• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
the practical kitchen
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Index
    • Appetizers
    • Breads
      • Bagels
      • Biscuits, Scones & Loaves
      • Sourdough
    • Breakfast
      • Muffins
    • Condiments & Dips
    • Desserts
      • Bars & Brownies
      • Cakes
      • Cookies
      • Ice Cream
      • Pies & Tarts
    • Main Dishes
      • Pasta
      • Pizza
    • Salads
    • Side Dishes
    • Snacks
  • About
  • Shop
  • Newsletter
  • Tip Jar
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • RSS
    • Twitter
menu icon
go to homepage
subscribe
search icon
Homepage link
  • Recipes
    • Recipe Index
    • Appetizers
    • Breads
    • Breakfast
    • Condiments & Dips
    • Desserts
    • Main Dishes
    • Salads
    • Side Dishes
    • Snacks
  • About
  • Shop
  • Newsletter
  • Tip Jar
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter
  • ×

    Home » Main Dishes » Pizza

    Overnight Thin Crust Pizza Dough (With Baking Steel Instructions)

    5 from 7 votes
    Published by Rebecca Eisenberg ⁠— August 31, 2020 (updated February 10, 2023) — 31 Comments

    206 shares
    Jump to Recipe Jump to Video

    This post may contain affiliate links

    If you love a thin crust pizza with perfectly chewy edges and a crispy, sturdy-yet-foldable crust, this is the thin crust pizza dough recipe for you.

    A long overnight rise in the fridge makes this pizza dough easy to stretch super thin, and the low-hydration dough is designed to make fantastic thin crust pizzas your a home oven on a baking steel.

    four balls of pizza dough in round deli containers.

    This is the same pizza dough you'll find me using in most of the unique pizza recipes you'll find on my site. So if you're looking for pizza inspiration, check out some of my most popular pizza recipes like my breakfast pizza, homemade hot honey pizza, or my classic supreme pizza recipe.

    Jump to:
    • About This Recipe
    • Why an Overnight Pizza Dough?
    • Pizza Dough Ingredients: Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast, Sugar, Oil
    • High Hydration vs. Low Hydration for Thin Crust Pizza
    • Autolyse and Why It Matters for Pizza
    • The Pincer Method: Incorporating Salt and Yeast
    • Kneading and Bulk Fermentation
    • Dividing, Pre-Shaping, and Overnight Rise
    • How to Freeze Pizza Dough
    • A Note on Temperature and Dough Rising
    • How to Hand Stretch Pizza Dough
    • Substituting Active Dry Yeast for Instant Yeast
    • Equipment for Making Pizza Dough
    • Using a Stand Mixer
    • Practical Tips & Recipe Notes - Timing, etc.
    • Recipe FAQ
    • 📖 Recipe
    • 💬 Comments

    About This Recipe

    There's a lot of things to like about this pizza dough. But the most important thing is that it makes a great thin crust pizza. The dough stretches whisper thin with a gorgeously bubbly crust, is very easy to work with, and has a great pizza dough flavor.

    If you're new to the world of dough — bread, pizza, or otherwise — this recipe is a great way to familiarize yourself with many commonly used techniques for mixing and developing dough structure.

    You'll learn what an autolyse is and why it matters, and how to knead the dough, and get used to measuring ingredients by weight instead of volume.

    It's also a great, sturdy dough ideal for practicing the basics of shaping and hand-stretching pizza dough.

    a hand drizzles honey on a pizza slice with a honey wand.

    Credit: This recipe borrows dough mixing techniques and philosophies from Ken Forkish's book Flour Water Salt Yeast and The Elements of Pizza, includes oil and sugar as recommended in Joe Rosenthal's New York-style pizza guide, and calls for storing shaped pizza dough balls in round deli containers as recommended by Andris at Baking Steel which makes it easier to stretch the pizza in a circle shape.

    Why an Overnight Pizza Dough?

    While there are plenty of same-day or even one-hour pizza dough recipes out there, you just won't get the same flavor and elasticity from them that you'll get from a dough with a longer rise time.

    The longer, slower rise gives the gluten network inside the dough time to both relax and strengthen, allowing you to stretch the dough for a thin and crispy pizza crust.

    an overhead shot of four 32 ounce round deli soup containers with shaped balls of pizza dough in them

    An overnight pizza dough works really well for most schedules — it only takes about an hour and a half of work at night (mostly resting time) and then goes into the fridge so it's ready to use the next evening.

    Since this pizza dough has olive oil in it, which helps with browning and flavor but also slows down yeast activity, the slow overnight rise in the fridge is super important. It gives the yeast plenty of time to work and the dough plenty of time to build flavor before you use it!

    This recipe makes enough for 4 medium pizzas. You'll want to use or freeze the dough within 24-72 hours of putting it in the fridge for the final rise.

    a white pizza with broccoli and tomatoes browned and baked on a pizza peel.
    a slice of pizza being lifted off the wooden pizza peel. strings of stretch cheese lift off the board with it.

