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High-Hydration Pizza Dough

High-Hydration Pizza Dough

By Courtney HillSeptember 11, 2024

  • Makes
    2½ pounds dough (enough for four 10-inch pizzas)
  • Cook Time
    4¼ hours
  • Active time plus cooling
    (40 minutes active)

This pizza dough is a wet, high-hydration dough (about 76 percent hydration). It also starts with a preferment—which, in this case, is a mixture of bread and semolina flours, a little sugar, yeast, salt and water that’s left to stand for an hour at room temperature, during which time it becomes active and bubbly. The preferment then is mixed with more bread flour, olive oil, salt and water, then the dough rises for about 1½ hours. The end result is a pizza crust with a rustic, open crumb; a chewy-crisp texture; and bubbles that char in the oven, forming the spotting that’s characteristic of high-end pizzeria pies. The flavor is wheaty and complex yet clean, not yeasty and boozy like drier doughs made with an abundance of yeast. For make-ahead and storage convenience, there are a couple good stopping points in this recipe. After 30 minutes of room-temperature rising, the dough can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours. Or, after dividing into four portions, the dough can be allowed to rise at room temperature for 30 minutes, then refrigerated for up to 48 hours. For topping and baking instructions, refer to specific pizza recipes, but keep in mind you will need a peel for shuttling the pies into and out of the oven and a baking stone or steel. Before baking, we heat the oven and steel (or stone) for an hour at 500°F or 550°F to build up heat, but prior to shaping and topping pies, we switch the oven to broil. The upper heating element browns and chars the surface of the pizza while the hot steel crisps the bottom crust.

Tip

Don’t be shy about flouring the counter as you portion and shape the dough. This dough is wet—almost pourable—but as long as it and the work surface is floured, it’s very workable. It’s much more compliant than lower-hydration doughs and does not snap back with the same vigor, so it’s easy to shape into rounds.

Ingredients
  • For the preferment
  • 137

    grams (1 cup) bread flour

  • 85

    grams (½ cup) semolina flour

  • 2

    teaspoons white sugar

  • ¾

    teaspoon instant yeast

  • ¼

    teaspoon table salt

  • For the dough
  • 411

    grams (3 cups) bread flour, plus more for dusting

  • 1 ½

    tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

  • 1 ½

    teaspoons table salt

Step 1

To make the preferment, in the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together both flours, the sugar, yeast, salt and 1 cup water. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour; the mixture will resemble a thick, bubbly batter.

Step 2


To make the dough, to the preferment, add the flour, oil, salt and 1 cup water; stir to roughly combine. Attach the bowl and dough hook to the mixer. Mix on low until well combined, about 2 minutes, then increase to medium-low and mix until an elastic, webby dough forms, 8 to 10 minutes; scrape the sides of the bowl and push the dough off the hook a few times during mixing. Scrape the sides of the bowl and gather the dough in the center of the bowl. Cover and let rise at room temperature until doubled, about 1½ hours. (If making ahead, let rise for about 30 minutes, then refrigerate for up to 24 hours.)

Step 3

Generously flour the counter and a rimmed baking sheet. Using floured hands and a bowl scraper or silicone spatula, scrape the dough out onto the counter; if the dough was refrigerated, it’s fine to work with it while it is cold. The dough will be very sticky. Dust with flour, then use a floured metal bench scraper or chef’s knife to divide the dough into 4 portions. Flour the cut sides of each piece of dough.

Step 4

Form each portion into a taut ball by cupping your hands around the base of the dough, slightly cradling it. Rotate and drag the dough along the counter, allowing the base to catch on the surface to create tension that pulls the dough into a tighter round. Repeat a few more times, until the dough forms a relatively uniform ball. Transfer to the baking sheet, spacing the portions evenly. Dust the dough balls with flour, then cover with a kitchen towel. Let rise at room temperature until doubled, 1 to 1½ hours if the dough was room temperature before portioning, or about 2 hours if it was refrigerated. (If you intend to save any portions for baking in the next day or two, let rise for only 30 minutes, then transfer to a 3- to 4-cup plastic container with a tight-fitting lid and refrigerate for up to 48 hours). The dough now is ready to shape and bake.

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