the fresh logo: a sliced lemon dripping with juice

Welcome to Pizza. Here we make pizza.

Select hydration

Ingredients

Water
800g (64%)
Flour
1,244g (100%)
Salt
31.85g (2.56%)

Active or instant?If the package says "add to dry ingredients", it's instant dried yeast. If the package says that you need to activate it 5 minutes in water first, it's active dried yeast.There's a 1:3 relationship between dry and fresh yeast. 1 gram of dry yeast equates to 3 grams of fresh yeast.

5g (Fixed)
Honey
5g
In total
2.09kg

Step 1: Make

Poolish is a highly fluid yeast-cultured dough. It's a type of pre-ferment traditionally used in the production of French bakery products.

The day before, you'll quickly whip together the following:

Water
300g
Flour
300g
Dry yeast
5g
Honey
5g

Step 2: Final mix

A couple of hours before your pizza party, mix the following:

Water
500g
Flour
944g
Poolish
610g
Salt
31.85g

Instructions & Notes

  1. Mix Poolish (16-24 hours in advance)Mix together equal parts water and flour together with a

    Usually the amount of yeast in a poolish is a lot less than what described in this recipe (0.4 - 0.8 grams!). However, since we're storing the poolish in the fridge for more consistent temperature control, 5 grams of yeast isn't too much.

    of yeast and honey. Let the mix rest on the counter for 60 minutes, before placing it in the fridge for 16-24 hours.

    If you're unsure if the poolish might be under or over developed, see if it floats in a bowl of water[3].

  2. Optional: Autolyse the flour and water For improved

    Resulting in better gas retention and better volume in the finished loafs.

    and

    The dough's ability to be stretched and hold its shape without being so elastic that it snaps back.

    , autolyse the dough[1.2]. Do this by mixing flour and water and let them rest for 15-30 minutes before adding salt, yeast and the poolish.
  3. Mix Mix poolish with ingredients[2.1] Get to a place where all ingredients are mixed; the dough should have smooth-ish surface and a sticky consistency before you dump it onto the counter. Use the slap and fold technique[2.2] to build strenght. When things get messy, "take the dog for a walk"[2.3]. Try to do this until the dough let's go from your hands. Always keep the top on top. For optimal flavour, the final mix temperature should be between 24°C and 27°C [1.1].
  4. Make it smooth (rest 15min) Let it rest for 15 minutes on the counter before doing a few more folds. Drag it towards you [4] on the counter to apply tension. After this, the dough shouldn't be too sticky anymore, and the surface will be super smooth. Higher hydration doughts can benefit from three or four folds during bulk fermenting to give them the appropriate strength[1.3], consider this the first bulk ferment fold.
  5. Bulk ferment until double in size (1-3hr) Lightly coat the the (big) smooth ball with olive oil and let it rest in a container on the counter until it's doubled in size. Apply additional folds as you see the dough flatten out, to firm it up a bit. Just don't fold it during the last hour of bulk fermenting. The time needed for this is hard to judge as it depends on your ambient temperature. If it's below 24°C, you might have to wait several hours before seeing any development.

    Tip: Take a small portion of the dough aside in a glass jar. Add a rubber band to mark the current dough level, this let you measure proofing more easily.

  6. Divide into balls After it's doubled in size, divide into 260g balls. Again, always "keep top on top"[2.4]: The smooth surface should face up, the sticky bottom should face down. If you didn't fold in the previous step, the dough might be very soft and hard to handle. This is ok. Just fold each ball a few times to firm it up. Coat each ball in olive oil.
  7. Rest (30min) Let the balls rest for at least 30 minutes. If you don't plan on baking them within the next hour, consider

    Place them in a cool chamber that literally retards the development of the dough.

    them.
  8. Re-shape balls, apply tension Re-shape the rested balls again. Now, apply more tension by pulling them towards you on the counter. The ball should be firm and smooth. Use the "finger dent test" [1.4].
  9. Rest (15-20min) The balls will be too tight to stretch out at this point, so let them rest up a bit.
  10. Bake! You're finally ready to form the balls into pies. Use semolina flour and stretch them into roughly 30cm pies.

    Tip: If you're using a home oven, pre-bake the pie with sauce before adding topping and baking it a second time.

References

This site is most useful to calculate amounts, but the technique, temperature and timing is important. I'll add good references here as I go.

  1. Flour Water Salt Yeast: The Fundamentals of Artisan Bread and Pizza by Ken Forkish (book)
    • Temperature, page 26-28
    • Autolyse, page 33-34
    • Folding, page 69
    • Finger dent test, page 74
  2. Bookmarks from Gluten Morgen TV with Richard Bertinet on YouTube
    1. "Mix ingredients"
    2. "Slap & fold kneading"
    3. "Walking the dog"
    4. "Top on top" - The two sides of the dough
  3. Vito Iacopelli on YouTube
  4. High Hydration dough Shaping - San Francisco Baking Institute on Youtube
  5. How to test poolish - Novita Listyani on YouTube
  6. My Pizza Corner
  7. Jan Vardøens pizzabunn at Godt.no (Norwegian)
  8. Watch Massimo Laveglia on Youtube. Chef and co-owner of L’Industrie Pizzeria in Brooklyn shares his dough making process. Covers pizza, foccacia, bread and more.