    Pizza Dough Ingredients: Flour, Water, Salt, Yeast, Sugar, Oil

    Here are the ingredients you'll need to make this overnight thin crust pizza dough! Ingredient quantities can be found in the recipe card (at the end of the blog post).

    all of the ingredients for pizza dough measured out and labeled.
    • All-Purpose Flour - I use King Arthur Flour's all purpose flour which has a higher protein content than most all purpose flours. If you're using a store brand or generic brand of flour, you may find you get better results with their bread flour, due to its higher protein content.
    • Instant Yeast - Instant yeast does not need to be bloomed or proofed in water before use. This is sometimes also called "rapid rise" or "bread machine" yeast.
    • Salt - I use Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt which half as salty as other brands by volume. If measuring by weight, it doesn't matter what brand or type of salt you use. But if you're measuring by volume (teaspoons) and using a different brand of salt, even a different brand of kosher salt, cut the amount of salt in half.
    • Water - Warm water, not hot water. Aim for about 85F. If it's too hot you risk killing the yeast and your pizza dough won't rise.
    • Sugar - A small amount of sugar helps the crust brown and adds flavor to the dough.
    • Olive Oil - A small amount of olive oil also helps with flavor and browning. Olive oil helps control the elasticity of your dough and gives you more control over how it stretches.

    High Hydration vs. Low Hydration for Thin Crust Pizza

    In baking, hydration is the amount of water in a dough relative to the total amount of flour, expressed as a percentage. (So a recipe with 100 grams of flour and 75 grams of water is a 75% hydration dough.)

    This pizza dough is a relatively low hydration pizza dough (65%) for a pizza made in a home oven on a baking steel. A lot of the pizza doughs you see these days are designed for home oven use are high hydration doughs (70%+). This is because they're trying to replicate those unpredictably bubbly, airy, thicker crusts typical of Neopolitan pizzas.

    Neopolitan pizzas, which are typically made with a low hydration dough (50-60%), bake up in 2-3 minutes at 900°F. A home oven, even with a preheated baking steel, can reach 500°, maybe 550°F.

    This lower temperature means home oven pizzas take longer to cook (yes, 5-8 minutes is long when it comes to pizza), and the water in the dough has more time to evaporate. Adding more water helps keep the crust from drying out and contributes those giant, unpredictable bubbles across the surface of the pizza.

    But that's not the type of pizza dough I was after with this recipe.

    A hand picks up the edge of a pizza showing the crispy, leopard spotted bottom hot off the baking steel

    I was chasing something a little closer to a New York-style pizza (also traditionally made with a lower hydration dough) with this thin crust pizza dough recipe. I didn't want a thick, bubbly, ballooned pizza crust. I wanted a chewy, well defined crust around the outside of my pizza, with an evenly thin center and sturdy, crisp bottom all the way across.

    Dropping the hydration to 65% and adding a small amount of oil and sugar (also typical of New York-style pizza dough) helps keep this thin crust pizza dough from drying out when it cooks, and keeps the dough from bubbling up where you don't want it to.

    When I first starting making pizzas at home on the Baking Steel I was surprised by how hard it was to find instructions for how to actually bake the pizza. Most recipes stop once the dough is made. That’s because depending on your toppings, oven heat, whether you’re using a steel or a stone, the baking times can change.

    But I didn’t want to leave you hanging, so I’ve included instructions for using this pizza dough on a baking steel that should work with pretty much any sauce or toppings you choose.

    Autolyse and Why It Matters for Pizza

    Wait—come back! Don't be scared. Autolyse might sound like a fancy scientific (or French?) term but it's actually a very simple part of the mixing process.

    The first step step of this recipe is an autolyse step and you don't even need to know what "autolyse" means to do it, but I want to explain it so you know why it makes a difference. Because #KnowledgeIsPower.

    Autolyse just means mixing your flour and water together and giving them a chance to rest (anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours) before you add salt, yeast, or any other ingredients.

    Autolysing your pizza dough gives the starches in the flour a chance to hydrate and start forming gluten strands (which makes the dough strong!) before you add other ingredients. If you added salt, yeast, or sugar at this stage, they would tighten the gluten network instead of helping it relax. And if you added oil during the autolyse stage, it would prevent the starch molecules from binding to each other, inhibiting gluten formation.

    So water and flour get mixed first, then salt, sugar, and yeast get incorporated in the second step, and oil is added during the final kneading step, so it coats the gluten network instead of getting in its way.

    Whew! Enough information. Let's get into what this actually looks like in practice. It's easy, I promise.

    First, you'll mix the flour and water together. It will be a very shaggy, crumbly, dry looking dough.

    an overhead shot of pizza dough in the bottom of a large mixing bucket during the autolyse stage, before salt and yeast are added

    The pizza dough isn't shiny or smooth or even kneadable during the autolyse stage. It's just a messy, stiff mixture of flour and water.

    I like to start mixing with my dough whisk or a spatula, and then, once the water has absorbed, switch to using my hands. Smush the dough together into one mass of dough in the bowl, cover and let it rest for 10 minutes.

    It's a small thing, but allowing it to rest like this for just 10 minutes gives your pizza dough more flavor and will make it stretchier, which is really important for a thin crust pizza dough.

    That's it, that's the autolyse stage! I told you it was easy.

    four glass bowls, one with the autolyse, one with a mixture of yeast, sugar, and water, one with olive oil, and one with salt.

