The OCDC Pizza Dough

James Lafferty
Apr 7
5 min read

Updated: Apr 19

Difficulty: Japanese 5th Grade / Requested by: pizza loving friends /
Time Donation: Total 4 hours and 50 minutes, 5 min prep, 35 min process (4 hours inactive time), 10 min cleanup
Yield: (8) 110g dough balls good for (8) 20cm (7.8 in) pizzas
OR
(2) 440g dough balls good for (2) 36cm (14 in) pizzas
OR
Divide the dough however you want

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ESSENTIAL GEAR:

wooden cutting board
flat baking sheet or other work surface
2-gallon plastic, wide container with lid
plastic dough scraper
precision digital scale (0.1g resolution)
digital scale (2000g max capacity)
sturdy silicon spatula
plastic whisk
your hands
bowl for water (not pictured, sorry 'bout that)

SUFFICIENT GEAR

any working surface
any container with lid or plastic wrap
digital scale or a ton of measuring spoons and cups
a spatula and a spoon
your hands
bowl for water

MISE EN PLACE

INGREDIENTS

500g all-purpose flour (around 11% protein content) (3 1/4 cups)
365g filtered water (1 1/2 cups)
4g active dry yeast (1.5 tsp)
11.2g salt (2 tsp)
olive oil for greasing
filtered water for wetting your hands

*NOTE: Use the chart below to adjust yeast amounts, and thus rise times.

2g (3/4 tsp) - 6 hours
1.1 g (0.38 tsp) - 12 hours
0.7g (1/4 tsp) - 18 hours
0.54 (1/8 tsp) - 24 hours

PROCESS

STEP1:

Measure the flour in the large plastic container. Measure the water in the bowl. Measure the yeast and salt in small containers that are easy to pour from.
Using the spatula, make a well in the flour.
Pour the water into the well and use the whisk to combine the flour on the edge of the well until enough flour is incorporated to make a cake batter-like consistency. Some small clumping is okay.
Use the spatula to combine the dough by cutting it and mixing it. Then press it, fold it on top of itself, press it out, and then folding it again, similar to kneading. You can alternatively use your hands. Make sure to wet your hands if you attempt this to prevent the dough from sticking as you knead the dough. Rewet your hands as needed to prevent sticking.
Stop when the flour has been incorporated with the water and an ugly dough ball has been formed. If a small amount of flour is left behind, it's okay. It doesn't need to be perfect.
Let the dough rest for 20 minutes. This helps enhance the dough by promoting gluten development for texture and sugar for fermentability. It is known as autolyse, pronounced "auto-lease".
Wet your hands.
Press out the dough to cover the entire bottom of the plastic container.
Evenly sprinkle the yeast over the top of the dough.
Evenly sprinkle the salt over the top of the dough.
Gently press the yeast and salt into the dough.
Wet your hands again, and as many times as needed to prevent the dough from sticking.
Take each corner of the dough, stretching it to the max (without tearing it) one by one, and fold the dough on top of itself to create layers.
Use the pincher method to pinch the dough in three or four places, without breaking the dough, rotate the dough a quarter turn, pinch again, rotate, and pinch again.
Form the dough into a dough ball and place on the seam, in the plastic container. It can still be ugly.
Cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
Wet your hands, flatten the dough, fold the dough over itself a few times, and then form into a nicer looking dough ball.
Let sit at room temperature for 3 hours, unless you adjusted the amount of yeast. In that case, let the dough sit for the appropriate amount of time based on the yeast measurement.

STEP 2:

The dough should have risen to fill the bottom of the plastic container.
Generously flour your working surface. Preferably a flat baking sheet or a large cutting board (to make clean up easier).
Remove the lid from the plastic container and take a moment to enjoy the aroma of fermentation.
Liberally flour the edges of the dough. This makes it easier to remove from the container.
Using the pinky-finger side of your hand, work around the edges of the dough, working it completely loose from the container, then turn it out onto the floured surface.
Using the dough scraper or your hand, clean the dough from the bottom of the plastic container.
Oil the bottom of the container or cover it with flour.
Using the dough scraper divide the dough into 8 equal pieces (110g each) OR into 2 equal pieces (440g each).
Form the pieces into medium-tight dough balls using your hands or by using the pull method on a wooden cutting board.
For both methods, start with a piece of dough on the floured surface. Pull the corners of the dough, stretching them to the max (without tearing it) one by one, and place them in the center of the dough, attempting to create an even distribution of dough throughout the ball.
For the hand method, turn the dough over, and use your palms to press the bottom seam of the dough closed, rotate the dough a quarter turn, and use your palms to press the bottom closed. Repeat this until the seam on the bottom is closed and the doughball is tight.
For the pull method, turn the dough over onto a wooden cutting board, ensuring that there is minimal flour on the bottom of the doughball and no flour on the board. Cup your hands around the back of the dough ball as you face it. Pull the entire dough ball toward you about 2 inches leading with your ring or pinky fingers. Ensure to apply enough downward pressure, so that the front of the dough ball grips the surface and turns under itself. If it slides, try applying more pressure. Give the ball a quarter turn and pull again. Repeat this until a sealed seam has been created underneath the dough ball and the dough ball is medium-tight.
As you form the dough balls, place them back in the plastic container, evenly spaced. You can also place them into individually oiled containers or onto an oiled sheet pan. I prefer individual containers if I'm not going to bake all of the pizzas at once.
Dust the tops of the dough balls with flour.
Cover and place in the fridge.
Wait one hour for the dough balls to reincorporate.
Now it's pizza time!

*NOTE: You can keep the dough balls in the fridge for up to 24 hours. After that they loose their freshness, but I've used them up to 3 days later.

RECIPES COMING SOON!

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FEATURED INGREDIENTS (optional)

Nippn Strong Flour

King Arthur All-Purpose Flour

STORYTIME

I've had a serious relationship with pizza my entire life. In 2014 I took it to the next level and asked pizza to be my life-partner. I've been making homemade pizza ever since. In 2024, we finally settled on a pizza oven, the original Roccbox. We're not sure if it will be our forever pizza oven, but we love it, and it's ours.