Pizza-ists – what’s your dough recipe?

On the sticking to the worktop thing, we add polenta to the flour on the surface, which I think helps. No problem getting the peel under it. Also I think it pays to go about the job with a bit of confidence.

I had the big horn out at the weekend no puns please and for making 10 pizzas stress free for a novice I bought the northern dough co pizza doughs and would say they are pretty good. I haven’t mastered the nice round disc yet, my ones look more like nan bread shape with ears but do get them nice and thin, can’t find semolina anywhere

@redmex try adimaria for semolina flour (and lots of other good stuff for pizzas). They sell pizza doughs also from a very good Italian flour maker, though I’ve not tried them.

On the sticking to the worktop thing, we add polenta to the flour on the surface, which I think helps. No problem getting the peel under it.

same, but theres no way id be able to have any success doing a ninja swipe with the peel and get my thin dough plus toppings onto it ready for the oven. so, for some reason your dough must be stronger/sturdier than mine for some reason, and i dont know what that reason is…..

For a pizza stone use Jamie Oliver’s for a pizza oven, well that’s a whole new genre you’re entering.

Have used his dough recipe in a wood oven was perfect. 👍🏼

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/bread-recipes/basic-pizza/

I’ve used Jamie Olivers pizza dough recipe for years. First in an uuni 2s and now in the recently acquired koda. Always works great. I roll mostly by rolling pin and they’re never round, but no one minds

Half and half cos the kids don’t like jalapeno or basil.

Watched some videos on neapolitan shaping and I’m getting a lot better.

This is my sourdough recipe I’ve posted before with dalla Giovanna Napoletana 2.0 flour at 66% hydration and a cold prove overnight. These doughs came out of the freezer around 3pm today.

I roll mostly by rolling pin

I persuaded myself I needed to learn how to hand stretch a pizza when I bought my ooni fyra. 50-60 crappy pizzas later, I was running late prepping 8 pizzas so pulled out the rolling pin – absolutely no bloody difference but tons quicker. Bollocks to the artisan approach from now on.

1kg of Caputo pizza flour
700g of warm water
28g of fine salt
2g of active dried yeast, or 1.5g instant yeast

Mix it all together
Leave it for a bit
Stretch and turn
Leave it for a bit
Stretch and turn
Cover in cling film and leave over night somewhere cool. Maybe in fridge for a bit if it looks a bit excitable.
Ball into 200g balls
Cover in cling film and leave for a few hours
Make into pizzas

Tekp2
Are you sure about 2 g of dried yeast – that seems to be an incredibly small amount for 1kg of flour….

that seems to be an incredibly small amount

My thoughts exactly, and a fairly high level of salt, I’d be amazed if that rises?

If he’s proving overnight not in the fridge you don’t want much yeast in case it overproves. I don’t know about exact quantities because I’m a sourdough purist. 😛

Salt does seem v high though. I stick to 2% or thereabouts cos I’m usually making pizzas for the kids and we eat it pretty often.

Yep – Tekp2’s recipe up there is almost exactly the same as the Pizza Pilgrims one and that works a treat. I too thought it was a fair amount of salt and not much yeast when I first made it but it tastes sensational.

https://uk.ooni.com/blogs/recipes/100-biga

resurrecting this thread as my mates just bought an ooni and is asking me for tips and i dont want to tell him wrong.
over the last few months ive been experimenting a bit with times and mixes, and theres something thats always puzzled me. it makes sense to me but ive never seen suggested so thought id ask here.

i think we generally all mix the dough, knead, leave it to bulk ferment for a few hours or so, divide and shape, leave a bit longer (refrigerating until an hour or so before cooking) then shape and cook.
but why does nobody divide immediately after the knead stage?

i figure that during those few hours, glutens forming, the whole bulk is getting stronger, but then we’re cutting it, weighing individual balls, adjusting the weight by cutting a bit more off the dough to make them all equal, and then we shape and leave for an hour or so, or refrigerate, whatever.
but if we weighed and divided earlier, we wouldnt have to cut the gluten strands at all, we’d be leaving each individual ball to ferment and gain strength in the gluten before shaping into balls. no cutting/dividing it later.

ive started doing this as it makes sense to me, but dont want to tell someone else to do it if its the wrong thing to do.

btw i was amazed at his ooni cooking time. my firepod apparently cooks at the ‘optimum pizza temperature’ according to the maker (high 300s?) and takes 5 mins or maybe a little more to cook.
he put his first pizza in the ooni and it was pretty much burnt at the back within 10/15 seconds!!
experimented a bit and found that even on just over halfway on the dial they still cooked faster than mine, but the lower heat was a bit more forgiving. that usual for ooni ovens?

cheers

I’ve got a 3 with the gas burner and I run the burner at max to heat up the stone but then lower for cooking. At max you can burn the top really easily.

Also there’s a lot of dough recipes with sugar in – that’s fine for lower temps but it’s more prone to burning in a proper hot oven.

I think bulk proving keeps more heat in the dough vs balls but it’s also logistics – bulk takes up less space than trays of balls.

