Italian Pizza Dough With a Cold Ferment
Great pizza dough needs a slow 24-hour ferment in the fridge — that builds flavour and structure no one-hour rise can reach. A hydration of 65% of the flour weight gives the puffed rim and the blistering.
- Prep
- 30 min
- Cook
- 12 min
- Total
- 1482 min
- Calories
- 310
Home pizza dough usually comes out like a biscuit, and the cause is not the ingredients — it is time. A dough that spends a night in the fridge is a completely different thing from one that rises for an hour.
Method
-
1
Autolyse
Mix only the flour and water and rest it 20 minutes before anything else. This is the autolyse: the flour hydrates fully and the kneading becomes far easier.
⏱ 25 min -
2
Add the rest
Add the yeast, sugar, salt and olive oil and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Keep the salt away from the yeast as you add them.
⏱ 12 min -
3
Folds instead of kneading
Instead of long kneading, do 4 folds at 30-minute intervals: pull one edge of the dough up and fold it to the centre, turn the bowl a quarter and repeat. This builds gluten gently.
⏱ 100 min -
4
Cold ferment
Cover the dough and put it in the fridge for 24 hours (up to 72). The slow ferment develops acids and flavours that fast rising cannot produce.
⏱ 1440 min -
5
Ball and rest
Take it out, divide into 4, shape each into a tight ball, cover and leave two hours out of the fridge to come back to room temperature.
⏱ 125 min -
6
Stretch by hand
Stretch the ball with your fingertips from the centre outwards, leaving a 2 cm rim untouched. Never use a rolling pin — it drives out the bubbles and kills the rim.
⏱ 8 min -
7
Maximum-heat oven
Heat the oven to its highest setting, 270°C, with a tray or stone inside for 45 minutes. Pizza needs a thermal shock a warm oven cannot deliver.
⏱ 47 min -
8
A fast bake
Slide the topped pizza onto the hot tray and bake 7–9 minutes until the rim puffs and blisters black. Longer just dries it out.
⏱ 12 min
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Tips that actually matter
- 24 hours in the fridge — the difference between home pizza and restaurant pizza.
- No rolling pin; it flattens the bubbles and kills the puffed rim.
- Oven at maximum with the tray preheated for 45 minutes.
- Keep the topping light — a heavy topping stops the base crisping.
People also ask
Why ferment it in the fridge?
A slow cold ferment gives the yeast and bacteria time to produce acids and complex flavour compounds, and develops the gluten network gently. The result is deeper flavour, easier digestion and a puffed rim.
Why doesn't my rim puff?
Either you used a rolling pin and pushed the gas out, or the oven was not hot enough. Stretch with your fingertips leaving the rim alone, and preheat the oven at maximum with the tray inside for 45 minutes.
Why isn't the base crisp?
The tray was cold or the topping too heavy. Heat the tray inside the oven as it preheats, and go lighter on sauce and cheese — a heavy topping releases moisture that stops the base drying and crisping.
Cook mode
Italian Pizza Dough With a Cold Ferment
-
1
Autolyse
Mix only the flour and water and rest it 20 minutes before anything else. This is the autolyse: the flour hydrates fully and the kneading becomes far easier.
-
2
Add the rest
Add the yeast, sugar, salt and olive oil and knead for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Keep the salt away from the yeast as you add them.
-
3
Folds instead of kneading
Instead of long kneading, do 4 folds at 30-minute intervals: pull one edge of the dough up and fold it to the centre, turn the bowl a quarter and repeat. This builds gluten gently.
-
4
Cold ferment
Cover the dough and put it in the fridge for 24 hours (up to 72). The slow ferment develops acids and flavours that fast rising cannot produce.
-
5
Ball and rest
Take it out, divide into 4, shape each into a tight ball, cover and leave two hours out of the fridge to come back to room temperature.
-
6
Stretch by hand
Stretch the ball with your fingertips from the centre outwards, leaving a 2 cm rim untouched. Never use a rolling pin — it drives out the bubbles and kills the rim.
-
7
Maximum-heat oven
Heat the oven to its highest setting, 270°C, with a tray or stone inside for 45 minutes. Pizza needs a thermal shock a warm oven cannot deliver.
-
8
A fast bake
Slide the topped pizza onto the hot tray and bake 7–9 minutes until the rim puffs and blisters black. Longer just dries it out.
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