    While the dough rests in the autolyse stage, take the time to mix together 15 grams of water with the instant yeast and sugar. This will dissolve the sugar, and activate the yeast to give it a head start before you add it to the dough.

    Instant yeast doesn't need to be proofed, but in this case we're giving it a bit of a head start so when we add it to the dough it can get to work right away.

    The Pincer Method: Incorporating Salt and Yeast

    To incorporate the salt, sugar, and yeast, we're using a technique Ken Forkish refers to as "the pincer method." (You can see him demonstrate it in this video around the 1:50 mark)

    salt and the water, yeast, sugar mixture poured over the autolyse dough in a glass mixing bowl.

    First, sprinkle the salt over the surface of the autolysed dough. Then, pour the water, sugar, and yeast mixture on top of it. The water will start dissolving the salt.

    a hand in a pincher shape pinching the dough to incorporate the salt, sugar, and yeast into it.

    Use your hand in a pincer shape (like a crab claw) to pinch across the dough four or five times in a row.

    The dough will be very wet and squishy. There will be embarrassing, funny squelching noises. It's okay, you can laugh about it. This is how we force that salt, yeast, and sugar to incorporate evenly into the stiff autolysed dough.

    Grab one tail end of the pinched dough and fold it in half. It will be wet and slippery. It might tear a little. That's okay. Rotate the bowl so the folded edge is facing away from you. Then use the pincer method to pinch across the dough again.

    Alternate pinching and folding, until the water has absorbed and you don't feel the sharp granules of salt between your fingers when you pinch.

    the pizza dough looking smoother and shinier, but still messy and kind of stringy in a ball in a mixing bowl.

    Shape the dough into a wet, messy ball as best you can. Then cover the bowl and let the dough rest for 20 minutes. It's been through a lot.

    The sugar and salt and pinching have just cut through the gluten network we started building in the autolyse stage. Before we can add the oil, we need to give the gluten network some time to rest, relax, and reconnect.

    Kneading and Bulk Fermentation

    Finally! We have reached the last mixing step. It's time to add the olive oil. Prepare to be amazed by how quickly this dough goes from being a wet, sloppy mess to an absolutely joy to handle.

    oil drizzled over the dough in a mixing bowl.

    Pour the olive oil over the surface of the dough in the bowl. Fold the dough over itself a few times just so the oil isn't running all over the place.

    a hand kneading the oil into the dough on a clean work surface.

    Turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and knead it until it becomes smooth and soft. It shouldn't feel greasy, wet or sticky.

    You really only need to knead the dough for about a minute for it to smooth out and come together.

    Kneading is one of those hard-to-describe things that just takes practice until you get the hang of it. Fold the dough over itself, use the heel of your hand to seal it together, and rock it forward. Rotate the dough a quarter turn and repeat. Keep going until the dough feels smooth and soft.

    Dust in additional flour only as needed if the dough is very sticky — too much flour will prevent the dough from sticking to itself.

    two hands holding a smooth round ball of pizza dough.

    Shape the dough into a ball by tucking all the edges underneath to create surface tension on the top of the dough. Place it back inside the mixing bowl.

    If it's particularly dry where you live, drizzle it with about ½ teaspoon olive oil and use your hand to brush the oil all over the surface of the dough.

    Cover and let it rest at room temperature (70-75F) for an hour. This stage is known as "bulk fermentation." The dough will rise but won't quite double in size.

    Dividing, Pre-Shaping, and Overnight Rise

    A previous version of this recipe called for letting the dough rise overnight and dividing it in the morning. But having time in the morning to divide and shape pizza dough balls isn't always practical.

    So instead we're going to divide and pre-shape the dough at night. By the time you go to bed, the pizza dough will be in the fridge and need no additional attention until the next day until you're ready to use it.

    This shift comes straight from Ken Forkish's The Elements of Pizza. He wrote about a visit with Neopolitan pizzaiolos in Naples, Italy, who showed him the benefits of dividing and pre-shaping the pizza dough about 2 hours into the bulk fermentation stage.

    "Shaping dough balls early in the fermentation timeline means there is less gluten organization in the dough, and the result is a more delicate crust," Forkish explains.

    "What I like about the Neopolitan dough process is that the amount of time the dough ball has to rest before being stretched into pizza shape allows it to be very physically relaxed from when it was first shaped. The pizza dough becomes very extensible: easy to shape with little resistance, yet with a very delicate and lightly textured crust when baked."

    — Ken Forkish, The Elements of Pizza
    A hand flattening a portion of the divided dough.

    Divide the dough in four equal pieces using a kitchen scale. To shape into a ball, first gently flatten the dough.

    a hand folding three edges of the flattened dough into the center, giving it a triangle shape.

    Tuck the edges, then tuck ant new corners up into the center to round it out.

    pinching the bottom of a round ball of dough together.

    Pinch all the edges together to create a tight seam on the top of the dough ball. You want to create surface tension for a smooth surface on the underside of the dough ball.

    A hand cupped around a ball of pizza dough to shape it into a ball.

    Flip the dough over so the pinched together seam side is facing down. Cup your hand around it and move your hand in a circular motion to smooth out the dough ball.

    Shaping a ball of dough can take some practice — be patient with yourself if you're new to it. If you have a method of shaping dough balls you like better, you can absolutely use that too.

