Prepare Pizza Dough at Home, an original Recipe with Tips from Italy

OTHER LANGUAGES: German

My Pizza Dough recipe I show you in this post. Do you want your pizza at home to be perfect?  Here you will find helpful information about the optimal baking process and tips from my Pizzaiolo friend Luigi.

Secret 🙂 Pizza knowledge directly from Italy is waiting for you! But piano – slowly, that’s what dough preparation is all about. Plan a little more time and conjure up a wonderful mafia cake.

Then let’s start. My following step by step instructions will guide you to the perfect result. 

Have fun preparing the dough and good luck!

Pizza Prosciutto – Ham Pizzahomemade on an impressive plate. © Food Photographer Thomas Sixt

1. The most important Things first

I have travelled the world as a cook and of course Italy is one of my favourite destinations. Last year I was able to get to know Luigi and because he speaks German, the culinary exchange, the pizza talk was a wonderful success.

Here I summarize the information we exchanged in front of the pizza oven:

1. Prepare the dough with love and good mood, Italian music during the preparation will put you in the mood.
2. Wheat flour type 405 or type 505 are the ideal base for the dough.
3. Dry yeast is fine, fresh yeast is better.
4. Use a high quality olive oil.
5. Use 50% carbonated mineral water, the dough gets more volume.
6. Leave the dough to mature in the fridge for at least 24 hours after preparation.

The dough is prepared before the topping, take your time and the result will be better. The
Tuna Fish Pizzayou will find in another post.

Insider tip from the pizza baker: Use mineral water for the dough, this optimises volume formation and flavour!

2. Why the Pizza Dough needs Time and how it goes faster

Now let us look at the two ways of preparing the dough…

2.1 Prepare Dough quickly

My mother always stirred the yeast dough together about an hour before preparation. The dough was then allowed to rise in a warm place.

With this fast method the oven has proved itself as a proofer. Set the oven to 30 °C or just switch on the light from the oven, the heat from the lamp is usually enough to get the little yeast gnomes going.

The Pizzaiolo rejects this quick method. Luigi thinks that only a long “walking time” at low temperature produces the perfect pizza base. I can only support this argumentation, the long time dough is much more digestible and the baking result is better.

The pizza baker recommends letting the dough rise in the refrigerator for a long time, at least 24 hours!

Yeast dough ingredients in a bowl.

2.2 Prepare the Dough slowly

Let us come to the preferred, original Italian dough preparation:

1. Mix the ingredients with the kneading hooks of the food processor.
2. Cover the dough with a cloth and put it in the fridge.
3. Let the dough rise in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours.
4. Place the dough at room temperature one hour before preparation.
5. Roll out the dough and process further.

The yeast dough has developed magnificently.

3.How do I bake the Pizza, which Oven Level is the right?

In the truest sense of the word applies here: Many roads lead to Rome! Let’s take a closer look at the technique of pizza baking…

3.1 Interesting Facts about the real Pizza Oven

1. The real pizza oven reaches temperatures beyond 300°C.
2. Due to the construction there is always a hot air draft in the oven, similar to the hot air stage in combination with under/upper heat.
3. The oven bottom reaches very high temperatures due to the preheating.

In a real pizza oven the temperature rises to over 300°C. © Food Photographer Thomas Sixt

3.2 Prepare Pizza at Home in the Oven

1. Preheat the oven for at least 20 minutes at the highest level of hot air in combination with under/top heat.
2. Use coated pizza trays for best results.
3. If you have a pizza stone at home, please increase the preheating time to 45 minutes.
4. If you only have baking trays available, preheat them as well.
5. If you want to use baking paper, the maximum temperature for pizza baking is 220°C.

Also theVegetable Pizza – Pizza Verdureworks best in the domestic oven at high temperature and hot air stage with the combination bottom/top heat. © Food Photographer Thomas Sixt

4. Pizza round or Pizza square?

The “round or square” discussion was the most fun with Luigi. The Pizzaiolo swears by the round pizza and he can’t stand the baking tray variant at all :-).

4.1 What speaks for the round Pizza Shape?

• The baking result is more authentic and there are fewer “wet spots” in the middle of the pizza base.
• The dough can bake better and the edges become crisper.
• The preparation is faster.

