Want to know how to make the best pizza dough ever? The kind that's chewy and crispy with beautiful scorched bubbles on the crust. Would you also like it if that pizza dough was super easy to make (no kneading required!) and made to bake in your home oven? You're in the right place because this best pizza dough recipe is all those things and more.
Ingredients
3 ¾ cupsall-purpose flour, plus more for shaping dough
2teaspoonsfine sea salt
¼ teaspoonactive dry yeast
1 ½ cupswarm water
Instructions
In a large bowl, whisk the flour, salt, and yeast.
3 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons fine sea salt, ¼ teaspoon active dry yeast
Add 3 cups of warm water and mix it with a wooden spoon until it becomes a rough dough. Then use your hands to gently bring the dough together to form a rough ball. Note: you may need to knead it a couple of times to get it to create a ball.
1 ½ cups warm water
Transfer the ball to a large, clean bowl and cover it with a clean kitchen towel. Set the bowl aside in a warm (room temperature) draft-free location for at least 18 hours, or until the dough has more than doubled in size.
Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. Cut the dough into 4 pieces. Take a corner of the dough and pull it towards the center of the dough. Repeat with the remaining 3 corners until you have a little package. If the 'package' is a little sticky, dust it with flour.
Place the 'package' seam-side down on a lightly floured surface. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough. Cover with a clean, damp tea towel and set aside for 1 hour.
To make pizza
Place a pizza stone (or a baking sheet turned upside down on a rack in the top ⅓ of your oven. Turn your oven on as high as it will go. Make sure it comes to temperature before baking the pizzas. Generously flour your work surface, hands, and 1 ball of pizza dough. Press the pizza dough down in the center then gently push and pull the edges into a 10-inch circle. Try not to squeeze out the air bubbles; they're the best part.
Transfer the pizza dough to a well-floured pizza peel then top the pizza lightly with sauce and toppings. Slide the pizza from the peel onto the hot pizza stone and bake until the bottom is crisp and the top is blistered - about 5-6 minutes if using a pizza stone or 10-12 minutes using a baking sheet. Allow your oven to re-heat for 5 minutes between pizzas.
Notes
The pizza dough can be made ahead of time. Complete step 7 then wrap in plastic wrap and store in the fridge for three days. Bring to room temperature for 2-3 hours before baking. For more great pizza recipes, check out Jim Lahey's cookbook, My Pizza.