    Once your dough balls are shaped, pop them into lightly oiled round 16 ounce deli containers with the lids on. This is a tip I picked up from Andris over at the Baking Steel site, and it makes such a difference in how easy the pizza dough is to stretch.

    The round shape of the containers trains the dough to stay in a circle shape as it relaxes, so it knows to keep that shape when you stretch it. The deli containers are also just easier to stack in the fridge.

    a straight on shot of a 32 ounce deli container filled about one-third of the way with pizza dough according to the baking steel instructions. a thin layer of golden olive oil is visible in the bottom of the container. the baking steel company recommends storing dough this way and it works great.

    Let the pre-shaped dough balls rest in the containers for an hour at room temperature before you pop them into the fridge. The dough balls will expand slightly and begin to fill out the bottom of the containers.

    This gives the yeast and gluten network a chance to get used to their new shape before you slow down their activity in the fridge overnight. They won't rise much at all during this time.

    The next day, take the dough balls out of the fridge about 60-90 minutes before you plan to stretch the dough and let it rest somewhere warm.

    This loosens up the gluten network just enough to make the dough stretchy and elastic to work with, but not so stretchy that the dough tears when you handle it.

    This final rise is when you'll finally see the dough double in size. It may not be as dramatic as what you see in the photo below (this batch of dough had exceptional main character energy) but you will see it rise and fill out the container even more as it warms up.

    Two plastic deli containers of dough stacked on top of each other. The dough completely fills the containers.

    How to Freeze Pizza Dough

    At any time after the overnight fridge rise, you can transfer the dough, in the plastic deli container, to the freezer. I recommend using it within 3 months of freezing, otherwise you might notice the gluten network starting to break down when you try to stretch it. It's not impossible to use after 3 months in the freezer, it's just more likely to tear.

    Defrost it in the fridge before use, and make sure to let it sit at room temperature for 60-90 minutes before stretching it.

    A Note on Temperature and Dough Rising

    Temperature is the main factor in determining how quickly or slowly your dough rises. This includes the temperature of ingredients, as well as the ambient temperature of the room where you leave your dough to rise.

    Depending on how cool or warm your water was, and how cool or warm your kitchen is, your dough may rise faster or slower.

    • Warmer temperatures increase yeast activity.
    • Cooler temperatures slow yeast activity.

    If your kitchen is cold and your dough is rising slowly, find somewhere warmer to put your dough to rise. If your kitchen is very warm, your dough might be ready before the time given in the recipe. The recipe can't tell you when to do this — you'll have to keep an eye on your dough and move it when needed.

    In baking, "room temperature" is generally somewhere around 70-75°F.

    Just because the dough isn't ready right at the times given in the recipe doesn't mean it's not working — there might be other factors affecting how quickly or slowly it gets there! What the dough looks like and feels like is more important than following the specific timing guidelines.

    How to Hand Stretch Pizza Dough

    Hand stretching pizza dough is crucial to getting your pizza dough to bake up with a crispy thin crust.

    If you were to just plop the dough ball on the counter and take a rolling pin to it, it won't bake up as a thin crust pizza. So, yes, you absolutely can use this dough to make a pizza with a thicker crust.

    But if you're aiming for a classic thin crust pizza with the defined crust and crisp bottom, how you stretch it makes all the difference.

    Hand stretching pizza dough takes practice. Don't be upset if you don't get it right on the first try.

    Use plenty of flour, be patient, use a light touch so the dough can stretch through your fingertips, and let gravity do the work. If the dough tears, just pinch it back together and let it rest for a few seconds before you continue.

    Below I've included some gifs to help you get started, but there's a lot more guidance in my post about How To Hand Stretch Pizza Dough if you need it.

    [gif] using my fingertips to define the crust of the pizza dough
    step 1: define the crust and flatten the center
    [gif] picking up round flat pizza dough and letting gravity pull it down as it rotates through my hands
    step 2: lift and let gravity work
    [gif] stretching pizza dough by rotating it across the back of my hands
    step 3: stretch on the backs of your hands
    [gif] stretching pizza crust on the backs of my hands
    step 4: keep stretching
    [gif] stretching the edge of pizza crust lying flat on the counter
    step 5: stretch on the counter if fragile
    [gif] flipping pizza dough onto peel and arranging into circle
    step 6: transfer to pizza peel

    Substituting Active Dry Yeast for Instant Yeast

    Active Dry and Instant yeast are technically the same thing — meaning, they are both saccharomyces cerevisiae, a single-celled living organism used for leavening bread and doughs.

    The only difference between the two types of yeast is that Active Dry yeast granules have a little coating around them which needs to be dissolved to reveal the yeast inside.

    Because of this extra little shell around the Active Dry yeast granules, you'll need to use slightly more Active Dry yeast to get the same effect as using Instant.

    To calculate how much Active Dry yeast to use, increase the amount of Instant yeast by 25%. For this recipe, you'd be using 2.5 grams of active dry yeast. Use a jeweler's scale to measure precisely, or just use 3 grams of active dry yeast. It'll be fine.

