This is a higher hydration pizza dough, similar to my Lazy Man Pizza Crust, but with a more open crumb and lighter texture. It’s more trouble to work with, though; the dough is very sticky and requires practice to stretch. This recipe is enough for two personal or one smallish pizza.

Ingredients

  • 10 grams low-fat buttermilk
  • 90 grams water
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • pinch active dry yeast
  • 144 grams bread flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • Semolina flour, for dusting

Directions

  1. Place mixing bowl on scale and zero out. Add buttermilk, then add water to reach 100 grams. Add honey and yeast, and whisk until dissolved.
  2. Add roughly half of the flour onto the wet ingredients, then sprinkle salt over the top. Whisk salt into the flour, then whisk everything together until smooth.
  3. Add olive oil and whisk until incorporated.
  4. Add remaining flour and mix with stiff spatula until completely combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
  5. Give the dough another quick mix with the spatula. Transfer to a sealable container, cover, and let ferment at room temperature for 18–24 hours.
  6. 3 hours before baking, transfer dough to a floured surface and divide into 2 equal portions. Form each portion into a ball, and drop into a lightly oiled container. Cover and let rest again at room temperature.
  7. Preheat oven to maximum heat (e.g. 500 or 550 degrees). If using a pizza stone or steel, preheat it as well.
  8. Drop the proofed dough ball into a semolina flour bath and begin shaping it by hand; the dough will be very sticky. If the dough resists stretching, let it rest for a few minutes and try again.
  9. Place on pizza peel dusted with fine cornmeal. Quickly add sauce, cheese, and toppings as desired. Shake peel to make sure pizza isn’t sticking.
  10. Slide pizza onto preheated steel, stone, or pan. Bake until bottom is crisp and shows dark brown “leopard” spots. Remove to cooling rack until cool enough to cut.