A General Guide to Pizza (and Dough) - Updated Version

2026-07-26 1941 words 10 minutes

Contents

Even since the last guide, I’ve found that pizzas would come out inconsistent (dough would be a bit dense, wouldn’t stretch well, wouldn’t brown well). I’ve found there are a few additional things that massively help with the process.

Dough

I now mostly use 65% hydration because it’s a good middle ground where the dough is fairly easy to handle, and still has a fairly light texture that cooks well.

I also now have a 14inch pizza oven, so I normally create dough balls of 425g.

If I’m making a detroit style pizza in my 10inch square Lloyd pan, I will create a 700g dough ball.

I’ve also found you lose about 10% of the dough when kneading and mixing, so I account for this in the raw ingredient quantities.

For 4 x ~14inch pizzas (425g dough balls)

1133g flour (bread flour, 00 flour or mixture)

737g water

8g dry instant yeast

1/2 tablespoon sugar

20g salt

Required for preparing and working with the dough

Extra virign olive oil

Fine semolina flour

Toppings

Good quality crushed tomatoes - found that cheap ones are very watery and make pizzas too wet

Firm mozzarella - lots of people say shouldn’t buy pre-grated because it doesn’t melt well, I think it works fine if it’s the only thing you can find.

Grated parmesan (optional)

Salt and black pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Any other toppings of choice

Directions

Measure out water into a jug, and mix in the sugar. Pour the dried yeast on top, and make sure it bubbles slightly to confirm it’s alive.
Measure out the flour into a large bowl, along with the salt. Pour in the water and yeast mixture, and combine with a silicone spatula.
Once it’s roughly combined and there is no dry flour left, cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
Rub some oil into your hands and rub on surface of the dough ball. Start performing ‘slap and folds’ on the dough and rotating each time. The oil on the surface should help with sticking, but it may still feel very messy. Here are some general tips:
- Always remember which side is the top and keep this on top.
- Try to be confident and quick in handling it. Some may stick to your hands as you release the dough and this is fine.
- If it feels way too sticky, add more oil to your hand. Can also leave to rest longer and it will develop and become easier to handle.
- If things become messy, scrape everything into a ball and start again
You want to knead for about 15 minutes in total, but it doesn’t have to be in one session. Whenever it feels too sticky and hard to handle, cover it and let rest for ~30 minutes. Then go back to kneading.
Once the gluten has developed sufficiently (e.g. it passes the ‘window pane test’), form into a large ball by pinching bottom together and dragging along worktop to form tension across the top. Cover and leave to rest for another ~15 minutes.
Oil up 4 bowls/containers that can comfortably fit 425g balls. 1 container per ball can make things easier later down the line, but all 4 balls can also be placed in a single proofing box (as long as they are spaced apart).
Use a bench scraper to divide the dough into 4 x 425g balls. Use the same method to form into balls, pinch the bottoms and drag across bench to form tension. Can use olive oil if things are getting difficult to work with.
Place the balls into their container(s) and cover. Place in the fridge at least overnight. I’ve found that letting them proof in ball form in the fridge makes handling them a lot easier to stretch into pies. The gluten fully relaxes and doesn’t spring back as much when you try to shape them.
About 2 hours before you’re planning on cooking, take the ball out of the fridge to let it rise to room temperature and to let it have a final rise. I’ve found that if you leave them out of the fridge for too long then they overproof and actually become hard to work with and the crust becomes a bit dense.

Neapolitan Pizza

Neapolitan pizzas have a super light and fluffy crust and are cooked super quickly in the pizza oven. As a result, they don’t have the same structure as NY style pizzas and probably need a knife and fork to eat. They are a lot ‘wetter’ in the middle. You can only really achieve this style in a really hot pizza oven, not a home oven.