    Equipment for Making Pizza Dough

    • Kitchen Scale - You need a kitchen scale (I use this kitchen scale) in order to measure the ingredients for this pizza dough. The ratio of ingredients is very carefully balanced and if you don't measure accurately, this can make a big difference in how easily and how thin the dough stretches. If you're a beginner baker, using a kitchen scale is one of the best things you can do to improve your baking. For weighing the ingredients with smaller quantities, a jeweler's scale can be useful but isn't necessary.
    • Baking Steel - A baking steel is a thin sheet of steel that you preheat in your oven. Steel retains heat really well, which helps your oven reach and sustain the high temperature needed for pizza to cook quickly. A baking stone or pizza stone will also work, but you can read about why I don't recommend them in my review of the original baking steel.
    • 16 ounce Plastic Deli Containers - These are the perfect size and shape for letting your pizza dough balls rise without expanding outward too much. These are the deli containers I use.
    • Dough Whisk - A dough whisk has a stiff coiled wire at the end designed for cutting through thick or wet doughs. It breaks up sneaky clumps of flour easily. It's also great for mixing things like muffin batters that you don't want to over mix. You don't need one to make this dough, but I usually start mixing the flour and water for the autolyse with one.

    Using a Stand Mixer

    If mixing and kneading by hand aren't for you, you can use a stand mixer to make this dough. I recommend doing it by hand as it helps to be able to feel the dough change as you work it. But I know that's not always a possibility for everyone.

    • Use the paddle attachment to mix the flour and water in the autolyse stage. It is a very tough, dense dough. You will still need to use your hands to smush it together in the bowl.
    • Switch to the dough hook to incorporate the salt and the water, yeast, and sugar mixture. Be patient here, the mixer will take longer to do this than if you did it by hand. You may need to pause and fold the dough over itself a few times while mixing.
    • Use the dough hook again to incorporate the oil and knead the dough into a smooth ball.

    From there proceed with the recipe as written!

    Practical Tips & Recipe Notes - Timing, etc.

    • My overnight pizza dough schedule usually looks like this: 7:00 p.m. autolyse, 7:10 p.m. pincer method to incorporate salt, yeast, and sugar, 7:35 p.m. knead in the olive oil and bulk ferment, 8:45 p.m. divide, and pre-shape into the containers, 9:50 p.m. pop the dough in the fridge. 5:00 pm the next day, take it out of the fridge. 6:00-6:30 p.m., shape and bake my pizzas.
    • Alternate schedule: After kneading in the olive oil, leave the dough to bulk ferment at room temperature for two hours before dividing and pre-shaping it in the containers. It can go directly in the fridge after that, no need to rest at room temperature again.
    • This pizza dough, like all pizza doughs, is best when cooked on a scorching hot baking steel (use code TPK10 for 10% off!). If you have a pizza stone, you can use it the same way but baking steels get hotter and cook the pizza faster — just like wood fired pizza ovens do.
    • I can't stress enough how important pre-shaping and hand stretching this dough is for getting a nice thin crust. Be patient, don't rush the shaping steps, give the dough plenty of time to stretch and relax, and you got this!

    Recipe FAQ

    Can I use this thin crust pizza dough on a pizza stone?

    Yes! It works the same way as a baking steel. You may need to let the pizza cook a minute or two longer just because pizza stones don't get quite as hot as baking steels do.

    Can I make this without a baking steel or pizza stone?

    I don't know! I haven't tested it. The hydration of this dough was formulated to work on a 500F preheated steel or stone. I can't tell you how it will work with a longer bake time or at a lower temperature.

    I don't have a kitchen scale. Can you make this recipe using cup measurements?

    Scooping flour in measuring cups can throw off your whole recipe by A LOT and you'll end up with a wet sticky dough that doesn't form a strong gluten network or a dense dough that never develops any elasticity.

    Is this a New York-style pizza dough?

    I am not the authority on what makes something a New York-style pizza dough or not, so I can't claim true authenticity here. But this pizza dough recipe does have sugar and oil in it, which is more common in New York-style pizza doughs.

    Can I use this pizza dough with an Ooni or an outdoor pizza oven?

    I'm not sure, I haven't tested it. My understanding is they get much hotter than a baking steel or stone, so you'll likely need to cook your pizza for a much shorter amount of time so the sugars in the dough don't burn. But it should work!

    📖 Recipe

    four round deli containers with balls of pizza dough in them.

    Overnight Thin Crust Pizza Dough

    Rebecca Eisenberg
    If you love a thin crust pizza with perfectly chewy edges and a crispy, sturdy-yet-foldable crust, this is the thin crust pizza dough recipe for you. A long overnight rise in the fridge makes this pizza dough easy to stretch super thin, and the low-hydration dough is designed to make fantastic thin crust pizzas your a home oven on a baking steel.
    Prep time includes dough resting time. It's only about ~20 minutes of active time.
    5 from 7 votes
    Print Recipe Pin Recipe Save Saved! Email
    Prep Time 1 hr 30 mins
    Fridge Resting Time 20 hrs
    Total Time 21 hrs 30 mins
    Course Main Course
    Cuisine Italian
    Servings 4 pizza dough balls

    Equipment

    • Dough whisk
    • Bowl scraper
    • Kitchen scale
    • Baking steel
    • Round deli container
    • Pizza Peel

