5 Ingredients or Fewer

Seventy-Two Hour Pizza Dough

by:
January 26, 2018
4.5
6 Ratings
Photo by Baking Steel
  • Makes Four 10-inch pies, three 12-14 inch pies, or one 18-by-13-inch Sicilian Piie
Author Notes

One of my favorite pizza-dough recipes is Jim Lahey’s no-knead dough, on which this recipe is based. It’s simple, doesn’t require any equipment, and doesn’t make a big mess. (My wife disagrees about the mess; I have a talent for covering the kitchen in flour.) I make this dough at least once a week, sometimes quintupling the recipe and saving the extra balls of dough to use later or for the pizza classes I teach.

This dough is simple and foolproof, but you do need time. Not hands-on or working time, but twenty-four hours for rising and then forty-eight hours for the cold ferment. That’s seventy-two hours total, in case you don’t have a calculator.

The first twenty-four hours allows the dough to bulk ferment (or rise as one unit before being divided into individual dough portions) at room temperature; just park the dough someplace where it won’t be disturbed. The dough will release a pleasant aroma that will make your kitchen smell like a bakery.

Next, you’ll portion out the dough, ball it up, and store the balls in the refrigerator for a minimum of one day and up to ten. This is when the dough will develop some kick-ass flavor. The process is called cold fermentation, and it slows down the activity of the yeast to produce amazing flavors in your dough. The strike zone for the dough, in terms of optimal texture and flavor, is from day three through day five (or forty- eight to ninety-six hours after the bulk fermentation that occurs in step 4). You can take the dough out of the fridge and make pizza earlier, but the full seventy-two-hour method is what gives it a truly memorable taste and texture.


Through the years, I have adapted Jim’s original recipe to make it my own. One change is that I use bread flour instead of all-purpose flour, which adds the perfect heft to your crust when the dough is baked at high heat in a home environment. And somewhat ironically, I actually knead the no-knead dough. After I incorporate all the ingredients, I wet my hands and knead the batch for two to three minutes. Without this step, I’ve ended up with dried clumps of flour in the dough. There are worse things in life, but we’re seekers of pizza perfection.
Food52

Test Kitchen Notes

Reprinted with permission from Baking Steel's Baking With Steel cookbook. —The Editors

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • 500 grams Bread Flour
  • 16 grams Fine Sea Salt
  • 1 gram Active Dry Yeast
  • 1.5 cups Water
Directions
  1. In a large bowl, whisk together the bread flour, salt, and yeast.
  2. Slowly add the water and mix with a wooden spoon just to combine. Once the mixture is moistened, lightly flour a countertop or large cutting board and remove the dough from the bowl with lightly oiled or wet hands (to discourage sticking). Slowly add the water and mix with a wooden spoon just to combine. Once the mixture is moistened, lightly flour a countertop or large cutting board and remove the dough from the bowl with lightly oiled or wet hands (to discourage sticking). Knead for 2 to 3 minutes to remove clumps. The dough won’t become elastic but should easily form a loose ball.
  3. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with a damp, clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap to prevent it from drying out.
  4. . Place the bowl on the counter and let sit 24 hours at room temperature. It will double in size and you may see bubbles forming on the surface.
  5. Lightly flour a large cutting board or your kitchen countertop and place the dough on it. Wet or lightly oil your hands again.
  6. Divide dough into 4 equal portions for 10-inch pies or 3 portions if you’re making slightly larger pies.
  7. Place the dough balls into oiled, cylindrical airtight containers (deli-takeaway containers are ideal), date them, and place in the fridge for 48 to 96 hours.
  8. Remove from refrigerator at least 1 hour before use to allow the dough to come to room temperature; this lets the gluten relax and makes the dough malleable.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

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14 Reviews

Haashir May 5, 2022
KMG I CANT BELIEVE THEY HAD YET ANTHER SPELLING ERROR. I CANT FOLLOW THIS I HAVE LESS THAT 95IQ SCOre I WILL BE LEAVING A REVIW ON YEPL!
 
Haashir May 5, 2022
HORRIBLE RECIPE I CANT BELIEVE THEY HAA SPELLING ERROR AT 4. NO ONE STATRTS A SENTENCE WITH A PEROD. ABSOLUTLY UNBELIEVEBLE THEY SHOULD NOT BE QUALIFIED TO MKJE A RECIEPIE IF THEY DONT KNOW COMMON GReMMAR.
 
Bengill August 8, 2022
You are so funny
 
Mar P. January 1, 2022
Please review the text on the second step. Seems things got scrambled.
 
Jul March 29, 2021
I wonder if the instant yeast should be 10g (2.5 tsp)? At least that's what Jim Lahey's recipe says (looking at his book). 500g bread flour, 5g salt (3/4 tsp), 3g (3/4 tsp) sugar, 1 1/3 c water
I know this author says he adapted this recipe but that's very little yeast. I have been using the Lahey recipe for years and it's great.
 
Smaug May 16, 2023
The 24 hours at room temperature give the yeast plenty of time to reproduce.
I'm not sure it's a great idea, but lack of yeast shouldn't be a problem.
 
D June 9, 2020
This is outstanding with sourdough starter—the crust has a lot of flavor. I sub 1/2 cup starter (discard) and reduce flour and water by 1/4 cup each. I’ve made this multiple times and it’s so easy and delicious. I also sub whole wheat flour and it turns out fine.
 
Sucoh August 31, 2020
If you use starter, do you omit the yeast?
Thx
 
Mkmirb April 22, 2020
Question - is 1 gram of yeast correct?
Similar recipes Call for 5 grams of yeast.

 
JdNoble April 30, 2020
I just questioned that myself. 5 grams is 1%, which makes more sense than .2%

If theres reply, next batch will be made with 5g and I'll note any changes
 
Grace H. May 21, 2020
There is a video up where Merrill Stubbs makes this dough. She mentions her scale only measures in 2g increments so she had to do a little calculating on the side to figure it out. I know 5 Minute Artisan Bread method also requires only a little of yeast as it also ferments for days in the fridge.
 
Jo May 14, 2019
Hands down the easiest and best pizza dough I have ever made. The texture is chewy and the dough has so much flavor. We grill our pizzas and this dough is perfect. Thank you!
 
Gerard G. April 3, 2018
While youre weighing your ingredients, its 236g of water per cup.

Also, what bake temp and time?
Thanks for posting!
 
AntoniaJames February 1, 2018
Thank you for the metric mass measures. ;o)