Best-Ever Pizza Dough Recipe (No Knead)
Save RecipeHi Bold Bakers!
As a professional baker, I naturally have a passion for bread making. And any baker worth their salt has their own tried and tested Pizza Dough recipe that they carry with them from kitchen to kitchen. I am no different and I hold my precious recipes close to my chest.
So how can I call this Pizza Dough the Best Ever? It’s simple: this dough is mixed by hand without the need for a machine. It ferments overnight to give great flavor and texture and best of all the dough lasts up to 4 days in the fridge. At the end you get restuarant quality professional pizza. The results will be the BEST-EVER Pizza you make at home, I promise you that.
Now, even though I normally would be on the sweeter side of baking I do know a thing or two about making pizza. When I lived in San Francisco I turned the sitting room of the old Georgian townhouse I rented into an underground restaurant and fed my friends, friends of friends, and hungry strangers fresh pizzas from my rickety old gas oven! I called it “Knead to Know.” I only invited my friends so you would “knead to know” one of my friends to find out about it. (Get it?)
Those of you who follow my recipes will know that I swear by the “No Knead” technique for bread making. This method uses time to develop a dough, and time equals deeply developed flavor and bubbly texture.
You can pretty much make any type of bread or yeasted dough using this method. Ever want to make soft Pretzels but are intimidated by the method? Here is my No-Knead Pretzel Recipe. They are incredibly easy to make and the results are some of the best soft Pretzels you will taste. I also have made No-Knead Brioche, No-Knead Cinnamon Raisin Bread and even No-Knead Cinnamon Rolls.
My recommendation for successful No-Knead Pizza Dough is read through my method and all of my tips. Print off the recipe and take notes, what temperature you used, how long you bake, etc. Basically what works for you and what doesn’t. This helps you perfect your dough and your skills.
Make sure to check out a few of my other favorite pizza flavors including Mushroom, Mascarpone & Egg and Potato & Mint Pesto along with my 5 minute pizza sauce below.
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- 1 1/3 cup (12floz/ 300g) water ( at blood temperature)
- 1/4 teaspoon dried yeast
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3 1/2 cups /18oz/ 525g unbleached all-purpose flour
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In a large bowl or a plastic container with a lid, add in the flour, salt and yeast. Do not add the yeast and salt directly on each other as this can deactivate the yeast.
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Mix all of your dry ingredients together well
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Mix the oil into the water.
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Pour the blood temperature water oil mix in all at once and stir with a wooden spoon or your hand, which is what I prefer so you can tell by the feel of the dough if you need more water early on. Adjust the water to your flour, do not over-wet it.
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Mix it until all of the flour is incorporated into the dough and is hydrated. You don’t want any lumps of flour left dry. You can see it will be a wet, saggy dough.
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With a spatula scrape the dough off the sides of the container to join the dough. Put the lid on the container tightly or cover your bowl with plastic wrap ensuring that no air gets into your dough as it rests. Air can cause the dough to form a skin which is not good for a dough.
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Allow the dough to sit at room temperature and ferment for about 12-18 hours. Keep out of direct sunlight.
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After the 18 hours if you are not planning on baking off the dough you can refrigerate the dough. The dough can be kept in the fridge for up to 5 days at this stage and baked off any time. While in the fridge the flavor will deepen over that time, developing sourdough characteristics.
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The next day the dough will have more than doubled in size with lots of the bubbles on top. Also it will smell boozy and fermented. This is exactly what you want.
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Dust your hands and the surface of the dough with a little flour, just enough to prevent it from sticking to your hands. Gently turn out the dough onto a floured surface. Don’t knock out the air from the dough.
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Cut the dough into 4 pieces and using extra flour to handle if needed
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Lightly knead each portion of dough just to form a ball. Allow to rest on a floured board covered for 30 minutes. Your pizza dough is ready to use!
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On a flat baking tray or pizza peel, dust it with flour or semolina. With floured hands gently stretch your pizza dough to 10 inches. You can also use a rolling pin to stretch it out. If you find the dough is springing back and is hard to stretch then let it rest for 10 minutes on the board.
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Once you have gotten your desired thickness spread on your sauce and add your topping.
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Important note: Less is more. You don’t want to add too many heavy topping on your pizza otherwise you won’t be able to slide it off the baking tray onto the cast iron tray.
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Bake at 450oF (225oC) for roughly 10 minutes or until the base is crisp and golden brown
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Any dough that does not get used can be refrigerated or even frozen
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NOTE: As with all dough recipes, the amount of flour will vary depending on weather, brand of flour, etc. Use as much flour as you need to handle the dough, but keep in mind that the stickier the dough, the better the texture of your pizza crust will be.
Meet Gemma
Hi Bold Bakers! I’m Gemma Stafford, a professional chef originally from Ireland, and I’m passionate about sharing my years of experience to show you how to make game-changing baking recipes with over-the-top results! Join more than 1 Million other Bold Bakers in the community for new video recipes every week!
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Hi Gemma, I made the dough just awhile ago & currently proofing.. I just noticed that it’s quite dry, so for me to make sure that all the flour is wet, I needed to knead it for some time.. I think my water is warm, do you think that have caused it to dry? Do you have an idea what could be it’s result?
Hi there,
If the dough is too dry, that is if it is breaking up, then sprinkle it with a little water, it will take very little to bring it back.
