This homemade pizza with homemade pizza dough recipe makes one of the best crusts I’ve ever had that is perfectly golden brown and tender.
If you haven’t noticed by reading my blog billyparisi.com, I love pizza. No, like I really love it.
Whenever I travel to other cities I do my best to research and identify that city’s best pizza and then go try it out. Out of all the places I’ve traveled to or have lived in, Chicago, New York, St. Louis, Detroit, San Francisco, Los Angeles, I still have a favorite place and it’s where I went to college.
The university of Missouri in Columbia, Missouri has the best pizza joint of all time, Shakespeare’s. It’s so good that even ABC named it the best college food restaurant in the entire country. Their crust is amazing, the cheese options and toppings are of the upmost quality, and it’s just plain old good.
While I may never find a place that can live up the Shakespeare’s, I make a pretty dang mean recipe right in my very own home.
Homemade Pizza Dough
I’ve made several pizza recipes in the past from my Three Different Homemade Pizza Recipes with No Knead Pizza Crust using dark rye flour, to my Homemade Hawaiian pizza with Semolina Crust, and a few more sprinkled in.
However, I have to admit that this one, may be my absolute favorite. While the toppings and sauce to a pizza are really important, ask yourself what’s the best part of it? It’s the crust of course! For me a light, crusty, filled with air pocket crust that is tender and chewy is where it’s at. To be honest, it’s kind of hard to hit all of those crust staples because of time mostly.
Making the Dough
One thing that I believe is an absolutely necessity when making a Homemade Pizza Dough is the use of a gram scale.
You can be ofa a gram or 2 in a bread recipe, but you can’t be off an ounce of 2 or else your recipe will be trashed.
Baking is a science and it needs absolute ingredient amounts, so if your serious about baking or are even remotely interested in it, then get yourself a gram scale; I promise it will be worth it and this Homemade Pizza Dough will thank you!
Outside of the need to use really good ingredients, time is the second biggest factor when making a homemade pizza. Making the dough is not hard at all, it’s mostly just time that is needed. No self-respecting pizza joint makes homemade pizza dough an hour before service starts.
No! You usually have a baker or cook come in at wee hours of the morning to prepare the dough for resting and rising. THIS is the most important part of the entire baking procedure for this homemade pizza dough.
I have a resting time of about 4 ½ hours for this homemade pizza dough but if you can make that even longer then your dough will be even fluffier and more tender. My biggest challenge is trying to record a video with enough light in my kitchen during the day so you can actually see what I am doing with this homemade pizza dough. Dang the time change!
How to Form the Dough
Once you mix your homemade pizza dough recipe together really well you let it sit for 90 minutes covered in plastic wrap before stretching it and folding it for 2 minutes. Then, let it rest for 90 more minutes before removing it from the bowl.
You then want to form it to a large ball and then split it into fourths. This recipe will give you 4 pizza doughs, which is awesome! The topping portion is completely up to you so get as creative or as simple as you’d like, but one thing is for certain and that is this homemade pizza dough recipe is legit!
Video
Homemade Pizza with Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe
Ingredients
- 560 grams of Bob’s Red Mill Artisan Bread Flour
- 190 grams of Bob’s Red Mill whole Wheat Flour
- 600 grams of water at 98° to 100°
- 10 grams of Kosher salt
- 4 grams of active yeast
- optional pizza toppings
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine with your hands the flours, water, salt and yeast until completely mixed together. Let rest for 90 minutes covered in plastic wrap
- Next, stretch and fold the dough for 2 minutes and cover and rest for 90 more minutes
- Dust a clean surface with flour and place the dough onto it. Sprinkle the top with flour and fold the dough over 2 times and then begin to mold the dough into a ball by cupping around the dough into the bottom.
- Cut the dough into 4 individual dough balls and using the same cupping method form 4 dough balls and place on a sheet tray with parchment paper dusted with flour and covered with a towel, and rest for 90 minutes
- Place a pizza stone into the oven and preheat to 500°.
- Form a dough ball on a clean surface dusted with flour and stretch it out until it is about 12”-14” in diameter and transfer to a wooden pizza paddle. Add on desired toppings leaving a ½” to ¾” inch around the outside for the crust.
- Dust the pizza stone with semolina flour and transfer the pizza onto the stone. Bake for 5 minutes before rotating the pizza 180° and then baking for another 5-7 minutes or until the crust is browned and the cheese is completely melted.
- Slice and serve!
Nutrition
Susan Stark says
Let’s say I wanted to make this dough 24 to 36 hours before using it.
Q: should I store the dough as the four individual dough balls or as the entire recipe after its two 90-minute resting periods?
Q: Should I store the dough in the refrigerator?
Chef Billy Parisi says
Do it as the 4 dough balls and yes in the fridge. Be sure to go back through the proofing process when you take it out.
Steph says
Could this dough be made in a bread machine? Would it work with all bread flour instead of the mix of bread flour and whole wheat? Thanks!
Chef Billy Parisi says
no
Mike Kopca says
Chef,why don’t you use olive oil in your crust?
Chef Billy Parisi says
Don’t need it.
Chads says
Hy chef,
One major problem for me is that my oven goes up to 250 degrees max. Any solutions possible
Thank you
Chef Billy Parisi says
do you have a grill? This is F by the way, not C.
Todd McCutcheon says
Giving this a second go to see if I can repeat.
First was so close to being able to ditch order in pizza….
Crust came out amazing!
J Faust says
I noticed a discrepancy for this receipt video vs the written. On the video it calls for 590g of flour and 560g on the written. which I correct?
Chef Billy Parisi says
560
Gary Weller says
Hi, Have made the artisan bread a few times and now the pizza dough. Every time the mixture comes out wetter than yours and I am using a gram scale. Could it be the flour we have in the UK, i am using 00 or bread flour as is the whole meal. It works but is a bugger to handle and work with.
Regards Gary
Chef Billy Parisi says
Thanks Gary! It’s always hard to nail down why exact things happen with baking because there are so many factors. Sticky dough is totally ok to, wet your hands before touching it. Also, if it helps, take away 5% hydration and see if it does anything for you.
Sean Martin says
I am all over making this tonight. Bring on the gluten!!!!
Jeff says
Yum, this looks delicious. I’ll Have to try this on my weekend off.
Mrs.Kevin says
Your pizza looks fantastic, but I’m wondering how long the dough will keep.
Chef Billy Parisi says
I would say 2 days in the fridge. You could try freezing it up to a month?
Carolina says
I made this one today omg I let the crust burn a little bit longer I like it toasty it was delicious! And yes you are right I didn’t have a scale but I think time was the key I gave it time +love + patience = amazing delicious homemade pizza ❤️?????
Chef Billy Parisi says
so awesome to hear you loved it and so glad it turned out well for you!
Jennifer says
Hi, I love pizzas ?. Could you please transfer the receipe in U S measurements? This would help alot. Thank you
Chef Billy Parisi says
Hi Jennifer – Sorry, but the conversion won’t be exact meaning it won’t turn out right. I left the ounce world when my bread recipes never turned out. There maybe a conversion calculator online somewhere that can help? Thanks!
Enika says
Agreed. A scale is necessary
Natasha Cummins says
Tried this with my kids last week and it was so good that we’re making it again this weekend!
I’ve also shared the recipe with friends. It was perfect and easy to follow. Thanks for the inspiration to try something new.