4.2 What are the Advantages of the square Pizza Shape?

• From 6 persons upwards, the preparation is more practical.
• Larger quantities can be prepared with several trays.
• Eating pieces of pizza together is sociable.

The round pizza shape is the most popular in the pizza world, after all, the world is round:-)

5. Baking in two Parts, why the Cheese is added to the Pizza later

The cheese influences the baking result. Because the cheese is very moist, the tips at a glance…

5.1 Which Pizza Cheese is the right one?

For the pizza baker, only mozzarella is suitable as pizza cheese. Special forms of pizza allow Parmesan.

The selection of the best pieces of cheese begins in the supermarket: feel the cheese through the bag and check the firmness. Only firm and whole pieces of cheese are optimal.

Drain the cheese on a sieve in the kitchen for at least 30 minutes. Careful pressing has proven to be effective in getting the moisture out of the cheese.

Then grate the cheese coarsely or cut it into thin slices and let it drain again.

For preparation at home, Luigi, the pizza baker, recommends mozzarella that has already been grated as an exception. The pizza cheese is drier than the wet, whole cheese from the bag!

Mozzarella di Bufala Campana and sometimes Parmesan are the first choice for pizza!

5.2 Baking in two Steps

• For a better result, pre-bake the topped pizza without cheese for 6-7 minutes in your home oven.
• Then sprinkle on the cheese and bake to finish.
• With this method, the highest oven level hot air with combined lower/upper heat is required, because the heat of the oven escapes when opening.
• 

  Cover the pizza with the prepared vegetables. Bake first without cheese, then again with the cheese and let the result convince you!

6. Pizza Dough Recipes

The homemade yeast dough is usually allowed to rise several times. Once the dough is on the baking tray, I give the flat cake a little more time.

For all those who have read so far: Always cut the ingredients for the pizza topping very thinly. That way you can keep the moisture under control. Don’t make the toppings too thick, a thinly topped pizza bakes and tastes better! Do you have further questions? Please send me a comment at the bottom of the page…

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Pizza Dough, traditional yeast dough, original Italian recipe

A recipe cooked, photographed and written down by professional chef Thomas Sixt.

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time12 hrs

Total Time12 hrs 20 mins

Cuisine: Italian Recipes

Keyword: Gluten Free Recipes

Servings: 4 Portions

Calories: 2063kcal

Author: Thomas Sixt

Ingredients

• 500 g flour Typ 405 or 505
• 30 g fresh yeast or 1 package of dry yeast
• 3 pinches sugar
• 230 - 250 ml lukewarm water I use 5o% mineral water
• 4 tbs oliv oil
• 10 g salt

Instructions

• Sift the flour fresh into a mixing bowl with a flour sifter. Add the yeast crumbled or as powder, sugar, lukewarm water and mineral water as well as olive oil and salt. Note: Sparkling mineral water makes the dough even better!
  
• Mix the prepared dough ingredients in the mixing bowl with the kneading hooks.
  
• Form the dough into a ball.
  

Quick Dough

• Preheat oven at 30°C. Pour the dough into the bowl, cover with a cloth and place in the oven.
  
• After 30 minutes the dough volume has doubled. Process the dough further.
  

24 Hours Dough Preparation

• Place the dough in a bowl and cover with a cloth or plate. Leave the dough to rise in the refrigerator for 24 hours, then continue working.
  

Further Processing of the Dough

• Roll out the dough prepared for at least 30 minutes at room temperature and place on either baking paper or pizza trays.
  
• Let the formed dough rise again in the oven or at room temperature for 15-30 minutes.
  

Pizza Toppings

• Cover the dough with tomato sauce and the desired ingredients as desired. See the ideas for pizza variations following the recipe.
  

Bake a Pizza

• Bake the prepared pizza in a preheated oven for 10-15 minutes depending on the temperature.
  

7. Calories and Nutritional Values

8. More Ideas for Pizza

Pizza Recipes

Vegetable Pizza – Pizza Verdure
Pizza Prosciutto – Ham Pizza
Tuna Fish Pizza – Pizza al Tonno Recipe with original Tips from Italy

Gluten-free Pizza

9. Frequently asked Questions

• All Recipes by German Chef Thomas Sixt
• chefs
• Cooking School and How To Wikis for your Kitchen
• Pizza Recipes

OTHER LANGUAGES: German