Step One of Three
The Dough
Here’s the truth about great pizza: it’s mostly decided days before you light the oven. The toppings get the attention, but the crust is what people remember — that puffy, blistered, chewy-tender edge you can’t buy at the store. And a crust like that comes down to three things: the flour, the water, and time.
Flour, water, and time
The flour: Caputo, with a little whole wheat for soul. I build my dough on Caputo Italian organic flour — a fine-milled “00”-style flour with exactly the strength and stretch a wood-fired crust needs. On its own it makes a beautiful classic Neapolitan crust. But I blend in a portion of Central Milling organic whole wheat, and that’s the move that gives the dough character — a little nuttiness, a little depth. Start around 85% Caputo to 15% whole wheat by weight and adjust to taste.
The water: a hydration you can actually handle. “Hydration” is just how much water there is relative to flour, by weight. Wetter dough = more open, airy crumb, but stickier and harder to shape. Starting out, don’t chase the 70% doughs online. Start at 62% — 620g water per 1,000g flour. Forgiving, shapes cleanly, still bakes up light.
The whole recipe is four ingredients — flour, water, salt, and a tiny amount of yeast. The small yeast amount is intentional; we let time do the work.
A weekend batch (makes ~4 balls)
- 1,000g flour blend (850g Caputo + 150g whole wheat)
- 620g water (62%)
- 28g salt
- 1g instant yeast
Weigh everything — pizza is baking, and baking is a scale, not cups.
The method, in the order it matters
Five steps, mostly hands-off. The last one is where the flavor comes from.
01
Mix
Dissolve the salt in the water, then add the flour and yeast. Mix until no dry flour remains.
02
Knead
Knead just until smooth — a few minutes.
03
Rise
Cover; bulk-rise at room temp 1–2 hours.
04
Divide
Divide into balls (~250g each for a 12″ pie), shape tight rounds, place in a covered container.
05
Cold-ferment
Cold-ferment in the fridge 24–72 hours — 48 is my sweet spot.
Peter’s Rule
Why the cold ferment matters
This slow, cold rise is the single biggest flavor upgrade you can give pizza, and it costs nothing but planning. The dough develops complex, sourdough-like flavor, gets easier to digest, and becomes far easier to stretch. Pull it out 1–2 hours before baking to come to room temp — cold dough fights you.
Next: Step Two — Shaping & Launching
You now have a dough that tastes right. Next up: stretching it by hand and getting it into the oven in one piece.
Or jump ahead to Step Three: Managing the Fire, and back to all guides.