Flour in different places behaves in different ways, depending on how, where, when, and even the type of wheat being milled. It absorbs liquids differently too, depending on humidity, temperature etc. It is much easier to add more than to take some out! So, next time stop when the dough comes together into a clean ball. This is what you want. Add 3/4 of the liquids in one go, then the remainder more slowly, until the dough comes together. That is the secret! I hope this makes sense to you. Do not give up!
Gemma 🙂
Is it possible to make the pizzas then freeze instead of cooking. 8f so is there anything extra i have to do?
Hi, yes that works very well! Just thaw from frozen then bake as directed.
Hi Gemma,
Accidentally, this dough recipe got put in the fridge after 2 hrs of making it. Will it still rise and work out in the end?
Please let me know your input.
Thank you!
Hi, yes no worries just allow it to come to room temp them proof again.
Hi Gemma, I recently started following ur Fb videos and I loved it, checked your website and couldnt resist baking, tried your best ever no kneed pizza dough and its amazing!!! It makes me love making bread now!
Its so easy yet so comforting and tasty! Cant wait to try more recipes.
-Also I wanted to ask, can we add some oats into pizza dough just to make it more healthier for kids? if yes what —proportions should we use?
-Can you teach how to make white alferedo sauce for pizza or any white garlic sauce for pizza too? would really appreciate!
Hi Arifa,
Thanks so much for your lovely message. I’m really glad you like my recipes. I don’t know if the oats will really add anything of benefit to the dough. If you want you can use 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 white and that will be better.
I’ll have a think about the pizza sauces. It makes sense because I love pizza!
Best,
Gemma.
Hi Gemma!
Which dough do you suggest me to try for pizza? The above one or the other one which says crazy dough?
Hi Anusha,
The no knead dough is my go to when I remember to get it together the night before I need it. If you wish you can knead this one and have it ready for use in about 3 hours.
The crazy dough is a quick dough. A handy one to get to in a hurry, it is a choice!
Try one of these, then the other, soon you too will have a favorite,
Gemma 🙂
Haha 😀
Sure I’m going to try pizza with crazy dough today then I will do this one. Thank you.
That is the idea Anusha, keep at it,
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma, i’ve encountered a video tutorial where the dough for proofing is being placed in a covered box or may also be inside the oven with a container of hot water in it to create a warm temperature for the dough. Is that alright? Tnx
Hi there,
Yes! this is a trick if you will, and is very useful if you live in a cold place. My mum who lives in Ireland, pre-heats her oven as low as it will go, switches it off and pops the covered bowl in if she is rushing. However, if you are fermenting a dough, as in the best ever pizza dough, a cold fermentation works really well, even in the fridge the dough will rise if given enough time to do so.
I hope this helps, you can experiment!
Gemma 🙂
OMG, so good. Look no further, this is the best pizza crust, not to mention the easiest recipe I have ever used. Got out the pizza stone, and baked pizza like I do it every day. We made four…no pics. Margherita, Hawaiian, Six Cheese with Spicy Sausage and Pepperoni, and lastly one with the works. So, heeding Gemma’s advice about keeping the toppings at a minimum, I put the dough and sauce on the peel. I pulled the HOT stone out of the over, put the pizza on the stone and then put on all the toppings. Back in the oven for 10 minutes. It worked! So if you like lots of goodies on your pizza like my family, you can still make this wonderful pizza! Thank you Gemma!
I’m thrilled to hear that, Sandi!!!! thanks for trying it out 🙂
Make sure you save the recipe for the future.
Best,
Gemma
I am confused about your amount of yeast . all other recipies include 1 pac yeast for 3 cups flour. is it because you gave it along rest I mean 1/4 teaspoon sounds very little. thankyou.
Hi Marium,
No knead doughs like this use very little yeast because over the fermenting of the dough the dough feeds off yeast in the air. That’s why you don’t use as much.
Fun fact: lots of recipes have you using more yeast then you actually need.
Best,
Gemma.
Hi Gemma, I wondering if I could
I use bread flour instead of all-purpose flour?
Hi,
Yes you absolutely can use bread flour. Bread flour absorbs more water than ap flour so just note you might need a little more liquid.
Best,
Gemma.
Hi Gemma, Im new into baking and I really want to try your recipes. However, I am to use a convection-oven, could you please advice how shall I adjust? Thanks.
Hi for this i might just reduce the temperature by 25 degrees, for pizza convection is great though. It creates a great crust!
Hi Gemma, fantastic recipe, I make it nearly every week now, and it works so well! Thank you.
I am experimenting with a little kneading before I cover it, just to have that smooth ball look, but works either way.
Do you have any garlic pizza recipes? (or any other garlic-y variations) I’ve not tried making that kind of pizza yet, so would like to get it right first time. It’d be a great “side order”, or starter whenever I make pizza for my family. 😀
Speaking of side orders, how about some recipes on that front? (with pizza) Like garlic butter, garlic cream, relishes, salsas, dips etc. That’d be great!
Hi Jake,
Sorry for my late reply. i have been traveling. I haven’t tried a garlic pizza or bread roll but I’ll definitely add it to my list.
I love your ideas of the spread for breads. Huge fan of fat on carbs!! HUGE!
Thanks for the great suggestions. Ill have a good think about them.
Best,
Gemma.
Are you able to freeze leftover dough for later use?
Yes, that’s a great idea!