My dad is famous for his wood fired pizza oven and the many pizza parties he throws. This is his secret pizza dough recipe, a super easy and forgiving dough that bakes up fluffy and tender with the perfect toothsome bite.
Two weekends ago, my family celebrated our annual pizza party at my dad’s house upstate. I’ve done a bunch of posts about pizza parties centered around my dad’s amazing wood fired pizza oven: wood fired pizza oven and wood fired pizza party 2018, and pizza recipes like Joe’s anchovy pizza and my favorite crispy potato pizza with fresh rosemary. But this is the first time I’m writing a recipe for the pizza dough itself.
While my dad doesn’t always make his own pizza dough – Trader Joe’s makes a great one, and you can purchase pizza dough from almost any pizzeria – this year he needed to. Right before my uncle was due to come upstate, he tested positive for covid. Thankfully he had a mild case and got over it quickly. But the real tragedy was that he had 30 pizza doughs in his freezer that we needed for the party of 30+ people. So the day before the party, my dad decided to whip up 7 batches of homemade pizza dough instead, and I decided to document the whole thing.
THE “FAMILY SECRETS” OF PIZZA DOUGH MAKING
The morning before the big pizza party, my dad had a few members of the Ulster County Italian American Foundation over for an Italian language lesson. (See my UCIAF Easter Bread recipe for some more information about the group). He told them about how he had to make pizza dough for a huge crowd the next day, and the other members jokingly said I should post the recipe online as a “family secret.” I thought it was funny, since pizza dough is such a simple recipe with seemingly very little variation. But as my dad walked me through the process, I realized that he does actually have a few very specific steps for making his pizza dough. Granted, they’re less “family secrets” and more techniques he’s learned over years of dough making. But here they are, my dad’s tips and tricks for the perfect pizza dough.
A COMBINATION OF FLOURS
The first “family secret” is to use a combination of flours. This pizza dough recipe uses three; double zero flour, all purpose flour, and whole grain flour. Double zero (00) is an Italian flour that’s super finely ground. It makes the dough extra light and airy. But my dad found out using only double zero gives the crust a little too much puff, which is not great if you want a really thin crust pizza. So he uses 00 flour in conjunction with regular all purpose flour. He also includes just under a cup of whole grain flour. This gives the dough a really great toothsome bite, and makes us all feel a little healthier about the massive amount of pizza we consume.
A TRIPLE RISE
The next family secret for this pizza dough is to allow the dough to rise 3 times. The first is a good 1 1/2 hour rise after you first make the dough. Then you deflate the dough and let it rise another hour. Repeat this process a second time, totaling three rises. There’s also a secret technique for deflating the dough. Many recipes will tell you to punch the dough down, but this deflates it too much. My dad learned this one from our cousin in Italy: gently deflate the dough by folding it into thirds, turning the bowl, and repeating this process a few times. This makes a super light and airy pizza crust, with a few of those traditional Neapolitan pizza bubbles.
MEASURING IS OPTIONAL
This one is less a secret and more of a technique that my dad uses when cooking just about everything. While most baking recipes will have you measure everything to a tee, this pizza dough recipe is more forgiving. My dad gives measurements like “a teaspoon plus a little more of yeast.” And “a little less than a cup of whole grain flour.” As the dough starts to come together in the food processor, it will become very obvious if you need more of anything. Is it sticking too much? Add some more flour. Too dry? A little more water. It’s a very relaxed, Italian way of cooking that fits this easy pizza dough recipe perfectly.
SEMOLINA FLOUR
The last family secret I want to touch on is the use of semolina flour in making pizza dough. While the dough itself uses the 3 standard flours I mentioned earlier, semolina flour is super important when rolling out the dough before making the pizza. Along with the whole grain flour in the dough, the semolina adds a bit of extra crunch and bite to the pizza crust. Plus, if you’re using a pizza peel like we do with the wood fired oven, it keeps the pizza from sticking.
PIZZA DOUGH FOR A CROWD
Our family pizza party usually includes 30-40 people, and this pizza dough recipe is perfect for a big crowd. When my dad’s making them, one of these dough recipes actually makes about three 12″ pizzas. (They’re easier to maneuver in the wood fired oven when they’re smaller.) But you could easily make two 18′” pizzas from this recipe, making it perfect for serving a lot of people. And the recipe is super easy, which means you can make a lot of them. They can even be made a day or two in advance, making a pizza party even easier to pull off. After rising, let the dough chill a day or two in the fridge and they’ll take on an even yeastier sourdough-like flavor.
PIZZA PARTY 2022
Besides the small debacle of 30 pizza doughs left in a freezer in Queens and scrambling to make them by hand, the 2022 pizza party went off without a hitch. The homemade pizza dough was a big hit. Tons of people commented that they loved the slight chewiness it had, thanks to the whole grain flour. I’ve photographed this party so many times, and now I prefer to relax and eat pizza rather than snapping pics of everything. But if my camera is by my side, I have to at least capture a few moments. So here are some shots of just a few (of many) pizzas we made that day. They were all incredibly delicious, as they always are. And I hope you’ll try this pizza dough recipe along with one of my many other pizza recipes.
Family Secret Pizza Dough
Equipment
- Stand mixer
Ingredients
- 2 cups 00 flour (you can use all purpose flour if you can't find 00)
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 cup whole grain flour
- 1 1/4 tsp dry active yeast
- 1 1/2 cups warm water
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- a sprinkle of sugar
- a good glug of olive oil (about 2 tbsp)
For making the pizza:
- 1/4 cup semolina flour
- pizza toppings
Instructions
- Combine the water, yeast and sugar in a small bowl. Stir to dissolve and allow to sit for 10 minutes.
- While the yeast activates in the water, fit the stand mixer with the dough hook. Combine 00 flour, all purpose flour, whole grain flour and salt and set the stand mixer on medium-low speed to combine.
- With stand mixer on low, drizzle in water-yeast mixture. Mix until the dough starts to form, 3 minutes. Tap the sides of the bowl a few times to shake the flour loose from the sides.
- Once the dough has come together, increase the stand mixer to medium speed and knead for 10 minutes. If the dough is looking too wet and sticking to the dough hook too much, add more flour. If it seems too dry, add a touch more water.
- Transfer the dough to a well oiled bowl or large food safe container. Drizzle in a good glug of olive oil and knead by hand to combine. Cover the bowl/container with a lid or kitchen towl and allow to rise until doubled, 1 1/2 hours.
- After the first rise, gently deflate the dough by folding it into thirds. Turn the bowl and repeat this process 2-3 times. Cover and allow the dough to rise 1 hour more.
- After the 1 hour rise, deflate the dough using the same technique, cover again and let rise another hour. At this point, the dough can be used right away or stored in the fridge for up to 2 days.
- To make a pizza: flour the counter well with semolina flour. Cut the dough into 2 or 3 pieces and roll/stretch it out on the semolina flour. Top with pizza toppings of choice and bake.
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