If you want to make pizza dough that tastes like your favorite restaurant, check out this Poolish Pizza Dough Recipe! You will get a bubbly crust every time and it's perfect for pizza ovens or your home oven.
Why I Love This Poolish Pizza Dough Recipe
This Poolish Pizza Dough Recipe is my go-to recipe when I want gourmet restaurant-style pizza at home. Although it takes 2 days to complete this recipe, it's worth it in the end to see the bubbly crust and perfect flavor.
Anyone can make a delicious pizza crust at home, it just takes a little time and patience. I love to use this recipe for my outdoor pizza oven, but it can also be cooked in the oven as well. This recipe was inspired by Vito Iacopelli, who has an awesome YouTube channel full of pizza recipes.
Short on time? Check out my Super Easy Pizza Dough recipe you can knead in your stand mixer and have ready in as little as 60 minutes.
What is a Poolish?
A poolish is a preferment leavening agent. Using a preferment makes baked goods higher in gluten strength, more flavorful, and soft. A poolish is also easier to create than a traditional sourdough starter or levain.
Poolish is similar to a sourdough starter in some ways but different in others. A poolish has a more sponge-like texture and uses store-bought yeast for fermentation. A sourdough starter is made from natural yeast. A poolish has a 100% hydration level, while a sourdough starter is more flexible with its water content.
Ingredients Needed to Make Pizza Dough from a Poolish
You will need water, salt, honey, yeast, and flour to make this pre-ferment. Here are a few things to keep in mind when choosing your ingredients:
Water- this one is easy because in most cases tap water works just fine for a poolish and pizza dough. If you know you have very hard or very soft water, you may decide to use bottled water, but it's probably not necessary.
Salt- look for a non-iodized salt with no additives or anti-caking agents, like kosher salt. If you choose to use table salt, note that it has a saltier taste and you will need about half the amount.
Honey- some recipes use honey or sugar to make a poolish, and some don't. I don't think you will see much of a difference if you add it or not, but I like to. There are also debates about making a true poolish if you add sugar and the why's behind it. I'll let you decide.
Yeast- I use instant yeast for this recipe, however, you can also use active dry yeast. Just remember active dry yeast needs to be dissolved in water and instant yeast can be mixed right in.
00 flour- 00 flour, sometimes referred to as pizza flour, is finer and has a lower gluten content than all-purpose flour. 00 flour helps create a fluffy dough and the final crispy crust on a pizza.
All-purpose flour or bread flour- For the remaining flour in the pizza dough, all-purpose flour will work just fine. You can also use bread flour, which has more protein than AP flour, and this will give you a heavier dough and a chewier crust.
Tips For Making This Pizza Dough
- If your poolish is a little cold from the fridge and you are going to use it right away, ensure the water you add is warm to compensate for the cold addition.
- Mixing the salt and water together before adding them to the flour helps disperse the salt evenly throughout the dough.
- The olive oil is important to keep the dough from drying out or developing a crust while resting.
- When pressing the dough into a circle, start from the inside of the ball and work your way out to the crust to push the air out. This will ensure you have a bubbly crust.
What Pizza Oven I Use and Love
I have the Ooni Karu Pizza Oven and I love it! I am lucky enough to have partnered with Ooni and use their product but all opinions are my own.
The rumors are true, you can make wood-fired or propane-powered pizza in 90 seconds at home! If you are on the fence, I encourage you to check out the full array of ovens Ooni offers.
How to Cook This Pizza Dough in a Home Oven
If you are cooking your pizza in a home oven, begin by preheating your oven and pizza stone at 450°F for 20-30 minutes. After you have added your topping to the pizza crust, place the pizza on the pizza stone and bake for 14-18 minutes or until the crust is nice and brown.
Tools For Making Pizza Dough At Home
I have found that a plastic sealable container like the one below works perfectly when making a poolish. It's a perfect size (44 oz.), it has its own lid, and the poolish slides out easily when ready to use it.
These silicone pizza dough containers are the perfect size for personal-size pizza crusts. They also come with their own lid, are easy to clean, and are stackable!
If you need some inspiration on setting up the perfect baking station in your kitchen, check out this guide for some handy tips and ideas!
Poolish Pizza Dough
Equipment
- 1 sealable container (44 oz)
- 1 outdoor Pizza Oven (or regular oven)
Ingredients
First Day
- 200 grams water, room temp
- 5 grams honey
- 5 grams yeast
- 200 grams 00 flour
Second Day
- 300 grams bread flour or all-purpose flour
- 300 grams warm water
- 20 grams kosher salt
- 200 grams 00 flour
Instructions
First Day
- Measure out and add the water, honey, yeast, and flour to a sealable container and mix to combine. Allow the mixture to rest uncovered for 15 minutes.
- Place the lid on the container and continue to allow the mixture to rise for 1 hour at room temperature. After 1 hour, place the container in the fridge overnight (12-18 hours).
Second Day
- Remove the poolish from the fridge and allow it to warm up on the counter as you gather your ingredients and tools. Add the remaining ingredients and the poolish to a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Once the dough is as combined as possible using a spatula or spoon, use wet hands to knead and stretch the dough into a sticky dough.
