Pizza Dough (& Sauce) Recipe that is SO Worth the Effort
Takes 1.5 days to ferment, but don’t let that deter you from enjoying one of the best homemade pizzas
I started this blog because I wanted to share the love I have for the food we make at home. Eating home cooked food everyday has transformed my life because it helped me become better physically & mentally. I do try my best to share quick & simple recipes that other households can easily replicate at home! Unfortunately, this pizza dough recipe isn’t one of those, but, fortunately, it tastes & looks pretty damn good.
Now, the part which deters most people is the duration the dough needs. I know 1.5 days can be intimidating, but the time in which you do the actual work isn’t a lot. The dough needs a lot of resting time so it gets all bubbly and light.
In this post, I’ll also be sharing our pizza sauce recipe in case you’d rather stick to store-bought pizza dough bases! This sauce can also be used for pastas! It tastes so much better than store-bought sauces~
Pizza Sauce
Ingredients
Half an onion, minced finely
2 cloves of garlic, crushed skin on/off optional
2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 jar of passata
Salt
Sugar
Method
Gently fry onions and garlic in extra virgin olive oil on low-medium heat
Once onions are fragrant and translucent, add in tomato paste and continuing frying
Once tomato paste turns a caramelised maroon red, add in the passata
Reduce heat to low, and simmer for 20 minutes
Season with salt and sugar to taste
Pizza Dough
There are 2 parts to this pizza dough recipe and I’ll split it into Day 1 & 2 - Day 1 (Poolish) is like the starter your dough needs so it can rise and fluff up beautifully when you make them on Day 2.
Day 1 - Poolish
Ingredients
150ml water, room temp.
150g of flour (all-purpose works, but bread or pizza flour is better)
2.5g yeast
2.5g honey
Method
Mix all the ingredients in a fridge-safe bowl or container, ensuring that there is enough space for the mixture to rise without overflowing overnight, at least 50% more space would be good
We make ours in a glass container and put the lid on and leave it on the kitchen counter at room temperature for about 30 minutes. We put it in the fridge to cold ferment for at least 12 hours, up to 48 hours, before using it in the next steps
If you’re using a bowl, you can use cling wrap to cover the mixture
Day 2 - Making the dough
Ingredients
Poolish (from Day 1)
450ml iced water
625g pizza flour
20g sea salt
Method (for stand mixer)
Add flour and all of the poolish into the mixer
Slowly drizzle in iced water, but without the ice, and let the machine knead the mixture to allow gluten to slowly build up
Once fully hydrated with no visible clumps of flour, add in salt and continue mixing on medium high speed
Once the dough has become smooth and doesn’t stick to the sides of the mixer, add in 2 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil and turn on the mixer again to mix until fully incorporated
Once the dough is well mixed, remove it from the mixer to rest in a lightly oiled bowl for 30 minutes. Use extra virgin olive oil
After 30 minutes, take out and divide the dough equally into 5 dough balls. Each dough ball weighed about 275-280g for us
Let the balls rest for 2hrs, covered with cling wrap
After 2 hours, shape each dough ball into the pizza base you desire and add toppings and bake!
We like using our pizza oven to bake at 350ºC
Method (by hand)
Add flour and all of the poolish into the bowl
Slowly drizzle in iced water and knead to allow gluten to slowly build up
Once there are no clumps of dry flour, add in salt and continue to knead the dough
Rest the dough for 15 minutes
After 15 minutes, knead again till the dough is smooth (the dough will initially be sticky and will become smooth the more you knead! This takes some elbow grease.)
Let the dough rest for another 30 minutes in a lightly oiled bowl. Use extra virgin olive oil
After 30 minutes, take out and divide the dough equally into 5 dough balls. Each dough ball weighed about 275-280g for us
Let the balls rest for 2hrs, covered with cling wrap
After 2 hours, shape each dough ball into the pizza base you desire and add toppings and bake!
We like using our pizza oven to bake at 350ºC
This makes pizzas at home like restaurants with wood-fired ovens, which to us is the gold standard of pizzas. It truly isn’t the most straightforward thing to make and it requires more equipment and tools than most recipes. But if you do get to try this at home, we would really love to hear from you!
If it’s your first attempt and you’re feeling a little lost at any step, YouTube has a lot of authentic Italian pizza making techniques that will help. It was how we got started as well, especially with kneading and shaping.
Wishing you a life filled with yummy pizzas only! Thanks for stopping by our blog:)
