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The best pizza dough is a bold claim. I know. And it’s obviously highly subjective. At any given time there is a heated argument on the Internet on the relative merits of New York style pizza versus Chicago style pizza, with some arguing the latter isn’t pizza at all. So, I’m here to say I get it. I will never please everyone. Nevertheless, my opinion here is absolutely correct.

This is, as of now, the best pizza you can make at home without installing a special high temperature oven or disabling the self-cleaning cycle lock on your oven. This dough results in a pizza with a thin crust and a puffy, chewy cornicione (which is the fancy Italian term for the edge of crust around the rim).

It’s simple to make. It’s just flour, water, salt, and yeast. But there are a few tricks to getting it right. One is a long fermentation. The dough should rest overnight, and I think it gets even better after two or three days of resting in the refrigerator. Another is using bread flour for the extra gluten formation, which is so helpful for developing that pleasing chew. The other is using more salt than you think. Salt inhibits yeast, and it helps prevent the dough from over-rising during its long rest in the refrigerator. It also makes everything taste better. And while you can use active dry yeast, your life will be easier and results more reliable if you use instant yeast, which you don’t have to proof in water and can just mix in with the flour.

The other tricks are not ingredient-based, they’re in the handling and cooking. Step away from the rolling pin and gently stretch your dough into place. When people ask me what temperature to cook pizza at, my answer is always as high as your oven will go. For most of us, that’s  500-550°F. And preheat the oven with the pizza steel inside for a half-hour before you put your pizza in the oven.

Oh, and invest in a baking steel. You can also use a baking stone/pizza stone if you have one, or a baking sheet if you don’t think you’ll make pizza very often.

You can use a peel if you want. Or just build your pizza on a piece of parchment paper and slide it into the oven from the back of a baking sheet.

Also, don’t overtop your pizza. Apply a very thin layer of simple sauce. Go easy on a layer of grated dry aged mozzarella and parmigiano reggiano. And apply your other toppings sparingly or you’re apt to wind up with a soggy mess.

But keep this one bookmarked. Or print it out and laminate it. You’ll be making it again and again.

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Best Pizza Dough (for thin crust pizza with a chewy, puffy rim)

Course: Main Course

Prep Time: 1 hour

Cook Time: 8 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 8 minutes

Yield: 2 14-inch pizzas

Calories: 227 kcal

This dough needs to be made a day ahead of time (though it can hang out in the refrigerator for another four days and in the freezer for a few months). The slow overnight rise in the refrigerator allows the dough to develop a complex flavor and improve its browning and crumb structure. Bread flour helps to give pizza that pleasing chewy texture, and instant yeast lets you skip the step you find in many recipes for proofing the yeast in water ahead of time. I strongly recommend applying your toppings with a light hand. I like baking pizzas on a baking steel, which is totally worth the investment, but you can also bake it on a baking sheet. This makes enough dough for two pizzas, which means you can have pizza again later in the week or you can tuck the extra dough in the freezer and let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight the next time you want pizza.

Ingredients

• 500 grams bread flour (3 3/4 cups)
• 10 grams Diamond Crystal kosher salt (2 teaspoons)
• 3 grams instant yeast
• 400 grams cool water (1 2/3 cups)
• olive oil for coating the balls of dough

Instructions

1. Add the flour, salt, and yeast to a large mixing bowl and stir. Add the water and stir until you don't see any dry flour. Then stir with a metal or wooden spoon for about 50 strokes (your arm should be getting tired and the dough should be shaggy but starting to pull away from the sides of the bowl as you stir).  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise for about an hour.

2. After about a 30 minutes of rising, gently stretch and fold the dough over itself a few times. The dough should start to feel stretchier and sturdier. Cover again and let rise for another 30 minutes. Stretch and fold the dough over itself two or three more times. The dough should no longer look shaggy, but have a smooth appearance when pulled into a taut ball. Divide the dough in half and stretch each half into a ball. Coat lightly in olive oil and place each dough ball into a  quart-sized zip top bag and refrigerate overnight or for up to 4 days. (If there is any dough you don't plan to use in 4 days, put it in the freezer now. When ready to use, let thaw in the refrigerator overnight and continue as directed.) 

3. On the day you plan to make the pizza, pull the dough out of the refrigerator about an hour before you want to eat. If you have a baking steel or baking stone, make sure it's in the oven on the top rack. Preheat the oven as high as your oven will go (500°F or 550°F) about a half hour before you want to eat. After the dough has been at room temperature for about an hour, gently stretch the dough into a circle about 14-inches in diameter and place on a sheet of parchment paper set on the back of a baking sheet (if you feel comfortable using a peel you can, of course skip the parchment paper and build your pizza on a floured peel). Top the pizza lightly with whatever toppings you want. Slide the parchment paper and pizza onto your baking steel or stone (or if you don't have either of those, slide the whole inverted baking sheet into the oven on the top rack). Bake for 7-8 minutes or until the dough is deeply browned in spots. Slide the pizza onto a wire cooling rack and let cool for a few minutes before transferring to a cutting board and slicing.

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