Pizza Dough Recipes

A friend wrote that she received a pizza stone for Christmas, requesting a pizza dough recipe.  I sent her two, one from the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners and the other a basic dough recipe from my personal collection.

Thought I would share both recipes here, in case anyone is looking to roll some dough. This photo is of a pizza I made one day in class at the Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners.  Buon appetito! 

Pizza Dough Recipe from Italian Culinary Institute for Foreigners

Please note:  this recipe is in grams, but most scales are calibrated in both ounces and grams, just switch the button. 

This recipe makes 4 thin pies. 

500 grams of unbleached white flour (usually a cup is about 100 grams)
250 grams of water (tepid)
5 grams of dry yeast
12 grams of salt
Semolina flour for rolling and baking


1.  Mix yeast in about 1/2 of the tepid water, set aside.

2.  In a mixing bowl, mix salt and flour with remaining of water, mixing with a spoon or by hand.  Add the the yeast and water mixture, completely incorporating it into the flour mixture.

3.  Remove the dough from the bowl.  Work the dough by hand, stretching, folding and turning,  for about 12 minutes.

4.  Divide into four balls, place in pan with semolina flour, cover with plastic, and let rise until dough doubles in size.

5.  Roll with pin into very thin pies, rolling on a surface covered with semolina flour.

Bake in a very hot oven, at least 650 degrees.

ICIF tip:  you can make dough balls in advance, keep plastic wrapped in fridge, and remove from fridge about an hour before you need to roll them.



Sicola's Basic Pizza Dough Recipe

This recipe makes 2 round 12" pizzas, depending on how thin you roll them.

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast.
1 cup lukewarm water
3 cups unbleached flour
1/4 cup semolina flour
Extra virgin olive oil (1 tablespoon for the dough, 1 teaspoon for the bowl)
1/2 tablespoon salt
cornmeal (or semolina)

1.  Mix both flours together in a bowl and set aside.

2.  In a separate large bowl, dissolve yeast by dissolving into 1/4 cup of water.  When dissolved, in about 5 minutes, add 1 cup of the flour mixture and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon.  Continuing to stir, add 1 tbs. olive oil, 1/4 tbs. salt, and another 1 cup of flour mixture.  Continue to stir with spoon.  Add only enough of the remaining amounts of water and flour to create a manageable dough, soft but not sticky. 

Remove the dough from the bowl and work it as follows:  Slap it hard on a work counter several times, until it stretches to 9-10 inches.  Fold the far end halfway towards you, push it out with the palm of your hand, rotate it a 1/4 turn, fold it toward you, stretch with the palm of your hand, rotate, repeat for about 10 minutes. Then pat the dough into a round ball.

Or:  use a food processor in lieu of these first two steps!!!!

3.  grease the inside of a clean bowl with 1 tsp. of olive oil.  Place the dough in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap. Set bowl aside until dough has risen, about 3 hours.

Or: use a breadmaker for these first three steps!!!

4.  At least 30 minutes before you are to bake, place the baking stone in the oven and heat oven to 450 or 500, or even much higher, depending on your personal preference and oven.

5. Sprinkle the baker's paddle generously with cornmeal (or semolina).  Take 1/2 dough and roll it out on the paddle as thinly as possible, leaving the edges a little higher.  If you don't have a paddle, roll on a surface covered with cornmeal (or semolina).

6.  Dress the pizza as desired, use paddle to slide it onto stone, baking for 15-25 minutes, depending in the oven temperature you chose (20 minutes for 450 degrees, as a general rule).

Repeat process for remaining dough.