Pizza Dough | Basics with Babish

Hydration is the weight of water as a percentage of the weight of flour. Most pizza doughs sit between 60 and 70 percent. Higher hydration gives a softer, more open crumb but is harder to handle, so it suits pan and Sicilian styles.

Gluten development by hand kneading.

Slap and fold: slap the dough down, elongate on the down stroke, fold it over itself, turn 90 degrees and repeat. Six to 15 minutes depending on the strength of the slaps. Suits higher hydration doughs.

The windowpane test: stretch a small piece as thin as possible; if it goes translucent without tearing the gluten is sufficiently developed.

Stand mixer method: combine, fit a dough hook and knead on medium five to seven minutes.

Food processor method: the blade develops gluten in as little as 90 seconds.

Fold-every-five-minutes method: combine until no dry spots remain, rest five minutes covered, then lift the dough onto itself and rotate 90 degrees for four folds; repeat over 20 minutes for four rounds in total.

No-knead method: combine until no dry spots remain, cover and ferment at room temperature for 18 hours.