Overnight Pizza Dough

Overnight pizza dough is made with four ingredients, requires no kneading, and can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days before shaping and baking. Skip the takeout pizza and make your own at home!

Yield: One 12" pizza

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 10

Resting time 8

Total Time 8 30

Servings or more people

Author Heather

Ingredients

Dough

½ teaspoon (1.5 g) instant yeast
⅔ cup (160 g) warm water
1 tablespoon (15 g) olive oil
2 cups (240 g) bread flour
2 teaspoons (6 g) kosher salt or 1 teaspoon table salt

Toppings

½ cup (113 g) pizza sauce
1 ½ cups (170 g) shredded low-moisture mozzarella cheese
20-30 slices pepperoni or your favorite toppings

Instructions

Mix: In a large bowl, whisk together instant yeast, warm water, and olive oil. Add flour and salt and stir until a shaggy dough forms.
Rest: Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or an airtight lid and allow the dough to rise until it is about doubled in size and looks puffy, about 2 hours at room temperature.
Chill: Transfer to the refrigerator to rest overnight, up to 3 days.
Heat: Arrange the oven rack in the top third of the oven and heat your oven to 500°F. If you have a pizza stone or steel, place it in the oven while your oven warms up.
Shape and rest: Remove the dough from the oven and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Gently press it into a square shape, then take each corner and pull it to the center, slightly overlapping with each other to create a ball. Flip the dough ball over and place it on a clean surface. Dust your hands with flour and cup them around the dough ball, pulling it across the work surface to create a taut, smooth shape. Pick it up and pinch any seams closed on the bottom. Transfer the dough ball to a floured or parchment lined tray, cover with plastic wrap, and rest it for 1 hour. This brings the dough to room temperature, making it easier to stretch.
Stretch: Flour your work surface and place the dough ball in the middle. Starting at the center of your dough ball, use your fingers to flatten the dough into a disc, leaving a 1 inch border around the edge, creating a "steering wheel". Pick up the dough by the edges (the steering wheel you've created) and allow the weight of the dough to pull down and stretch itself out, slowly rotating the dough by moving your hands around the steering wheel. Drape the dough over your knuckles and pull your hands apart slowly, stretching the dough (don't use your fingers, this can poke holes in the dough) to achieve your desired pizza size.
Dock: Transfer the pizza dough to a piece of parchment. Gently prick the dough all over with a fork (or a pizza docker), to remove unwanted bubbles.
Assemble: Pour the pizza sauce in the middle of the dough, then use the back of a spoon to gently spread it into an even layer up to about 1 inch from the edge. Top the sauce with half of the shredded cheese. Add pepperoni (or your favorite toppings) evenly across the pizza, then top with the remaining cheese.
Bake: Use a pizza peel to transfer your parchment to the heated pizza steel and bake until pizza is golden brown across the top and cheese is bubbly, about 10 to 12 minutes. Use the pizza peel to transfer parchment from the oven to the countertop and allow the pizza to rest for 2 to 3 minutes before slicing and serving hot.

Notes

Storage: Raw pizza dough will keep for up to three days in the refrigerator, and leftover pizza will keep for up to five days in the refrigerator.

Nutrition