The Perfect Pizza Dough for 3–4 Pizzas

Die Zutaten und Mengen sind im Prinzip dieselben wie beim Schnellteig, dafür ist die Zubereitung zeitintensiver.

By Timo 2 · 2 servings · 1,440 minutes

Ingredients

  • 400 g Italian pizza flour Tipo 00 (alternatively 300 g all-purpose flour and 100 g bread flour)
  • 230 ml lukewarm water
  • 2.5 g fresh yeast
  • 2 EL high-quality olive oil
  • 1 TL sugar
  • 1 TL salt

Method

  1. Crumble the yeast into the lukewarm water, add the sugar and stir until the sugar and yeast have dissolved.
  2. Start the first attempts with 230 ml of water. This results in a dough with 58% hydration. Later you can increase the amount up to 260 ml (65%), but handling the dough balls then really takes a lot of experience, because the dough is very soft. The more water the dough contains, the fluffier and crispier the pizza will be!
  3. Place about 60% of the flour and all of the yeast water into a stand mixer and knead for 10–15 minutes. This results in a very liquid dough (similar to a pancake batter).
  4. Let this dough rest for about 30 minutes (autolyse).
  5. Then, in small steps, first add the olive oil and salt, then slowly add the remaining flour and keep kneading thoroughly. The dough is perfect (although still very moist) when it starts to pull away from the bottom of the bowl.
  6. Place the dough on a generously floured surface, dust with flour and continue kneading until it forms a ball.
  7. Divide the ball into 3–4 equal balls and place them in a Pimotti pizza dough ball box (maximum 5–6 dough balls per box).
  8. The boxes stack well, so as many dough balls as you like can be prepared. The top box must be closed with a lid. Then put everything in the refrigerator for 24 hours.
  9. Alternatively, you can put each individual ball into a plastic container. In the refrigerator, the yeast slowly begins to break down the starch in the flour into carbon dioxide and a little alcohol. So it is perfectly fine if the dough smells slightly of alcohol the next day! A slight souring, similar to a sourdough, also begins. The slightly sour smell is desired. The souring makes the dough more digestible, and the structure becomes finer through the long, slow fermentation process. As a result, the dough rises better during baking, gets a really airy texture inside and a nice, thin, crispy crust outside.
  10. The next day, take the boxes out 1.5–2 hours before baking and let the dough rise and warm up at room temperature.
  11. Then carefully take out one dough ball from the pizza ball box or plastic container with the Pimotti pizza spatula with a bend, or if necessary with well-floured hands, and place it on a generously floured surface.
  12. Dust the ball generously with flour from above and press it flat with the front 5 cm of your fingers from the inside outward, turning and flouring it repeatedly. Make sure a round dough disk forms that is slightly thicker at the outer edge. The edge should ideally not be worked. This produces a nicely fluffy, puffy crust when baked.
  13. Alternatively, after turning and pressing flat a few times, you can let the dough take shape under its own weight. Hold the dough disk like a steering wheel and rotate it in one direction by repositioning your hands so it deforms evenly. This takes some practice at first, but is easy to learn.