- Pour a small amount of olive oil on top of the dough and rub it all over the top with your hands to prevent a crust from forming. Allow the dough to rest uncovered for 15 minutes.
- Place a small amount of olive oil on your hands and lift and tuck the dough under the bottom until you get a smooth ball. Place more olive oil on top, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and allow it to rest again for 1 hour.
- After 1 hour, place olive oil on your hands again and remove the dough ball from the bowl. Cut the dough into 4 pieces and create smooth balls with each piece by tucking the dough under the edges. Place the four dough balls into silicone containers or onto a greased baking sheet and lightly cover the top of the dough with olive oil. Place the cover on the container or cover the baking sheet with plastic wrap and rest again for 2 hours. Make sure the dough balls have plenty of room to rise and expand if they are on a baking sheet.
- Once the dough is ready, place it on a lightly floured surface. Lightly sprinkle the top of the dough with flour and begin to press the dough from the middle to the edge. This will push the air to the edge and help create a bubbly crust.
- Continue stretching and pressing while creating a circle. You can flip the dough over once or twice to get an even crust.
- Once you have a 10-12" crust, you can add your favorite toppings and bake your pizza!
Video
Notes
- If your poolish is a little cold from the fridge and you are going to use it right away, ensure the water you add is warm to compensate for the cold addition.
- Mixing the salt and water together before adding to the flour helps disperse the salt evenly throughout the dough.
- The olive oil is important to keep the dough from drying out or developing a crust while resting.
- When pressing the dough into a circle, start from the inside of the ball and work your way out to the crust to push the air out. This will ensure you have a bubbly crust.
- If you are cooking your pizza in a home oven, begin by preheating your oven and pizza stone at 450°F for 20-30 minutes. After you have added your topping to the pizza crust, place the pizza on the pizza stone and bake for 14-18 minutes or until the crust is nice and brown.
Nutrition
Any nutrition calculations are only estimates using online calculators. Please verify using your own data.
Did you Make This Poolish Pizza Recipe?
Don’t forget to leave a review if you make this Poolish Pizza Dough Recipe. And if you snap a photo, tag me on Instagram or Facebook!
Do you love delicious recipes and baking at home? You can get all of my recipes in your inbox when you sign up for my email, it’s only twice a month. And you can follow me on Pinterest so you never miss a recipe!
Craig says
Dear Emily - I'm just finding out about Poolish and found your recipe. I think it's the ingredient step I'm missing in my new-found pursuit of making my own dough. I appreciate your well-written, informative, and organized instructions. I made the pizza last night and it was definitely better than anything I've produced in my short 3-month tenure of outdoor pizza oven experimentations. I have one question. On day 2 part 1 when you say "use wet hands to knead and stretch the dough into a sticky dough", approximately how long is this step and what should I be looking for in the consistency of the dough before it rests? Thanks so much!
Emily says
Hi Craig, this step is to incorporate the Poolish into the rest of the day 2 ingredients. You are looking for a sticky and shaggy dough at this point. It should take about a minutes to get all the of the ingredients fully incorporated. The next step is when you will create a smoother round shape. Thanks for the question!
Craig says
Morning - just made a gorgeous looking poolish. Rather than kneading it can I mix the Day 2 ingredients and give it another night for autolyse? in bulk or in balls?
Thanks, Craig
Emily says
Hi Craig, I have not tried that method yet. However, I have made the dough balls and kept them in the fridge for 2-3 days before using them and they were great! Enjoy.
Craig says
Great answer! That will work exactly into my plan - pizza parties the next two nights!!!
Emily says
Have fun!🍕🍕🍕🍕🍕
chris says
excellent advice which follows a good dough recipe to the letter.
This helped me fine tune my dough making and yielding an even better crust than I had before. The proper poolish is a must for good pizza dough.
I also used OO flour and based on advice I tried Italian Manitoba pizza flour. It can be found on Amazon, but it is not cheap. Bread flour does comes close. The flour standards in Italy/EU are different than in North America.
Thank you.
Emily says
Thanks, Chris!
Lorenzo Giovacchini says
I always use poolish, but first time using this recipe for the dough...
Emily says
Let me know how it turns out! What else do you use poolish for?
Christina says
How long can you store the finished dough in the refrigerator for - and/or can you freeze it?
Emily says
Hi Christina, you can refrigerate the finished dough for up to 5 days and freeze it for up to three months. Thanks for the question!
nancy says
it was totally worth the time to wait two days for this pizza doough! soooo tasty and chewy
Emily says
Yay! I'm so glad you think so. Thanks for trying the recipe!
Katie says
I made pizzas using this dough and it was incredible! It was straightforward and simple to make. I'm recommending this to everyone!
Emily says
Thanks, Katie. I'm so glad you found it easy to make.
Amy Liu Dong says
I have never tried this but I am sure this one is delicious.
I'll be saving this and making this for the kids this weekend.
Jess says
Such a good pizza dough recipe
Emily says
Thanks, Jess!
Mallory says
Lovely this dough recipe! So easy and delicious!
Emily says
I'm so glad you liked it, Mallory.😊