Quick and Easy Pizza Oven Pizza Dough
Pizza night can be any night of the week with this easy Neapolitan style pizza dough recipe, specifically made for your outdoor pizza oven. Chewy, crispy dough with delicious flavor and the whole process start to finish in under 2 hours...that's my kind of pizza night!
Ingredients
- 1 cup water (240 grams) warmed to around 95 degrees F
- ¾ cup milk (160 grams) warmed to around 95 degrees F
- 1.5 teaspoons granulated sugar (5 grams)
- 1 Tablespoon instant yeast (9 grams)
- 1.5 Tablespoons olive oil (20 grams)
- 1.5 teaspoons salt (9 grams)
- 4-4.5 cups Type 00 Flour (670 grams) see recipe notes
- cornmeal for dusting
Instructions
Easy Pizza Oven Pizza Dough
- To the bowl of a stand mixer, add the warm milk and water. Add the sugar, instant yeast, olive oil and salt. With the dough hook running, gradually add the flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. When the dough feels tacky to the touch and not overly sticky, stop adding flour.
- Mix the dough for 7-8 minutes on low speed until smooth. Alternatively you can knead the dough by hand for 8-10 minutes until smooth. Transfer the dough to a bowl or container. Cover and let rise for about an hour, until doubled in size.
Shaping, Assembling and Baking Pizza in a Pizza Oven
- Preheat a pizza oven to 700-800 degrees (see recipe note about using a regular oven) at least 30 minutes before baking the pizzas.
- Spread a light dusting of cornmeal on a baking sheet. Punch down the dough, release from the container and separate into 6 portions, about 175 grams each. Taking one portion at a time, pinch the dough together into a ball shape and drag in a circular motion on your countertop to form a taught, tight ball. Check out this video for a shaping tutorial. Place the ball on the cornmeal dusted baking sheet and repeat with the other pieces of dough. Cover the shaped dough balls with a kitchen towel and let rest for 15 minutes.
- On a pizza peel or large wooden cutting board, sprinkle cornmeal to dust the board. The cornmeal provides the friction needed to launch the pizza into the pizza oven. Take one piece of dough and stretch it with your hands to form a circle. Place it on top of the cornmeal and continue working it around in a circle until you a 6-8 inch pizza shape.
- Work quickly to top the pizza with about 2-3 Tablespoons pizza sauce (favorite sauce recipe on this post). Tear mozzarella into pieces and place pieces on top of the pizza dough. Tear the fresh basil and sprinkle with parmesan if desired. Check that the dough is not sticking to the board (this can happen if you don't work quickly enough). If it is sticking, unstick it with your fingers, add a bit of cornmeal if needed and try again.
- Launch your pizza into the pre-heated pizza oven with a quick thrust forward. Let the pizza cook for about 45 seconds, then using the pizza peel pull the pizza out of the oven, turn it with a fork and return it to the pizza oven for another 30-45 seconds. This ensures that the pizza is cooked on both sides. You can watch a video of this process here.
- Repeat the process with the rest of your pizza dough, adding whatever toppings you desire and enjoy!
Notes
Type 00 Flour: Most recipes for Neapolitan-style pizza call for special Italian type 00 flour. Italian type 00 flour can difficult to come by in a typical U.S. grocery store but can be easily found on Amazon. I have recently been purchasing this flour (it's worth the cost for amazing pizza) at my local Kroger, so it is becoming more common in the U.S.
Oven: This pizza recipe works best in a pizza oven. I've made it many times in an Ooni Koda 16 pizza oven. You will get the best texture, taste and crispness using the high heat and baking stone of a pizza oven. If you don't have a pizza oven, you can still make good pizza from this recipe. Crank your home oven up to the highest temperature it will go (550 is the temperature I tested it at). Place a pizza stone in the oven and let it pre-heat for at least 30-40 minutes. This long pre-heat is crucial to the texture of the pizza dough. Proceed with the recipe as written and bake the pizza in the regular oven for 5-7 minutes, until the dough is puffed up and baked through.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!