Homemade Margherita Pizza Dough
A 65% hydration pizza dough made with bread or 00 flour, salt, a little yeast and olive oil, either same-day or cold-fermented for 24–72 hours, topped with uncooked crushed tomatoes, mozzarella and basil and baked on a preheated steel or stone.
Ingredients
Dough
- 300 g (2 ½ cups) bread flour or "00" flour
- 195 g (195 ml) lukewarm water, about 25°C (77°F)
- 6 g (1 tsp) fine sea salt
- 2 g (⅔ tsp) instant yeast (same-day) or 1 g (⅓ tsp) (cold ferment)
- 10 g (2 tsp) extra-virgin olive oil
- 4 g (1 tsp) sugar or honey (optional)
- semolina, for the peel
Margherita topping
- 400 g (14 oz) can whole peeled plum tomatoes
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 250 g (9 oz) fresh mozzarella, torn and drained, or 200 g (7 oz) low-moisture mozzarella
- fresh basil leaves
- extra-virgin olive oil
- 20 g (¼ cup) grated Parmesan (optional)
Instructions
- Mix the flour, yeast, water, oil and sugar until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest 20 minutes.
- Add the salt and knead 8–10 minutes until smooth, elastic and slightly tacky.
- Same-day: rise 1 ½–2 hours at 22–24°C (72–75°F) until doubled. Cold ferment: rest 1 hour.
- Divide into 2 balls of about 255 g and shape tightly.
- Same-day: rest 45–60 minutes. Cold ferment: refrigerate 24–72 hours, then bring to room temperature for 2–3 hours.
- Heat a steel or stone in the upper third of the oven at the highest setting, 250–290°C (480–550°F), for 45–60 minutes.
- Crush the tomatoes with the salt. Drain the mozzarella.
- Stretch each ball by hand to 30 cm (12 in), leaving a 2 cm (¾ in) rim.
- Top with 80–100 g tomato, half the mozzarella, basil and a drizzle of oil.
- Bake 6–9 minutes on a steel or 8–12 minutes on a stone, using the grill for the last 1–2 minutes if needed. Finish with basil and oil.
Notes
- Weigh the flour, water and salt for consistent results.
- Bread flour browns better than malt-free 00 in a home oven; the optional sugar also helps.
- Active dry yeast: use 3 g (1 tsp) for same-day dough, dissolved in the water.
- Freeze dough balls after shaping for up to 3 months; thaw overnight in the fridge.
- Reheat leftover slices in a covered dry frying pan for 3–4 minutes.