This same-day pizza dough recipe is an ideal solution for those who prefer making and shaping their dough in the morning, and then refrigerating it overnight before baking at dinner time. Plus, its forgiving hydration requirements and versatility mean it can be created using either all-purpose or bread flour!
For optimal results, use a kitchen scale to accurately weigh ingredients. Wetting your hands before mixing can also help avoid sticking issues.
Ingredients
Same-day pizza dough is an ideal solution if you want to create a pizza for dinner on the same day. Make the dough in the morning, and it will rise throughout the day, ready for baking when dinner time rolls around. Or store it in the fridge overnight before refrigerating it overnight and baking it on another day!
This recipe uses bread flour to produce soft and elastic dough. Incorporating instant yeast that requires no blooming/proofing process as well as fine sea salt which brings out its natural flavors is another advantage of using weight measurements for accurate ingredients.
After mixing the dough, let it rest for several minutes to allow its gluten to relax, making stretching and shaping it easier. Lightly flour your work surface before gently pressing outward onto it with your fingertips until a flat round shape emerges. Beware of forcefully stretching or pressing outward with force as this may tear the dough. After baking your pizza is complete, remove it from the oven and transfer it onto a cooling rack until cool enough to be eaten!
Preparation
Make the dough in the morning, and bake pizza that evening or refrigerate overnight to be baked more quickly on another day – or even several days later!
Mix flour, yeast, and salt. Next add water and olive oil, mixing either by hand, mixer, or bread machine set on dough cycle until your dough becomes satiny soft and satiny smooth.
If the dough will be stored in the fridge, there’s no need to use warm water; just tap/room temperature water will do. Otherwise, transfer it into an appropriate lidded vessel such as a quart containers.
For optimally tender and elastic dough, it’s vitally important that it rests well post-kneading. Giving the gluten time to relax makes stretching and shaping much simpler; additionally, resting gives it time to absorb oil that will help brown the crust further. Before stretching or shaping dough balls with olive oil.
Kneading
Your hands (or dough hook) should knead the dough until it becomes elastic and smooth – around 7 minutes by hand or 5 minutes with the machine. Be wary not to overwork it as this may lead to tough crusts and dense crumbs. Once finished kneading, remove from bowl, drizzle some oil on it before wrapping tightly in plastic wrap for at least 2 hours in an un-drafty spot before resting it before moving forward with baking!
To test whether your dough has been sufficiently kneaded, perform the windowpane test: Pull off a small piece and gently stretch it until light can shine through like a windowpane. If rips or tears appear before this point, more work needs to be done kneading the dough.
To assist the dough in developing strength during its rest period, either French Fold or Stretch and Fold kneading techniques should be utilized. Both techniques work effectively for this type of dough and work best with those having over 65% hydration levels; Stretch and Fold work better when used on dry doughs (see above).
Proofing
Your dough needs a rest period after being mixed to allow its byproducts of fermentation to develop more depth to its flavor, as well as to relax any stretchy gluten networks created during kneading. In addition, this step helps adjust moisture content which may vary based on brand and local humidity conditions.
Rising and fermentation refer to the same process – yeast turning sugars into CO2, inflating dough balls with their presence. If you want to speed up this process, place each ball of dough and its proofing vessel (I use 4-cup glass-lidded bowls as proofing vessels for my dough balls) inside an oven with the light on for maximum effectiveness.
Refrigerating dough post-shaping will allow it to expand at a much slower rate. Remove it from the fridge two hours before you plan on shaping, and allow it to come up to room temperature before shaping – the dough may double or even triple its original size during its rest period!
Cooking
After mixing, the dough must be placed in a warm location until nearly doubled (about 1.5 hours). At this point, it can either be formed into pizzas or frozen for later use.
Utilizing a digital scale is essential when creating bread and pizza recipes, enabling you to accurately measure all ingredients including water. Furthermore, its accurate measurement enables meaningful adjustments based on flour type, yeast strain type, ambient temperature changes, or any other factors that might impact baking.
This dough recipe does not call for sweeteners as yeast does not rely on sugar for activation or growth. Olive oil is used to keep the dough tender by shortening its gluten network during its short bake time, which this type of pizza requires. When making the pizza itself, lightly dust the work surface with flour so the dough won’t stick; pick up one dough portion at a time and knead lightly, making sure any sticky spots receive additional flour until finally stretching it into a round and placing on an unbaked pizza peel!
