NY Style Pizza Dough

Posted by - Dawn
on - January 29, 2020
0 Comment

When Matt and I first got married, I had just left my full time job in sales and was doing what I needed to do to get back into teaching…something that I thought at the time would be a wonderful idea! We knew we had to watch our spending a bit more and knew we loved Friday night pizza, so we decided to try and figure out how we could make awesome pizza at home, from scratch. Sure, store-bought crust isn’t expensive, but it’s loaded with ingredients we don’t need. We went out and bought our pizza stone (a must with homemade pizza!!) and pizza peel and we were good to go! We also both knew that we preferred a thinner crust pizza. I know, I know, Chicago friends, don’t hate! So I got on my Pinterest and started searching for pizza dough recipes. There were a ton and it was difficult trying to figure out where to start, for sure. We went through quite a few before we found something that we really liked. The interesting thing was each recipe was so different concerning rest time, how much yeast, etc. Then we found a recipe in one of my favorite magazines that I knew we had to try! Everything I’ve ever made from them I love. This recipe came from America’s Test Kitchen. They came out with a magazine of lightened up comfort foods and this recipe was one of them. We have had many friends over for pizza night and we have many asking when they can come over again. This is it! It took a lot of trial and error, but I feel we have found our niche. I make it and Matt is in charge of shaping it. You will see why in the pictures. That is his forte…not mine! Makes for a perfect couple’s night in kind of meal. 🙂

The pictures are of the shaping process. This is not a dough that likes to be rolled out. It needs to be shaped with your hands. You’ll see in the pictures and the directions.

Ingredients –

3 cups bread flour (I love King Arthur bread flour)
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 1/3 cup ice water
1 TBL canola oil
1 1/4 tsp salt

Process flour, sugar and yeast in a food processor until combined. With the processor running, slowly add the water until dough is just combined and no dry flour remains (about 10 seconds). Then, let dough sit for 10 minutes.

Add the canola oil and salt and process until a sticky ball forms and it releases from the sides of the food processor (about 30-60 seconds). Transfer dough to a lightly greased counter and knead briefly until you can for a smooth, round ball. Place in a greased bowl and cover tightly with greased plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 24 hours, or up to 3 days. We usually just do ours overnight.

Now on to the night of pizza making! With this dough, we get three crusts from it. If you want larger pizza, I would make two pizzas out of it. The nice thing about this dough is that it freezes well. Take the portion that you will be using this evening and place on a lightly oiled sheet pan and lightly cover it with some oiled saran wrap. Let this sit for approximately an hour, which is how long you should put your pizza stone in the oven for at 500 degrees. The dough that you will not be using can be placed in a tupperware container and can be frozen for the next time you want to make pizza…next Friday!

After the dough has set and the pizza stone is up to temperature, it is time to start stretching. Matt likes to sprinkle a little flour on the counter so the dough does not stick.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and sprinkle a little flour on top.

Next, you will start stretching the dough. Like I said, this is Matt’s job because I do not have the patience for it 😉 It will take practice, but just take your time so it doesn’t rip apart.

He pats it out first and then starts stretching.

Once you have stretched it out to the size and thickness you would like then pinch up the edges a bit to give you an edge around your crust.

Now it is time to transfer it to the peel (which helps you place it on your stone) It helps to have a little flour on the peel as well so it will slide onto the hot stone.

You will probably have to reshape it a bit after placing it on the peel.

Now your dough is ready for the oven. Carefully slide the dough onto the stone and cook until it starts to bubble up a bit (probably about 5 minutes or so). Take it out of the oven and flip it over (brush off any excess flour). This will be the side that you put your toppings on. Add your toppings as you’d like, pop it back in the oven and cook until its nice and browned. This is not a ‘leave it and forget it’ pizza. It is cooking at a very high temperature and needs to be monitored so you don’t over cook it. I hope you can come to enjoy making this as much as we do! We have two friends that have also started this tradition of Friday night pizza (Kayley and Adam 😉 ) and they are loving it as much as we do. Yes, it will take some time to perfect, but hey, pizza is still pizza, even if its not perfect the first time you give it a try. If you do try it, I’d love to hear your thoughts and see pics of your pizzas! Be sure to keep a look out for the many different pizzas we like to make. I will be sharing those recipes with you as we go. Enjoy!