Directions

Pre-heat the pizza oven on the max temperature for about an hour. With my oven and temperature probe, the centre of the stone needs to be >500C.
Pile some flour onto the work surface. Dump the dough onto it (this is where it’s easier to have individual containers instead of having to scoop up a single ball from the proofing box).
Dredge the dough completely in flour (I much prefer flour to semolina for this, as semolina gives it a bit of a gritty texture). Using an index finger, form a rough ring around edge to identify where the crust will be. Then using fingers, press down in the middle to stretch out slightly.
Once it’s been stretched to about width of your hand, shake off all the excess flour. Then scrape up all of the excess flour on the bench and move to a separate area.
Stretch into a 14inch pie - there are a lot of ways to do this, I prefer placing over knuckles and letting gravity do the work. Try not to touch the crust too much to keep the air in it. It requires quite a lot of practice to stretch it evenly and avoid tearing. I’ve never been particularly good at this, it just requires lots of practice and confidence. Shake off excess flour one more time.
Place a layer of semolina on a pizza peel (I’ve found that wooden pizza peels are a lot more non-stick). Place the stretched dough onto the peel.
Top with sauce, it’s best to use this sparingly. Then sprinkle on parmesan if using. Then add mozzarella and toppings.
Give the dough a final stretch to fill the peel, the extra weight of the toppings should help it retain its shape.
Check that it’s not stuck to the peel by giving it a shake. Then launch the pizza into the pizza oven and immediately turn the flame to lowest, otherwise it may burn. You may need to turn the flame off completely.
At this high temperature, the crust should puff quite quickly and the bottom should brown. Use a turning peel to rotate the pizza.
You may want to char the crust a bit by turning the flame back onto low, but be careful as it can easily catch. If the bottom is browning too quickly, lift the pizza off the stone using a peel. At this high temperature, it will likely be done quite quickly.
Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Top with extra parmesan if desired, and pour some olive oil around the crust.

New York Style Pizza

NY pizzas are a lot crispier and cooked for longer, in order to retain a more rigid structure. You should be able to hold and fold the pizza without the toppings sliding off.

Directions

Pre-heat the pizza oven on the medium-high temperature for about an hour. With my oven and temperature probe, the centre of the stone needs to be 450C-500C in order to still achieve browning on the bottom.
Pile some flour onto the work surface. Dump the dough onto it (this is where it’s easier to have individual containers instead of having to scoop up a single ball from the proofing box).
Dredge the dough completely in flour (I much prefer flour to semolina for this, as semolina gives it a bit of a gritty texture). Using an index finger, form a rough ring around edge to identify where the crust will be. Then using fingers, press down in the middle to stretch out slightly.
Once it’s been stretched to about width of your hand, shake off all the excess flour. Then scrape up all of the excess flour on the bench and move to a separate area.
Stretch into a 14inch pie - there are a lot of ways to do this, I prefer placing over knuckles and letting gravity do the work. Try not to touch the crust too much to keep the air in it. It requires quite a lot of practice to stretch it evenly and avoid tearing. I’ve never been particularly good at this, it just requires lots of practice and confidence. Shake off excess flour one more time.
Place a layer of semolina on a pizza peel (I’ve found that wooden pizza peels are a lot more non-stick). Place the stretched dough onto the peel.
Top with sauce, it’s best to use this sparingly. Then sprinkle on parmesan if using. Then add mozzarella and toppings.
Give the dough a final stretch to fill the peel, the extra weight of the toppings should help it retain its shape.
Check that it’s not stuck to the peel by giving it a shake. Then launch the pizza into the pizza oven and immediately turn the flame to lowest, otherwise it may burn. You may need to turn the flame off completely.
At this slightly lower temperature, the crust should puff a bit slower but the bottom should still brown. Use a turning peel to rotate the pizza.
You may want to char the crust a bit by turning the flame back onto low, but be careful as it can easily catch. If the bottom is browning too quickly, lift the pizza off the stone using a peel. At this slightly lower temperature, it will likely take ~5 minutes to cook in total.
Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. Top with extra parmesan if desired, and pour some olive oil around the crust.

Detroit Style Pizza

Detroit pizzas are cooked in a pan and have a thicker (focaccia style) crust. Cheese is placed right up to the edge to brown and create the ‘frico’.

Directions

Instead of proofing the dough in a container overnight, it’s best if it’s proofed in a very well oiled pizza pan. I use the 10inch square Lloyd pan. Remove it from the fridge 2 hours before cooking as usual.
During the 2 hours, it should spread naturally into the container, but you can help stretch it as well so it fully fills the pan.
Pre-heat the pizza oven on the medium-low temperature for about an hour. With my oven and temperature probe, the centre of the stone should be around 400C.
Top the dough with sauce, it’s best to use this sparingly. Then sprinkle on parmesan if using. Then add cheese all the way to the edge, and also add the toppings.
Place the pan into the pizza oven and immediately turn the flame off, otherwise it may burn.
Let the pizza cook for around 5-10 minutes, regularly rotating.
You may want to char the top a bit by turning the flame back onto low, but be careful as it can easily catch. Once it seems like the top has browned, check whether it has cooked through. The bottom should be fairly crispy.
Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool. This is especially important for these thicker pizzas.