Pizza has been around for ages and has become one of the most popular foods across the world. Roughly 3 billion pizzas are sold annually in the US alone and the recipes have been continuously improving to perfection.

There’s been a fair share of experimentation done with toppings and dough. The preparation of the latter is what will be discussed at length here in this article. We’ll go over all the important details relating to age old quer of ‘how to make a pizza dough’. The ingredients, step-by-step instructions when it comes to mixing and proofing.

Making the best dough is a balancing act and may require a few from you tries before you get it down. In either case, let’s jump in and achieve dough perfection.


 
Ingredients
First up, let’s round up the ingredients which will be needed for the following steps. Just in case, we’ve left a few parts open to customization. This way, everyone can try their hand despite not having all the ingredients.

Flour
For the purposes of this recipe, bread flour is advised. It adds a thin crisp to the pizza once cooked. However, if you don’t have access to it, all-purpose flour ought to do the trick. Hence the ‘all-purpose’ bit, it’s good for everything. 
Proportion: 800 grams.

Water
Distilled, purified or tap should work fine, with preference given to purified.
Proportion: 400 grams

Yeast
Dry yeast works best. As a point of reference for the future, only pizzas with yeast need to be proofed. More about proofing below. And more about how to make a pizza dough without yeast can be found here, if you’re interested.
Proportion: 5 grams (or less than 1 ½ tsp.)

Salt
Typical salt or sea salt, depending on the taste. Used as a flavor enhancer.
Proportion: 5 grams (or less than 1 ½ tsp.)

Sugar
Just like salt, sugar is a flavor enhancer.
Proportion: 5 grams (or less than 1 ½ tsp.)

Optional ingredients for taste:
● Italian dressing
● Oregano spice
● Olive oil
Proportions for the dressing and oregano are the same as for salt and sugar. Don’t add more than a teaspoon of olive oil. Each pizza requires roughly 125-150 grams of dough, so with these proportions intact, this recipe will net you enough dough to cook 4 pizzas. If you don’t wish to cook that many, feel free to store them in a plastic container or divide the proportions by 4.

Another important note on how to make pizza dough. In order to be precise and be able repeat success each time, you’ll need a kitchen scale, one that can measure everything to a singular gram. That way you’ll know that the finished dough will reliably be perfect in the end.
 


How to Mix the Dough
“How to make pizza dough without a mixer,” you may ask. Since not everyone has access to a mixer, it’s perfectly fine to knead the dough yourself. Prior to doing so, make sure to designate a flat clean surface for this, get a bowl and wash/dry your hands. 

Main ingredients can be mixed simultaneously or one-by-one, comes down to personal preference. Knead until all components are mixed and the dough becomes smooth and uniform. The entire process is going to roughly take 3-5 minutes. You’re looking for a tacky and firm texture. Let it rest for a bit once done. Next up after that, proofing.

What’s Needed for Proofing and Why is it Important?
Proofing is done for fermentation purposes by letting the dough achieve greater height and release gases. Proofing is essential when trying to make the best pizza dough as it allows to achieve that much-needed crust thickness.

Proofing can be done in a variety of ways:
1. By using the ambient room temperature. 
Put the dough into a clean bowl. Separate the main blob of dough into 125-150 gram bits. Cover the bowl with film to prevent drying. The goal is to let the dough rise to twice its size. Expect the process to take anywhere from 3 to 4 hours.

2. By using pizza proofing pans. 
Heat makes the fermentation process go faster. We’re still looking for that x2 dough rise and exposure to a heat source will make the process not so time-consuming.


Once proofing is done, you will have achieved your goal. There you have it, this is how the best pizza dough is done. Simple, yet refined and versatile. 

It’s time to complete the pizza recipe -- choose your toppings and get that pizza in the oven. That, however, is a different topic. Just like how to make a pizza with premade dough.

But as a parting word, make sure to experiment a bit. Add something special. A dash of spices here and a dab of magic there, it’s all in good fun. Just like Bob Ross said, “There are no mistakes, only happy accidents.” You won’t achieve the best pizza possible if you don’t try to improve the best recipes.