So using Ooni pizza dough recipe in cups can be beneficial. When making pizza dough, you must remember the need to stick with the recipe and the quantities stated.
The dough comes with a real balancing act that you need to focus on, as it’s very easy to end up with a dough that is either too dry or even too wet.
Nobody enjoys a pizza when the crust is horrible. It puts you off everything else, and you may then wonder why you bought an Ooni pizza oven in the first place.
However, don’t stress because we do have you covered. We have a nice and simple recipe that anybody can follow that will ultimately lead to the perfect pizza dough.
We promise that if you stick to the steps, you should not feel disappointed with the result. Well, at least with the crust part.
So, let’s begin by looking at the ingredients you need before diving into how you combine them and make the dough.
The Ingredients
The ingredients list is short and to the point. However, it’s the quantities that play the most important part here. So, this is what you need.
1 ¼ cup of cold water
4 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of salt
½ teaspoon of active dried yeast
That’s it. That is all you will need to make an impressive dough. We told you that there are not many ingredients, but stick to the quantities, or you will run into problems.
The Method
You should know that making dough is not a fast process. You need some patience and pre-planning thanks to a couple of the steps.
Step 1: The Water
With the water, take 1/3 of the water and bring it to a boil in the microwave or on a stovetop. Keep the other ⅔ of the water in another bowl.
You do this because you need to get the water to the perfect to activate the yeast. The easiest way to do this is to heat a portion of the water.
Once you have heated up this portion, add it to the cold water. That should then result in the perfect temperature for the yeast to become activated.
Step 2: Adding Yeast and Water
The next step is to add both the salt and yeast to your warm water. Stir, and make sure everything is mixed well.
This won’t take long, and you need to think about the next step, which involves combining this mixture with the flour.
Step 3: Combining Everything Together
Your flour should be in another bowl, where you add the yeast mixture. You then have a decision to make.
Will you use your hands straight away, or will you get a wooden mixing spoon?
This decision comes down to personal preference. Either option works well, so there’s no need to stress.
Keep mixing until you get something that is now resembling a dough ball.
Step 4: Working the Dough Ball
Take some flour and sprinkle it over both your hands and on a clean work surface. Then, lift the dough ball out of the bowl and place it on the surface.
This is where you will start to work the dough and prepare it for turning into the pizza crust. You must knead the dough and keep working it over and over for at least 10 minutes.
The aim here is to turn the dough into something that can stretch but is also quite firm. As you knead the dough, you will notice its changing consistency, letting you know you are actually doing things right.
Step 5: Patience
We have referred to this step as patience because you need to give the yeast time to do its thing.
After kneading, place the dough in a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. You then need to leave it in a warm place for anywhere between one to two hours.
But here is a tip. When you place the dough in the bowl, look at the size of the dough. You then leave everything alone for this one or two hours to allow the dough to rise.
You are looking for the dough to double in size, or at least get close to it.
Step 6: After the Wait
When you notice that the dough has doubled in size, it’s time to move on to the next step.
Take the dough out of the bowl, and cut it into three equal size pieces. Take each piece, and place it in its bowl.
You then want to cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave it alone for around 20 minutes.
During this time, you should see each piece almost double in size once again. That will then leave you with the perfect sized ball for making your pizza.
What to Do with the Dough Ball
So you now have three dough balls ready for use. However, there’s no need to turn them all into pizza crusts right now. Instead, this dough freezes well and will still be perfect after a couple of months.
If you plan on freezing it, make sure you wrap it up in plastic wrap. You may want to use two layers to stop the outer edges of the dough from getting freezer burn.
But if you do plan on making a pizza to go in your Ooni pizza oven, then this is what we suggest you do.
Working the Dough
Take out a dough ball, and try to get it as circular as possible. Place it on a pre-floured work surface, and add some flour to your hands. This should prevent sticking and you effectively pulling the dough apart.
Using your fingertips only, start to press down on the dough ball to slowly turn it into a disc shape. As you turn it into this disc, begin to open your fingers to make the disc larger.
Keep on repeating this process until you start to see a crust forming. With the amount of dough you have made with the recipe, you should be able to get a 16” pizza.
If you feel this is too big, then instead of cutting the dough into three pieces, cut it into four to then get a 12” pizza.
Once you feel you have the dough to a reasonable size, pick it up and pinch the edges with your fingers.
Gravity will then take hold and pull the dough down. That helps extend the dough to give you a nice, thin Neapolitan crust.
But don’t worry about it being thin. It’s supposed to be like this. However, you should not be able to see through the dough.
If you can see through it, then you have done it wrong.
After this part, all you need to do is add your toppings and put it in the oven. It is very easy and difficult to go wrong with it.
Tips
People worry about things going wrong but don’t stress about it. For example, if you see small holes in your dough, don’t throw it away or start again.
Instead, small holes can be dealt with simply by pinching the dough together with your fingers at that point. It repairs it, and you can then go ahead and add your toppings.
Also, ensure you use enough flour on your hands and surface when working the dough. If you don’t, the dough will stick, and you start to rip it, causing damage.
The dusting of flour isn’t enough to change the consistency of the dough, but it does help you to produce the perfect crust.
Those are the two things you need to focus on when making dough. There’s not a lot to avoid, and we do feel anybody should find it easy enough to go ahead and make the perfect crust.
Overall Conclusion
Making Ooni pizza dough is not difficult. It only involves a few simple ingredients alongside a few simple steps to follow.
The most difficult part is having the patience to wait for the dough to rise, but as long as you can do that, everything else will be fine.
The good thing is you can then freeze the dough balls you are not using at the time.
They freeze exceptionally well and will stay perfect for many months. It does mean you will not waste ingredients even if you only wish to make a single pizza right now.
After making the dough, fire up your Ooni pizza oven, remove your pizza stone and add your toppings.
Aside from the waiting part, the entire process should not take a lot of time before you have a wonderful tasty pizza ready to eat.
