Fluffy Pizza Dough Recipe
The foundation of any great pizza is Fluffy Pizza Dough. The perfect dough should be soft, chewy and airy, creating a base for all your favourite toppings. The beauty of this recipe lies in its simplicity, as it only requires a handful of basic ingredients that are likely already in your pantry.
Servings: 16 pieces
Calories: 127kcal
Equipment
- small mixing bowl
- measuring cups and spoons
- kitchen thermometer
- kitchen scale
- whisk
- stand mixer with a dough hook or large mixing bowl
- wooden spoon if making by hand
- 2 9 inch by 13 inch pizza pans or two 12 inch round pizza pans
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups water 100-110°F or 38-43°C
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast or 8 grams
- 570 grams all-purpose flour or roughly 4⅛ cups
- 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil plus extra to oil the ball of dough when rising
Instructions
- Prepare yeast. In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the warm water (100-110 degrees Fahrenheit or 38-43 degrees Celsius) and sugar making sure to fully dissolve the sugar. Next, add the packet of yeast. Stir to combine and let rest until the mixture begins to foam, 5-7 minutes.1 ½ cups water 100-110°F, 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar
- Prepare the flour. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl add the flour and whisk in the salt.570 grams all-purpose flour, 1 ½ teaspoons kosher salt
- Add olive oil. When the yeast mixture has become foamy, add the olive oil and stir.2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- Add flour to the yeast mixture. Set the bowl with the yeast mixture onto your stand mixer. Attach the dough hook and set the speed to low and begin adding spoonfuls of the flour mixture to the yeast mixture until fully incorporated. Next, increase the speed of the stand mixer to medium and let the machine knead the dough for 5-10 minutes.
- Check for the right consistency. When the dough is ready, it should be soft and not sticky. A good gauge for readiness is when the bowl of your stand mixer is "clean" with no residual flour in it.
- Remove from bowl. Remove the dough from the mixing bowl and knead for 5 minutes by hand. This step is not necessary as the stand mixer already did most of the work, but it's a step I enjoy because I can adjust the consistency if a bit more flour is needed.
- Shape the dough. Once kneaded, shape the dough into a ball, drizzle with olive oil and put it back into the oiled bowl of the stand mixer. Cover with parchment paper (so that the dough does not stick) and a damp tea towel and let rise in a warm corner of your kitchen for 2 hours or until doubled in size. I like to let it rise in the oven with the oven light on or in the microwave.
- After rising. Once doubled in size, it's time to prepare the pizza.
- Prepare the pizza. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. After the dough has risen, divide it in two. Oil the pans and begin by stretching the dough onto the pan with your hands. This is an exercise in patience! If the dough is not spreading easily, let it sit for 5-10 minutes to relax the gluten in the flour and try again. Never use a rolling pin to spread and stretch the dough because you will deflate all the bubbles in the dough and your pizza will be dense rather than light and fluffy.
- Add your toppings. Add the toppings of your choice to create your pizza. Once you've dressed the pizza, let it sit at room temperature for 15 minutes. This will give the dough one last chance to rise slightly so that the pizza will be thick and fluffy. Then bake the pizza on the lower rack of the oven for 13-15 minutes or until the bottom is lightly golden brown.
Notes
Note: 2 ¼ teaspoons of active dry yeast is equivalent to one packet which contains 8 grams.
Ensure that the yeast you are using is alive and not expired. If you notice that the yeast does not foam up when you begin the recipe, it could be that it has expired or that the water temperature used was not ideal. The water should be between 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit or 38-43 degrees Celsius.
Nutrition
Calories: 127kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 0.3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2g | Sodium: 220mg | Potassium: 16mg | Fiber: 4g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin C: 0.01mg | Calcium: 22mg | Iron: 1mg
