) which should be approx 90 seconds.
2. In your oven or weber with a pizza stone- Preheat your oven/weber to the highest setting for 20 minutes. Place a pizza stone into the oven/weber to heat up. Place your pizza onto the stone using a pizza peel, close the lid or oven door and cook for about 10 minutes until the dough and toppings are fully cooked.

If this has inspired you to make pizza, you can check out some of my favourite pizza recipes below;

• Pizza Dough Recipe
• Spicy Vodka Sauce Pizza 
• Potato, Thyme, Honey & Provolone Pizza
• Nutella & Strawberry Pizza
• Chef Emlyn Bilbie's Green Eggs No Ham Pizza 

Recipe FAQ's

How would we cook in an oven? 

All explained in my IGTV at the 5-6minute mark but if you're using your oven or barbecue get yourself a Pizza Stone, which are normally $30. I've linked to the one I'm using in the video.

Can you please make a homemade sauce?

All explained in my IGTV, but for a homemade sauce, just blend a can of good quality tomatoes with a blender or immersion blender.

Is there a difference with using honey compared to using sugar?

Good question! You can use either. There might be a slight taste difference but both will work. The yeast essentially needs a bit of sugar to feed on and activate.