Pizza dough is the base of a good pizza, so it’s no wonder you try to make it perfect. Your search for the best airy pizza dough recipe is now over because this one will quickly become your favorite.
The key to the best airy pizza dough recipe is high hydration and a longer fermentation time – this will help you achieve maximized flavor and desired structure. If the dough is prepared correctly, you can make a pizza with a complex flavor and a texture that includes large bubbles, crispy bottom and edges, as well as a creamy crumb.
This Is the Best Airy Pizza Dough Recipe You Will Find
It might be challenging to find the best airy pizza dough recipe, especially if you want to achieve some specific structure. With this recipe, you’ll get the crispy bottom, blistered bubbles, and soft crust. The secret is to use high hydration and rely on long fermentation time for achieving maximum flavor and that perfect structure you always dreamed of.
You must focus on the three most important factors in order to achieve the perfect flavor and structure and contribute the highest quality dough.
| High hydration | I recommend using 75% hydration dough (this shows the percent of water relative to the amount of flavor used). With this percentage, you’ll achieve a lot of gas bubbles, which is the goal, as well as a chewy crust and good flavor. This dough won’t be too sticky and impossible to work with. It will still keep enough of its structure that you can shape it into a pizza and flip it. |
| Long bulk fermentation | You want to rely on a small amount of yeast and allow a slow fermentation process that will help your dough develop strong flavor and structural strength. I recommend that you keep this pizza dough to ferment at room temperature for approximately six hours. If you want to achieve the maximum flavor, you can use a professional hack and let your dough slowly ferment in the fridge for two days straight. |
| A pizza baking surface that can get really hot | There are plenty of options when it comes to baking pizza. You can use a pizza stone, baking steel, cast iron pizza pan, or an inverted baking sheet. Sometimes unglazed tile can be an option as well. The key is to preheat these surfaces by putting them in the oven and letting them absorb as much heat as possible. With this process, you’ll end up with a beautiful crispy crust. |
Additional Tips on Ingredients You Should Use
When it comes to homemade pizza crust, you have to be very careful when choosing ingredients. Choosing the right flour type is crucial if you want to achieve pure perfection. In case you have trouble finding 00-type flour, you can get any high-quality all-purpose flour, and everything will turn out fine and delicious as well.
It is hard to have the best recipe if you use unsuitable ingredients, so try sticking with the best. If you want to achieve the most beautiful flavor and texture, you are supposed to use high-quality flours, as they are one of the best options you can find on the market for this purpose.
How to Make the Best Airy Pizza Dough
If you want to know the full process of making the best airy dough, these are the steps you should follow:
- Lightly wet your hands while mixing the dough at the beginning and performing the fold. This step will actually make your hands less sticky, and the whole folding process will be easier.
- Find a kitchen scale to use if you want to ensure you’ll get consistently and the best results. When it comes to scooping flour, everyone does this differently. Even flour itself varies enough because of the structure, so the volume at the end might depend on this. You can have the approximated volume, but finding your ideal proportions is recommended.
- Once the dough is officially folded, you can wait about an hour after mixing in order to develop the gluten. This step will give the dough the desired structure.
- If you want to prevent sticking, you can lightly grease the container. After you form dough balls, you should lightly grease them as well to prevent drying.
- Consider the temperature. Maybe you never thought about this before, but water and ambient temperature play a significant role in the fermentation timing. If the temperature is lower, fermentation will usually be slower, and the rise time will be longer with that. If the temperature is high, you get fast fermentation and rise. Pro-tip is just to look at the dough and follow its natural tempo rather than sticking to the clock and thermometer.
You Can Prepare Dough in Advance and Keep It in the Refrigerator
If you want to make this dough ahead of time, you can refrigerate it. After shaping the dough into balls, as I previously described, you can coat them using a small dose of olive oil and put it gently on the lightly greased plate. Cover this container with plastic wrap and refrigerate it for two days. Once you decide to prepare your pizza, take the dough out of the refrigerator and shape it. There is no need to wait for it to heat up.
Follow This Best Airy Pizza Dough Recipe, and You’ll Be Amazed by the Final Results
If you follow all the necessary steps from the best airy pizza dough recipe, you shouldn’t have any problems with achieving the perfect flavor and structure. When it comes to flour and water, it is important to use high hydration with the recommended proportion, a little bit of yeast. Be patient with the fermentation process, take care of the temperature, and try using the highest quality flour if possible. This dough can also be prepared in advance – you can keep it in the fridge two days before you actually use it to make a delicious pizza.