    Ingredients
      

    Autolyse

    • 500 grams all purpose flour (plus more for dusting)
    • 310 grams water (around 90°F)

    Yeast Mixture

    • 15 grams water
    • 6 grams sugar (1 TBSP)
    • 2 grams instant yeast

    Additional Dough Ingredients

    • 10 grams salt
    • 6 grams olive oil
    • 1½ teaspoons semolina flour (for dusting the pizza peel)
    Prevent your screen from going dark

    Instructions
     

    • Autolyse. Combine flour and water in a medium mixing bowl. Mix with a spatula or dough whisk until the water is absorbed and not pooling in the bottom, then switch to your hands to smush it together in the bowl. The dough will feel very dry, dense, and stiff. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
    • Activate the Yeast. Combine instant yeast, water, and sugar in a small bowl. Give them a quick stir to hydrate the yeast, then set aside.
    • Pincer Method. Sprinkle 10 grams salt over the surface of the autolysed dough. Then drizzle the water, yeast, and sugar mixture on top. Use your fingers in a pincer motion to pinch across the dough. Grab one tail end of the dough, fold it over itself, rotate the bowl, and pinch across the dough again. Repeat this process, until the water has incorporated into the dough and you don't feel granules of salt between your fingers. Shape the dough into a messy ball. Cover and rest for 20 minutes.
    • Kneading. Drizzle the olive oil over the dough. Fold the dough over itself a few times in the bowl, then turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it until it smooths out, about 60-90 seconds. Dust in additional flour only if needed. Shape the dough into a ball, place it back in the bowl. Drizzle with ½ teaspoon olive oil and rub to coat the surface. Cover and rest for 1 hour.
    • Divide. Divide the dough into four equal pieces. You can eyeball it, but I like using a kitchen scale to be precise. Each dough ball should be around 212-215 grams. Prep four 16 ounce round deli containers with a light coating of olive oil and set aside.
    • Pre-shape. Working with one piece of dough at a time, gently flatten the dough against a clean countertop. Tuck the edges up and pinch them together. Keep pinching the edges together to create a smooth, taught surface under the dough with a seam on top. Flip the dough ball over and cup your hand around it with your pinkie against the counter. Drag your hand toward you, sliding the dough ball against the counter to tighten the seam at the bottom and create surface tension on the top. Rotate the ball 90 degrees and repeat. Place the dough balls into the oiled containers with the lids on. Let rest at room temperature for 1 hour.
    • Overnight rise. After an hour at room temperature the dough balls will not have risen much, but may have filled out the bottoms of the containers slightly. Place the containers in the refrigerator overnight.
    • Final rise. Remove the pizza dough balls from the fridge about 60-90 minutes before you plan to stretch them. Let the dough rest in the containers at room temperature or somewhere warm for 60-90 minutes. During this final rise, you will see the dough just about double in size.

    baking steel instructions

    • Preheat oven with the baking steel inside to 500°F for an hour before baking.
      Note: If your oven has a top broiler, the steel should be about 7 inches below the top of your oven. If you have a bottom broiler unit in the space below the oven, use the bottom rack of the oven and place an inverted sheet pan in the broiler area so you can slide the pizza onto it for the final minute of baking.
    • Stretch. On a generously floured countertop, hand stretch the pizza dough. For a thin crust pizza you're aiming for something about 12-16" across. When you hold the dough up, it should be almost translucent in the middle with a thicker crust around the edge.
    • Pizza Peel. Dust a pizza peel with semolina flour. Transfer the stretched dough to the pizza peel and arrange it back into a circle. Lift the edges to let out any air trapped underneath the dough.
    • Toppings. Add your pizza sauce, cheese, and toppings, bringing them almost all the way to the edge of the dough. Leave about ½" margin or bare crust around the edge.
    • Shimmy. Give the supreme pizza a shimmy on the peel to make sure that no parts of the crust have stuck. Carefully dust additional flour underneath any stuck spots if needed.
    • Launch. Open the oven and line up the tip of the pizza peel with the back of the steel. Tilt it at an angle (20° or so) and give it a quick thrust to help the pizza begin sliding off. As the pizza slides, pull the peel straight back, keeping the tip of the peel on the steel, depositing the pizza on to the hot surface to begin cooking.
    • Bake. Bake the pizza for 2-3 minutes, then use the pizza peel to rotate it in place on the steel so it cooks evenly. Bake 2-3 minutes more, then broil for 1 minute or until as browned as you like. Remove from the oven.
    • Remove the pizza from the oven, add any fresh herbs or other fresh toppings. Slice and serve immediately.

    RECIPE NOTES

    • My overnight pizza dough schedule usually looks like this: 7:00 p.m. autolyse, 7:10 p.m. pincer method to incorporate salt, yeast, and sugar, 7:35 p.m. knead in the olive oil and bulk ferment, 8:45 p.m. divide, and pre-shape into the containers, 9:50 p.m. pop the dough in the fridge. 5:00 pm the next day, take it out of the fridge. 6:00-6:30 p.m., shape and bake my pizzas.
    • Hand stretching the dough is crucial for getting a gorgeous thin crust. Be patient, take it slowly, use plenty of flour, and remember — practice makes perfect. 
    • If using active dry yeast, you'll need 2.5 grams of active dry yeast. Use a jeweler's scale to measure it precisely, or just use 3 grams of active dry yeast. It'll be fine.