I’ve been using this poolish method recently – I like it as it’s an overnight prove of a small container in the fridge (usually don’t have space for a full batch) then a couple of hours prove on the day. Quite a high hydration dough if you follow that recipe, definitely need a dough scraper to work with it. Comes out lovely though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjsCEJ8CWlg

This one (the OO one);

Make perfect pizza dough

Made in the bread maker (takes 1.5hrs)

Use an Igneus Classico as the oven and its fab. In fact I cooked 19 pizzas in it last night as had some family round.

I divide mine after kneeding, it works fine. I have little bowls that I oil and put each piece in to rest in the fridge. I generally use 500g of flour for four pieces and wil use two and freeze two.

I divide mine after kneeding, it works fine.

ahhh finally, a kindred spirit.

bulk takes up less space than trays of balls.

thats what i thought the reason would be, but you still have to take up the same space eventually when youve divided them, so why not as early as possible?

I’ve been using this poolish method recently – I like it as it’s an overnight prove of a small container in the fridge (usually don’t have space for a full batch) then a couple of hours prove on the day. Quite a high hydration dough if you follow that recipe, definitely need a dough scraper to work with it. Comes out lovely though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjsCEJ8CWlg

just watched that, interesting, im going to try it. he makes it look so easy but im sure its not 😀 ill try it when its not so important if i mess up.

This one (the OO one);

milk?? another one to try, thanks.

On the heat front, my stone hits about 500 after a 30/40 minute heat up (wood fired ooni). Cooking in generally 15 seconds then turn with 4 sides to cook and 60 or so seconds to cook when really screaming.

Beer instead of water in the dough and an overnight retardation in the fridge works for me.

On the heat front, my stone hits about 500 after a 30/40 minute heat up (wood fired ooni). Cooking in generally 15 seconds then turn with 4 sides to cook and 60 or so seconds to cook when really screaming.

wowzers, got to stay focussed with that!!

500! Way too hot for me. 350-400 ideally cooking temperature I find in my over, few 90 degree spins to even out the cooking (tend to have the fire/coals at the back).

I’ve been using this Josh Weissman recipe for New York style pizza. He has others Recipe
It’s a really easy, no fuss overnight recipe that’s had excellent results.

Even managing to shape and stretch the dough on my knuckles with it.

Came across him on YouTube and he has some excellent straight forward recipes

I’ve been using this poolish method recently – I like it as it’s an overnight prove of a small container in the fridge (usually don’t have space for a full batch) then a couple of hours prove on the day. Quite a high hydration dough if you follow that recipe, definitely need a dough scraper to work with it. Comes out lovely though. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjsCEJ8CWlg

well im trying it right now. just got as far as finishing the slap and folds and about to try and shape into a ball then leave for another hour. his recipe works out at 71% hydration, messy isnt it 😀

wow! that was a revelation, never had such a light, airy dough. ever. this is my new method of dough making now, no question about it.

i suppose the only issue with it is you need to start the day before, so any ‘same day, short notice’ pizza decisions will need a different recipe, but im still buzzing over what a great crust this made.

i did make one booboo tho, and not sure what happened, but my second of three pizzas stuck to the peel and was ruined. i even tried blowing under the dough but nope, once it stuck there was no going back and it had to be scrapped which was a shame. i had flour and polenta ‘ball-bearings’ under it too.
it does make me wonder why matey in the video made the pizza on the worktop and then lifted it to slide the peel under, why create an extra ‘thing that can go wrong’? why not just make the pizza on the peel and remove that potential problem?

anyone else not load their pizza on the peel? and does it ever go wrong for you?

To avoid the not having pizza dough available last minute, just freeze the dough in portions. They defrost in a few hours. I always do a double batch of dough and freeze half.

You could get a wooden peel, they’re quite cheap online. We’ve got a few and build the pizzas on them, then slide them straight into the oven. Because they’re wooden they don’t stick like the metal one does, but still need flouring. Then use the big metal one to take them out afterwards.

You could get a wooden peel, they’re quite cheap online.

it is a wooden peel im using for sliding into the oven. i can only think the base was maybe stretched a bit too thin in one place and the tommy sauce started soaking through maybe….

To avoid the not having pizza dough available last minute, just freeze the dough in portions. They defrost in a few hours. I always do a double batch of dough and freeze half.

yep, i tried that before and didnt have much success, im a bit unsure how long to defrost it for to get that sweet spot between being ready to cook or over-proving and becoming a soggy mess.
at what stage do you freeze it, when youve just tightened it up into a ball? or before that when youve divided them, and then tighten/shape once defrosted?

thanks

Pick your dough recipe and double triple the amounts, it’s like beer, needs a mass to generate a reaction and depth of flavour. Prove slowly overnight, 200gm portion for one person. Portion the remaining d’oh, wrap in oiled cling and freeze. Pizza sauce freezes well. Remove from the cold in the morning and make pizza for dinner. Been doing this for years. Frying pan and grill method is awesome.

@Sadexpunk I shape into balls after kneading and then usually leave to prove for a few hours in the fridge. I will then wrap tightly in cling film and freeze in those balls. It usually takes about three hours at room temp to defrost. Even if the dough seems a bit flat it should rise in the oven and if it seems a bit stickier then I just use a little extra corn meal to do the final shape before adding toppings.

For me, the frozen dough works almost as well as fresh

we’re cutting it, weighing individual balls, adjusting the weight by cutting a bit more off the dough to make them all equal, and then we shape

No chance! Straight after kneading: handful, roll into ball, put down, next handful..