Homemade Pizza Dough for Beginners

Fridays are pizza nights and I always make my pizza from scratch. I wanted to share the recipe for the perfect Neapolitan pizza dough with you. There are a few steps in the process, but if you follow this recipe, you will have the best dough you can imagine, and good dough is the foundation for a great pizza. The actual prep time and cooking time is very short, but there is a lot of time that goes into letting the dough rise and rest. There are three parts to this process, and it might look confusing or difficult, but trust me it is very easy.

Ingredients

• ½ cup flour (type 00 "double zero" flour is recommended but you can also use all purpose flour)*
• ½ cup lukewarm water
• 1 tsp dry active yeast
• 1 tsp honey/agave

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, mix together all the ingredients
2. Put the starter mix into a mason jar or a container with airtight lid
3. Let it rest in room temperature for 12 hours

Ingredients

• 1 ¾ cup flour 
• 1 cup lukewarm water
• 2 tsp salt
• The Starter

Instructions

1. Put the starter in a large bowl with lukewarm water and mix slowly until the starter begins to dissolve
2. Add the salt and flour and mix until all the water has mixed with the flour
3. Pour the mix onto a flat surface and knead together a few times until all the loose flour has stuck to the “ball” you are forming – consistency should be sticky
4. Cover the dough with the bowl and let rest for 15 minutes
5. After resting for 15 minutes, remove the lid, pour some olive oil into your hands and lift the dough a few times and see how it starts to transform into a perfect ball
6. Put the dough ball into the bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel
7. Let it rest/rise in room temperature for 10-12 hours

Instructions

1. After resting for 10-12 hours, remove the dough from the bowl
2. Separate into three similar size portions – should yield about 3 pizzas
3. Roll each of them up into a ball
4. Cover them with a kitchen towel until ready to flatten out and add toppings of your choice

*A note about the type of flour to use: flour is the most important ingredient for achieving an amazing crust—the kind that you only seem to be able to find at the best pizza places. All purpose flour will totally work in this recipe and you can just use the exact same amount. But double zero flour is better to get a more delicate, thin and crunchy crust.