    YOUR NOTES

    Click here to add your own private notes. Only you can see these.
    Tried this recipe?Leave a comment and let me how it was!
    Pizza
    « Easy One Pan Cacio e Pepe Rigatoni
    How to Hand Stretch Pizza Dough »

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Deb

      September 14, 2020 at 11:13 pm

      If you wanted to freeze some of the dough, how would go about it? At what point in the process; best way to store it; defrosting and final steps to get it ready to bake? Thank you

      Reply
      • Rebecca

        September 14, 2020 at 11:14 pm

        You would freeze it after it’s been shaped in the deli containers with a bit of olive oil. Defrost in the fridge overnight before you plan to use it, then let sit out for about an hour at room temp before stretching it.

        Reply
        • Deb

          September 15, 2020 at 10:02 pm

          Thank you! Looking forward to giving this a test drive. 😊

          Reply
          • Rebecca

            September 15, 2020 at 10:03 pm

            Let me know how it goes! Good luck!

            Reply
    2. Becky

      September 29, 2020 at 1:40 pm

      Any changes you’d suggest to the baking temps/times if I use a pizza/baking stone instead of a baking steel?

      Reply
      • Rebecca

        September 29, 2020 at 2:08 pm

        I'd do it exactly the same — preheat at 500F for at least an hour on the top rack before using it. You may find you need a slightly longer bake time depending on how well your stone retains heat, but it should still cook pretty quickly! Luckily with the amount of heat a steel or stone retains, you don't hurt the pizza at all if you open the oven to check on it. As long as the bottom seems firm and the top is blistered/bubbly, you should be fine! Every oven is a little bit different, so just check the pizza after the first two minutes and keep adding 1-2 mins to the time if it doesn't seem done yet.

        Reply
    3. Leo Driscoll

      May 03, 2021 at 5:05 pm

      When I pull the fermented dough out of the frig in an air tight container and leave at room temp for 60 to 90 minutes I get condensation on my dough. (70% hydration dough recipe). Should I put a Baker's Couche over the top to allow the condensation to escape?

      Reply
      • Rebecca

        May 03, 2021 at 5:10 pm

        I’m not sure I totally understand the question — do you mean after it’s shaped when you take it out before stretching it? If so, the condensation should be fine. Use plenty of flour to absorb it. I haven’t tried using a couche, so am not sure how it would change things. You don’t want the dough to dry out or form a skin, which might happen with more airflow! That will make it harder to stretch later.

        Reply
        • Tricia

          January 08, 2022 at 1:06 am

          This is the only pizza dough recipe I use now. It is so bubbly and the dough is easy to work with. I don't have a baking steel but I use a pizza stone. It makes the perfect crust every time. Thanks Rebecca!!

          Reply
          • Rebecca

            January 08, 2022 at 10:30 pm

            So glad you like it!!! Enjoy your pizza!

            Reply
    4. Jessica

      June 23, 2022 at 12:47 am

      My pizza sticks to the peel!

      Reply
      • Rebecca Eisenberg

        June 23, 2022 at 8:07 am

        Without more detail I can't help you troubleshoot this. Most likely you don't have enough flour on the peel. Remember to give it a jiggle to check for any stuck spots and dust more semolina/all purpose flour under any parts that are stuck. You also need to work quickly once you get the dough onto the peel, especially if you have heavy or particularly wet toppings. Don't let the pizza hang around there too long or it will absorb the liquids and the flour under the crust will start to hydrate, which means your crust will get stuck!

        Reply
    5. Laurie

      September 28, 2022 at 2:56 pm

      The 12-14 hour rise - where do you do that? In the fridge or on the counter?

      Reply
      • Rebecca Eisenberg

        September 28, 2022 at 8:05 pm

        On the counter, usually, but you can slow it down for a longer rise by putting it in the fridge.

        Reply
    6. Kaycee

      December 03, 2022 at 8:29 am

      I made this recipe on a Wednesday night for pizza night on Friday. I halved the recipe and separated it into 3 140-ish gram balls (my baking steel is only about 11”x11”). It turned out amazing! Best pizza I’ve ever made!

      Reply
    7. Amanda

      December 18, 2022 at 4:24 pm

      Such a great recipe! I don't have a steel so I baked on sheet pans, the thin crust pizza had a lovely crunch! (It wasn't quite as good as a thicker sheet pan style pizza, but next time I'll use less dough to make it thinner. Perfect size recipe, and I love your detailed instructions!

      Reply
      • Rebecca Eisenberg

        December 20, 2022 at 9:22 am

        So glad you liked it and thrilled to hear it worked well on a sheet pan!

        Reply
    8. CL

      February 20, 2023 at 11:01 am

      can you make this printable with just the recipe so it doesnt take 4 sheets to print out

      Reply
      • Rebecca Eisenberg

        February 20, 2023 at 5:53 pm

        Click the print recipe button on the recipe card. It will print just the recipe.

