3 Hour New York Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- The dough:
- 447 g bread flour
- 192 g all-purpose flour
- 428 g warm water — 95–100°F
- 12.8 g salt
- 5 –6 g active dry yeast
- 2 tsp sugar
- 2 tbsp olive oil
Instructions
Activate the yeast.
- Add yeast and sugar to the warm water in a small bowl and allow to sit for 5 minutes until foamy. While it blooms, measure your flour into a large bowl and put the flour bags away.
Mix the dry ingredients together.
- In your large bowl, combine the bread flour, all-purpose flour, and salt, and whisk to evenly distribute.
Bring the wet and dry together.
- Stir in the yeast mixture and olive oil into the flour and stir to make it a shaggy dough. Wipe the small bowl and measuring cup when they are empty, they are clean, and emptying them will leave the sink clear.
Knead until smooth and elastic.
- Stir by hand for approximately 10 minutes, or in a stand mixer on medium, 6-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth, stretchy and a bit sticky. Wipe down your work surface and put away anything you do not need when running the mixer.
First rise: 2 hours at room temperature.
- Put the dough in a lightly oiled container, cover it, and allow it to rise at room temperature, preferably 75–78 degrees F, and take 2 hours. Return at the 1-hour mark to do one stretch-and-fold: wet your hand, take one end of the dough, stretch it upwards, and fold it over the center. Rotate the bowl and repeat four times. This develops gluten power without further kneading, then cover it up again and leave it on its own.
Divide and shape into balls.
- Place the dough on a floured surface and roll it into two 560g dough balls. Roll each into a tight and smooth ball by pulling the surface taut and pinching the bottom closed. Take only just enough flour, little goes a long way.
Second rise: 1 hour at room temperature.
- Put the balls of dough in a tray that is lightly oiled or in covered containers to allow the dough to rest after one hour. They will loosen, heave a little, and be no longer difficult to stretch. You can use this hour to prepare your toppings, prepare your pizza station, and preheat your oven, with either stone or steel inside, at 500–550°F.
Stretch, top, and bake.
- Flatten each dough ball with your fingertips, pressing from the center outward and leaving the air in the edges to form your crust. Once it's about 8 inches across, drape it over your knuckles and let gravity do the stretching, rotating as you go until you reach 16–18 inches. Top with your favorite sauce, cheese, all of it. Bake for about 10 minutes until the crust is golden and the cheese is bubbling. While the first pizza bakes, stretch and top the second one so it's ready to go straight in.
Notes
Tip on making NY sized pizzas in a home oven: A stone or steel that fits an 18" pizza can be hard to come by. What I do instead is stretch my dough onto an 18" pizza screen, let it bake for 3–4 minutes, then slide the screen out and leave the pizza directly on the stone or steel for the remaining 6–7 minutes. You get those giant, foldable NY slices and the crisp bottom without a commercial deck oven.