The 72-Hour Professional Pizza Dough
To make a professional-grade pizza dough at home, you have to throw out the "one-hour quick dough" recipes. The secret to that iconic, bubbly, airy, and deeply flavorful crust you get at high-end pizzerias is time and hydration . By using a 65% hydration level and a 24- to 72-hour cold fermentation in the refrigerator, we allow the yeast to slowly break down the starches into complex sugars. This process creates incredible, sourdough-like flavor notes and a dough that browns beautifully in a standard home oven. This recipe yields three 12-inch pizza dough balls (approx. 250g each). Ingredients & Baker's Percentages For a professional bake, weight measurements (grams) are highly recommended over cups for consistency. Bread Flour: 450g or 3 3/4 cups (High protein for gluten structure) Lukewarm Water (90°F): 290g or 1 1/4 cups minus 1 teaspoon / ~9.8 fl oz (Optimal hydration for home ovens) Fine Sea Salt: 11g or 1 3/4 teaspoons (Flavor and gluten strengthening) Ins...