Pizza Dough Like from an Italian Pizzeria

A crispy crust, flavorful dough and just a handful of ingredients – that’s often all you need for a great pizza. This pizza dough works equally well in the oven or on the grill and is suitable for both sheet pan pizza and classic round pizzas. If you have a little more time, you can let the dough mature in the refrigerator for even more flavor and a lighter, airier crumb.

At a Glance

🕒 Preparation time: 10 minutes
⏳ Resting time: 2 hours – 2 days
👩🏼‍🍳 Difficulty: easy

Ingredients (for 2 baking trays or 4 round pizzas)

• 500 g Tipo 00 pizza flour (or all-purpose flour)
• 270 ml lukewarm water
• 10–15 g fresh yeast (depending on rising time)
• 12 g salt
• 15 ml olive oil
• 1 pinch of sugar

Instructions

1. Dissolve the fresh yeast and sugar in the lukewarm water in a large bowl. Add the olive oil.
2. Add about half of the flour and stir with a large spoon.
3. Add the remaining flour and the salt, then knead everything into a smooth and elastic dough.
4. Cover the dough and let it rise in a warm place for about 2 hours.
5. Divide the dough into the desired number of portions. Roll out the dough balls on a lightly floured surface or shape them by hand and add your favorite toppings. Alternatively, place the dough balls in a sealed container and let them continue to mature in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Notes

About the resting time:

• If the dough is used after about 2 hours, the result will be a thinner and crispier crust.
• After up to 48 hours of cold fermentation in the refrigerator, the dough develops more flavor, rises a little more and bakes up lighter and fluffier.

Tip for More Air Bubbles

• With dough that has been cold-fermented for at least 48 hours, it can be worth avoiding rolling it out completely with a rolling pin. Instead, roll the dough to about 80% of the desired size and then gently stretch it by hand. This helps preserve more of the air bubbles inside the dough, which can create a lighter crust and those characteristic crispy bubbles during baking.

Oven

• Bake the pizza in a preheated oven at 250 °C (480 °F) for about 12–15 minutes, depending on the toppings and your preferred level of browning.

Grill

• On a closed grill at around 300 °C (570 °F), the pizza usually takes about 8–10 minutes.

Baking Surface

• This dough works equally well on a baking tray lined with parchment paper, a pizza stone or a cast-iron baking plate.

Tip for Moving the Pizza

• Especially when grilling pizza, it can be helpful to sprinkle a little semola (durum wheat semolina) underneath the rolled-out dough. This keeps the dough more mobile and allows it to slide more easily off the pizza peel. It is particularly useful when transporting a topped pizza to the grill or pizza stone before baking.

Storage

• Stored in an airtight container, the dough will keep in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Serving Suggestions

Looking for topping inspiration? Try these pizza recipes made with this dough: