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Overnight Pizza Dough

Cold-fermented dough for next-day pizza — better flavour and texture than same-day. 18–24 hours in the fridge does the real work.

30 min prep · 0 min cook · 30 min total · 4 medium pizzas

Adapted from Claude

Ingredients

medium pizzas
  • 500 g 00 flour or bread flour
  • 325 ml lukewarm water
  • 10 g fine sea salt
  • 2 g instant yeast
  • 1 tbsp olive oil

Steps

  1. Mix the dough. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, yeast, and salt. Add the lukewarm water and olive oil. Mix with a wooden spoon or your hand until no dry flour remains — it’ll be shaggy and sticky. Cover and rest 15 minutes.
  2. First stretch and fold. With a wet hand, grab one side of the dough, stretch it up, and fold it over to the opposite side. Rotate the bowl 90° and repeat. Four folds total. The dough will tighten up. Cover.
  3. Rest, then fold again. Let rest 30 minutes, then do another round of four stretch-and-folds. The dough should feel noticeably smoother and stronger.
  4. Bulk rise. Cover and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour. It should look puffier but doesn’t need to double.
  5. Divide. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. Divide into 4 equal pieces (about 210 g each). Shape each into a tight ball by pulling the edges underneath and pinching to seal. Place seam-side down.
  6. Cold ferment overnight. Place each ball in its own lightly oiled lidded container, or on an oiled tray well-covered with plastic wrap (leave room — they expand). Refrigerate 18–24 hours. This is where the flavour develops.
  7. Day of, before baking. Remove the dough balls from the fridge 1–2 hours before you plan to bake so they come to room temp and relax. Stretch by hand (don’t roll), top, and bake on the hottest possible surface — pizza steel, stone, or cast iron, preheated at max oven temperature for at least 45 minutes.

Notes

  • 00 vs bread flour: 00 gives a more tender Neapolitan texture; bread flour gives more chew and structure. Both work — pick based on the pizza style you want.
  • The yeast amount looks tiny but is correct for a long cold ferment. If your kitchen is under 18°C / 64°F, bump it to 3 g.
  • Hydration is 65%, which is forgiving for hand-stretching. Bump higher only if you’re comfortable handling wet dough.
  • Over-proofed? If the dough balls look very loose, bubbly, and smell boozy when you take them out, use them sooner rather than later — they’re past their peak.
  • Yield note: ~210 g per ball makes a medium pizza (~10 inches). For larger pizzas, divide into 3 instead of 4.

My Notes

(your own tweaks go here)

pizzadoughbreadbakingitalianmake-aheadovernightvegan