Entrees › Crispy Chewy Pizza Dough

Crispy Chewy Pizza Dough

Everyone should know how to make pizza dough. Just clear off the counter and be prepared to have fun and get flour everywhere. This recipe is designed to give you a crunchy outside and a chewy inside.

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About Chris & Roberta's Pizza

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Tags:

  • brooklyn
  • pizza
  • chris
  • parachini
  • about chris
  • chris parachini
  • about chris parachini
  • roberta's pizza
  • new york pizza
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  • brandon hoy
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  • ny style pizza
  • chef chris
  • chef crhis parachini

About Crispy Chewy Pizza Dough

Everyone should know how to make pizza dough. Just clear off the counter and be prepared to have fun and get flour everywhere. This recipe is designed to give you a crunchy outside and a chewy inside.

About Chris Parachini

Chris Parachini makes beautifully inspired pizzas at his pizza shop, Roberta's, in Bushwick, NY, an up and coming neighborhood in Brooklyn. He got the idea to open a pizza shop while enjoying a nice slice with some friends one day. He heard of a wood-burning oven in Italy he could get for a steal and had it shipped over. For Chris and his partners, Mauro Soggiu and Brandon Hoy, the rest, as they say, is history. Thank you, Chris, for sharing your dough, sauce and toppings recipes with us.

Recipe

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Ingredients

Makes two 12" pies

  • 3 cups flour (divided into ¾ cup and 2¼ cup) + extra for work surface and hands
  • 1 packet quick-rise yeast
  • 1½ cups water (¾ cup warm water for yeast, the rest set aside as needed for Finish the Dough step 3, below)
  • 2 tsp sea salt

Optional Ingredients

  • 1 tsp sugar
  • ¼ cup oil

How-to

Make Starter for Dough

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, but using a spoon or fork only, combine 2 tsp sea salt, ¾ cup warm water and 1 packet of quick-rise yeast
  2. Then add 75% of flour, 2 1/4 cups
  3. With dough hook attachment, mix in electric mixer for 2-3 min
  4. Scrape flour down from sides of bowl. Mixture will be very wet and loose
  5. Let rest for 20-25 min

Finish the Dough

  1. Add the remaining flour.  Combine gently and briefly with a spatula
  2. Mix using dough hook for about 2 min
  3. Mix will be slightly wet at this point.  If too wet, add a little more flour in small increments until dough pulls away from the sides of the mixer wall with ease.  If dough is sticking to the sides of the mixer bowl, it's too wet.  If dough is too dry, add water in small increments to bring to desired wetness
  4. When ready, dough will be sticky to the touch, but not sticking to your  hands.  It hangs on the dough hook
  5. Let rest for 20 min

Form Dough into Ball & Let Proof

  1. Flour a work surface and your hands to keep dough from sticking
  2. Remove dough from bowl and place on work surface. Divide dough in half with a knife, 8 oz for 12" pie, 14-16 oz for bigger pie.  Lightly flour the dough
  3. Working with one portion of dough, fold the dough over.  If dough gets sticky, lightly flour it and shape  into a ball
  4. Flip it over, grab the bottom seam and twist it.  This will stand the ball up
  5. Let proof (sit) for a minimum of 4 hrs, covered with plastic wrap or a towel.  (Chris proofs his dough for 24 hrs in the refrigerator, wrapped in plastic)

Shape Dough for Pizza

  1. Work with one ball of dough at a time.  Push down from the center, to push the gas in the ball out into the outer rim which will form the crust.  Add flour as needed if dough is sticky
  2. Gently stretch dough with your hands while still keeping it round, again adding flour as needed.  Don't try to press out bubbles you see in the dough - these bubbles are gas that will make the dough crispy
  3. Using your knuckles, gently turn dough on your hands until stretched to desired size
  4. Lay dough back on table and lightly flour the surface
  5. Flip dough over and it's ready for toppings!
  6. Bake at 500 degrees for 15 minutes or desired crispiness

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Comments (8)

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  1. lynne:

    i made this pizza dough and i LOVED IT!! crispy, airy. i felt like i was back in new york city. the video is very clear as to what you need to do and i had to add more flour but he specifically tells you to add enough flour until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and the dough no longer sticks to your hands. that's when you know it is ready for resting. so i totally followed his direction and voila. perfect, crunchy & awesomely delicious pizza crust. freezes well too. (Mar 11, 2010 6:33:06 PM)

  2. giorgio:

    Just had to comment on this recipe as I'm making it right now. This seems to be another example (of which there are many) of a recipe with the wrong amounts of ingredients. Approximately 1 cup of flour too much. When using the initial 3/4 cups of water you only would use 1 /34 cups of flour to get the proper consistency. After the intial 2 minute mix to create the "biga" you will only be able to use approximately 1/4 to 1/3 cup of the remaining flour to get the proper consistency this "cook' refers to in his video. Thanks for taking the time to publish your recipe, but more attention should be paid to the amounts recommended. Hopefully the crust will turn out after these corrections. I'll keep you posted for those of you that wish to know the outcome/final results. (Feb 27, 2010 5:07:31 PM)

  3. pete123:

    Great recipe guys! Thanks so much! One thing I don't understand, though.. In Step 1, when I add 3/4 cup water and 2 1/4 cups flour, as the recipe states, I get an extremely dry mixture and not even close to the wet mixture in the video. The printed recipe says to save another 3/4 cup water for Step 3, but I have to add 1/2-3/4 cup water while still in Step 1 to get it even close to the consistency of Chris's "pre-dough" in the video. After 20 minutes, when I add the remaining 3/4 cup flour, it turns out great without much, if any, additional water. So my question is: How does Chris get a wet mixture in Step 1 with 2 1/4 cups flour and only 3/4 cup water? What am I missing? My dough has been turning out well but I'm thinking maybe it can be better if I get the recipe done more correctly. Thanks! (Feb 15, 2010 9:26:07 AM)

  4. how2heroes:

    Hi, Mickster & thanks for your question. Please click on "View Recipe" at the top right of the video to get Chris' great recipe where he lists, "Let proof (sit) for a minimum of 4 hrs. (Chris proofs his dough for 24 hrs in the refrigerator)." (Oct 3, 2009 10:31:47 PM)

  5. mickster:

    where do you do the 24hr proofing? In the fridge? (Oct 3, 2009 10:53:56 AM)

  6. how2heroes:

    thanks so much, gino. the recipe has been fixed thanks to you! (Jan 15, 2009 7:27:45 PM)

  7. ginobass:

    Very helpful video. Especially Section 3 and Section 4. Forming ball and stretching dough.The video recipe did not include 1 tsp sugar, 1 1/2 cups water and 1/4 cup oil which were included in the View Recipe section which is the recipe I followed. It was way to wet so I kept adding flour. I ended up with 4 x 225 gr balls which were formed beautifully thanks to this video. I'll try the video recipe next time. (Jan 10, 2009 2:07:20 AM)

  8. heliman:

    I have a woodfired pizza oven at home and have been experimenting for a few years but never managed to get a "perfect" crust.... until now that is. Chris' recipe is absolutely fantastic, easy to follow and produces incredible pizzas. The pizza sauce video is excellent too as is Chris's other video on pizza making tips. Thanks for sharing this great recipe Chris - much appreciated! (Oct 22, 2008 10:03:12 PM)