        Reply
      • Rebecca Eisenberg

        February 20, 2023 at 6:14 pm

        I just updated my print recipe template so it should be a little more compact, but it is a long recipe — if you don't want the full instructions for the baking steel I recommend telling your printer to only print the first two pages! I can't make it more compact than it is, unfortunately.

        Reply
    9. Morgan DG

      February 21, 2023 at 10:12 pm

      I am going to try this in my OONI pizza oven tomorrow and will let you know how it goes! Fingers crossed!

      Reply
      • Rebecca Eisenberg

        February 23, 2023 at 10:10 am

        Oooh please do let me know how it goes! I haven't been able to test it in an oven hotter than my baking steel + home oven combo.

        Reply
        • Morgan Garcia

          February 23, 2023 at 10:32 am

          5 stars
          So, it totally worked! I was SO amazed by how round the dough remained and how easy it was to handle! There's a really fine balance between burning the outer crust and making sure the center crust is cooked through and crispy - I think next time we will let the oven preheat a bit more (so the stone gets hotter) and possibly reduce the sugar levels in the dough. Do you have any other suggestions? I have to reiterate that I was super impressed by the integrity of this dough and how easy it was to stretch it to transparent thinness without creating holes!

          Reply
    10. Kaitlin

      March 06, 2023 at 8:26 pm

      5 stars
      This is such an easy and delicious pizza dough recipe! I love that I can make a bunch and freeze it for our family's weekly pizza nights. The flavor of this pizza dough is amazing. The first time I made it (I am a beginner of pizza making) I didn't do a great job transferring the pizza into the oven so it looked a mess but it tasted INCREDIBLE and my kids devoured it! I have four balls of dough in the freezer right now and can't wait to use it again for one of your delicious looking pizza recipes!

      Reply
    11. Laurie

      March 08, 2023 at 11:40 am

      5 stars
      Recently we moved from NY to NC and finding a pizza we enjoy has been... Impossible. I saw this recipe (after trying several others) and figured i would give it a shot.. best move ever.. it makes a perfect NY style crust. And enough for 4 small pies with each recipe. We froze two and even then, they defrosted and cooked perfectly. 5 stars all the way

      Reply
      • Rebecca Eisenberg

        March 08, 2023 at 12:44 pm

        Yay!!! I’m so glad this worked for you 🙂 enjoy your pizzas!

        Reply
    12. Greg

      April 14, 2023 at 10:20 pm

      5 stars
      Hi there!

      I’ll be right candid with you—I’ve never left a comment on a recipe blog post before. Usually I save them or make them once and move on but.. this pizza dough recipe was too amazing I couldn’t not just leave a comment.

      This is perfect and I’ve been looking for a more New Jersey style pizza since I moved out of the state for years and this did it perfectly!

      Thank you so much tor the great instructions, pictures and tips. It was super helpful and made this a success on my first try. Plus your tips on shaping the dough into a pie was super helpful.

      Can’t wait to try other recipes!

      Reply
      • Rebecca Eisenberg

        April 15, 2023 at 10:30 am

        Wow, thank you so much for the high praise!! Enjoy your pizzas! 🙂

        Reply
    13. Sunshine

      May 03, 2023 at 1:54 pm

      You had me at grams! I cannot wait to make this. I always told my kids when they were growing up: do you want it good or do you want it fast? They are all great cooks.

      Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    rebecca wearing a black t-shirt with her left hand on her hip and her right hand holding a whisk upright

    Hi, I'm Rebecca! I'm a journalist turned pastry chef on a mission to make cooking and baking fun and accessible. I'm always looking for new and creative ways to get the most out of my favorite ingredients and flavors!

    More about me →

    Popular now

    • four small bottles of hot sauce lined up behind a piece of avocado toast with hot sauce on it
      Easy Homemade Hot Pepper Hot Sauce
    • Arugula And Prosciutto Pizza
    • overnight focaccia
      Overnight Focaccia
    • old bay goldfish in a bowl
      Old Bay Goldfish Crackers

    Get in touch

    Want to work with me? Just have a question? Shoot me an email!

    rebecca@thepracticalkitchen.com

    Treat Yourself

    • the best plus size aprons
      15+ Places to Buy Plus Size Aprons
    • Honest Review: KitchenAid Cordless Food Processor
    • 15+ things for anyone who is so over diet culture
      15+ Things For Anyone Who Is SO Over Diet Culture
    • sourdough starter containers
      9+ Stylish, Functional Sourdough Containers for Your Starter

    Footer

    About Me

    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • Twitter

    Journalist turned pastry chef, on a mission to make cooking and baking fun and accessible. I'm always looking for new and creative ways to get the most out of my favorite ingredients and flavors! A Pittsburgh native currently calling Boston home.

    My Favorites

    cross section of a cranberry orange mini muffin
    an overhead shot of a bowl of hummus drizzled with olive oil and minced garlic on a weathered white wooden countertop. three wooden spoons, a torn pita bread, and some garlic cloves are on the table next to the hummus.
    chex mix with pita chips

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    Links

    • About
    • Recipe Search
    • Privacy Policy
    • FAQ

    Newsletter

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates

    Resources

    • Shop
    • Links & Resources
    • Cooking Tips
    • Web Stories

    As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

    Copyright © 2023 Foodie Pro on the Foodie Pro Theme