Elevated Pan Pizza Dough (base)
A poolish-built, cold-fermented pan pizza dough with an open, tender crumb and a fried, crackly bottom. Two days of mostly-hands-off time buys you real depth of flavor and a crisp frico edge.
- bread flour (for poolish)150 g
- water, room temperature (for poolish)150 g
- instant yeast (for poolish)½ g
- bread flour (final dough)350 g
- water, warm (~90–95°F)250 g
- instant yeast (final dough)1 g
- kosher salt10 g
- honey12 g
- olive oil (into dough)25 g
- olive oil (to coat pan)3 tbsp
- unsalted butter, softened, a thin smear for the pan
- low-moisture mozzarella, cold, cut into ~1/2-inch cubes(optional)
- 1
Make the poolish 12–16 hours ahead: whisk 150g bread flour, 150g room-temp water, and 0.5g instant yeast in a container with room to at least double. Cover loosely and leave on the counter.
room temperature - 2
In a large bowl, combine all the poolish, 250g warm water (~90–95°F), 12g honey, and 1g instant yeast; mix until the poolish breaks up. Add 350g bread flour and mix until shaggy with no dry flour. Rest 20 minutes.
- 3
Add 10g kosher salt and 25g olive oil. Squeeze and fold in the bowl until fully incorporated, about 2 minutes. The dough will be wet and sticky.
- 4
Do four sets of stretch-and-folds, 30 minutes apart. Each set: wet your hand, grab one side, stretch up and fold over to the far side; rotate the bowl 90° and repeat, four pulls total. Cover between sets.
room temperature - 5
Cover tightly and refrigerate 24–48 hours. Go the full 48 for the best flavor.
40°F or below - 6
On bake day, coat a 9x13 metal pan with 3–4 tbsp olive oil plus a thin smear of softened butter on the bottom and into the corners. Tip the dough into the pan in one piece and gently coax it toward the corners — it will resist; don't force it. Cover and rest at room temperature 2–3 hours, re-stretching every 30–45 minutes as it relaxes, until it fills the pan and looks puffy.
room temperature - 7
About 45 minutes before baking, preheat the Breville (or your oven) to 500°F with a Baking Steel or a heavy sheet pan on the lower-middle rack to fully heat-soak. Dimple the proofed dough all over with oiled fingertips. Top with sauce, then push cold cubed low-moisture mozzarella all the way to the pan walls for a crisp frico edge.
high500°F - 8
Set the pan directly on the preheated steel and bake 15–20 minutes, until the bottom is deep golden-brown and releases cleanly when you slide a spatula under it. If the top browns before the bottom is done, drop to 475°F and continue.
high500°F - 9
Rest in the pan 5 minutes, then slide the pizza out onto a rack.
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