3 Day Cold Fermented Pizza Dough | Makes For A Delicious Pizza!

Amazing flavor the cold fermentation process gives this pizza. Tender bite, crispy bottom, great flavor.

Ingredients:

***For this recipe, I went with 65% hydration. All measurements are done using a percentage off the weight of flour.

500 g 00 flour (unbleached ap flour can be subsituted)

320 g water (65 %)

10 g (2 %) fine sea salt

1 g (.2 %) active dried yeast

10 g (2 %) oil (avocado oil is my go to)

Tools needed:

Digital kitchen scale

Mixing bowl

Large container with tight sealing lid

Wooden spoon

Pizza stone

Pizza peel

How to make it:

All ingredients are gathered by calculating a percentage off of the amount of flour being used in the recipe. In this example, I’m going with a 65 % hydration. That means for the 500 g flour, you calculate 65 % of the weigh to get the amount of water needed.

Calculate and weigh out your ingredients.

In a large mixing bowl, add the weighed out flour, yeast and water. The water can be room temperature when it is warm in the house or heated to around 90-100 degrees f if it is cold. Mix together to get a shaggy dough. Cover and let rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes to autolyse. You can add the yeast before or after the rest time, I don’t notice any real difference when the yeast gets added. Hold off on adding the salt for now.

Once the autolyse period is done, dust the work table with flour and knead the bread for about 3 minutes. I keep a small bowl of water next to me to get my hands slightly wet if the dough gets too sticky while kneading. When the dough feels like it’s starting to strengthen, add the salt and knead it into the dough.

Oil the container that the dough will be kept in while the fermentation period is going on. Place the dough in the container large enough to allow the dough to rise comfortably during the fermentation period. Roll the dough in the oil so it doesn’t stick to the container.

The next step will happen twice. This is called stretch and fold. Grab a corner of the dough, fold it over to the opposite end of the dough. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and fold again. Repeat 2 more times and flip the dough onto the seam while it rests for 30 minutes. Repeat the process 1 more time, letting the dough rest one last time for 30 minutes after the last stretch and fold before the dough gets placed in the refrigerator.

Cover the container with a tight fitting lid and place the dough in the refrigerator for 72 hours. You don’t want the dough drying out in places as it won’t rise properly and can give the dough an off texture. I have gone as long and 120 hours for the fermentation period and had great results. If you want to let the dough ferment for longer than the 72 hours, smell the dough daily after day 3. What you’re looking for is the dough to smell good and not starting to smell like alcohol or acetone. When I was recipe testing, I noticed a slight alcohol smell starting to faintly develop on day 6. You probably don’t want to make a pizza with the dough having this smell as the flavors will be a bit off. But, going for a 5 day fermentation period will work great and have nice flavor/dough texture.

When the fermentation period is done, pull the dough from the refrigerator and cut into 2 or 3 equal portions. Place portioned dough onto a flour dusted sheet pan and cover with plastic wrap or a lid. Let come to room temperature for about 45 minutes. Allowing the dough to rest and warm back up will make it easier to shape the dough without it wanting to contract.

Using your hands, gently shape the dough into the size pizza you want. If the dough wants to contract, allow it to rest for a few minutes keeping it covered. Make sure to keep the other pieces of dough covered when not being shaped. Add your toppings of your liking and bake at 425 F on a pizza stone if you have one.

I made some oven baked grape tomatoes that were delicious when placed on a thin layer of tomato sauce. Then, I made a whipped goat cheese as the cheese for the pizza that paired perfectly with the tomatoes. It adds a nice zesty finish to the pizza and helps mellow out the acidity of the tomato sauce. Below is a quick run down.

For the tomatoes:

10 oz grape or cherry tomatoes

1 tbsp oil

Kosher salt

Cracked black pepper

I oiled the tomatoes lightly and seasoned with a pinch of kosher salt and pepper. Placed them in a preheated 350 degree oven and let them bake for about 30 minutes. You're looking for the tomatoes to slightly shrivel and split.

For the whipped goat cheese:

4 oz softened goat cheese

1 lime

1 sprig fresh oregano

1/4 c heavy cream

Kosher salt

Cracked black pepper

I took the softened cheese, the zest and juice of 1 lime, 1 sprig worth of fresh oregano pinched between my fingers to get the oils out, a pinch salt / pepper and whisked it with 1/4 c heavy cream. The cheese becomes light and airy with a ton of great flavor. I add dollops of the cheese at the last 5 minutes of the bake time just to heat it through.

Enjoy!

Logan