50-50 Artisan Pizza Dough

Over the years, I’ve experimented with dozens of pizza dough recipes and I’ve finally settled on this one as being the most satisfying (to me, anyway) and simplest for the home kitchen. I’ve seen a lot of dough recipes calling for ’00’ flour, such as Caputo’s from Italy.

Ted Scheffler

September 29, 2023

That’s what they use at pizzerias like Settebello. But, with the lower temperatures of a home oven (versus a high-temp wood-fired oven) I prefer to use a 50/50 mix of good, unbleached, all-purpose flour combined with ’00’ flour, in equal portions. It pays when baking to weigh your ingredients, and it’s no different with pizza dough. So, invest in a digital kitchen scale for measuring out dry ingredients such as flour for pizza.

Ingredients:

150 grams all-purpose, unbleached flour, such as King Arthur

150 grams ’00’ four, such as Caputo’s from Italy – available in specialty food and gourmet markets or online

3/4 tsp. active dry yeast

1 tsp. Fine sea salt

1 tsp. olive oil

3/4 to 1 cup warm water

Method

Place all of the ingredients except the water into the bowl of a large stand mixer such as a KitchenAid with a dough hook. (You could also mix the dough by hand in a large bowl.)
Set the mixer on low and mix the ingredients together, slowly drizzling in the water while the mixer is running. The process will take around 3 to 5 minutes. You’re aiming for dough that is moist, but not too wet and sticky. Keep adding water, a little at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl in one piece. If the dough is too wet, add more flour a tablespoon at a time. If it’s too dry, add a little more water.
Once the dough has formed into one piece, allow it to rest in the bowl for 15 minutes.
Next, knead the dough by hand for 3-4 minutes, until it’s relatively smooth and pliant.
Form the pizza dough into a ball and place into a large lightly oiled bowl. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and allow the dough to rise for 4 to 6 hours at room temperature.
To make the pizza, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and either cut it in half for 2 pizzas or roll it out and stretch it for one pizza.
Roll out the pizza dough to your desired thickness and turn the rolled out pizza dough onto a pizza paddle sprinkled with corn meal (or just use a piece of thick, sturdy cardboard). The corn meal will help the pizza slide into the oven without sticking.
Place your favorite sauce and toppings on the pizza dough and cook on a pizza stone at a minimum of 550 degrees F. in your oven or on the grill.

Food & Drink, Recipes, Scheff’s Table, The Dish, Utah Bites, Utah Food

Ted Scheffler

Originally trained as an anthropologist, Ted Scheffler is a seasoned food, wine, and travel writer based in Utah. He loves cooking, skiing, music, and reading, and spends an inordinate amount of time tending to his ever-growing herd of guitars and amplifiers. Ted is also the author of the Utah Bites newsletter, which is published in partnership with Utah Stories. Before moving to Utah, Ted lived in New York City, and numerous states in the US, as well as in various countries overseas, Spain, Japan, Canada, Brazil, and Mexico. He earned a Master’s Degree in Anthropology from the Graduate Faculty of The New School for Social Research.