Name: Italian pizza dough recipe
Prep time: 120 min
Cook time: 8 min
Total time: 1568 min
Ingredients: 17.6 oz 0 flour (- 500 gr); 6.7 oz hot tap water + something more (- 250 ml ); 0.4 oz fresh baker's yeast (- 12 gr); 2 teaspoons sea salt (- 10 gr); 3 teaspoons sugar (- 10 gr); 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (- 30 gr)

In this post, I’m sharing a proper Italian pizza dough recipe using fresh baker’s yeast and a cast-iron skillet method for baking pizza in a home oven. Learn how to make crispy, chewy, and delicious homemade Italian pizza with this step-by-step guide!

Italian Pizza Dough: The Foundation of True Italian Pizza

Types of Italian Pizza: Roman vs. Neapolitan

In Italy, pizza is divided into two main styles:

Pizza Romana (Thin Crust) “bassa”: Crunchy, slightly charred edges, and a flatter base.
Pizza Napoletana (Thick Crust) “alta”: Chewy texture with puffed, airy borders.

The best pizzas are baked in wood-fired ovens that reach up to 450°C (842°F) or professional electric ovens at 350°C (662°F). Since most home ovens max out at 250°C (482°F), we’ll use a cast-iron skillet to mimic pizzeria-quality results.

Baking Italian Pizza Dough in a Cast-Iron Skillet

I tested countless pizza dough recipes. The dough rose and rose, but once in the oven, all the efforts were gone. The home oven temperature, which maximum reaches 250°C (482°F), was never enough. So I gave up for a long time.

I did specialize, however, in other regional pizza recipes and made a decent collection for the Italian Spring’s Simposio!

Then, I discovered the game-changing trick by Simona: a preheated cast-iron skillet and a stovetop start before finishing in the oven.

This method recreates the high-heat environment of Italian pizzerias, ensuring a perfectly puffed crust and golden, crispy base.

Italian pizza dough recipe skillet baking

Step-by-Step: How to Make Authentic Italian Pizza Dough

The Secret to a Good Rise

To achieve the best texture, we use:

Fresh baker’s yeast (best for traditional Italian pizza)
0 Flour (high in gluten for elasticity)
A mix of olive oil and sugar (feeds the yeast for better rising)

Tip: Don’t worry if the dough seems sticky before rising—moisture helps create a fluffier crust!

Tools You’ll Need

Stand mixer with kneading hook (or knead by hand for 40 minutes)
Cast-iron skillet (for high-heat baking)
Pizza peel or spatula (for easy transfer)

What happens on the Stovetop

After preparing the dough, letting it rise overnight in the oven, forming the single-serving loaves, and, again, letting them rise, I roll out the dough with my hands, giving it more or less the shape and dimension of the cast-iron skillet. Before transferring it to the pan, I heat the latter on the stovetop until scorching – THIS IS THE TRICK. When I cautiously lay it on the skillet, the heat pumps the leavening: bubbles appear and disappear, and the borders rise.

After a minute, I put a few spoonfuls of tomato sauce, bake the pizza in the oven’s highest rack for a bit, get it back to add mozzarella, and finalize the baking.

With this dough recipe and baking method, you’ll get a pizza in-between the thin and the fluffy crust pizza. The more you roll out the dough and make it thinner, the flatter the pizza, of course. But the borders will puff, and on the inside, you’ll see the bubbles formed and the air let in during leavening. It is greatly digestible and a pleasure to each bite.

Italian pizza dough recipe

Course Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 2 hours

Cook Time 8 minutes

Leavening time 1 day

Total Time 1 day 2 hours 8 minutes

Servings 4 one-serving, medium pizzas

Author Claudia Rinaldi

Ingredients

17.6 oz 0 flour - 500 gr
6.7 oz hot tap water + something more - 250 ml
0.4 oz fresh baker's yeast - 12 gr
2 teaspoons sea salt - 10 gr
3 teaspoons sugar - 10 gr
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil - 30 gr

Instructions

Dissolve the yeast and the sugar in the hot tap water. Let it rest for five minutes in a warm place. During winter, I place it in the oven with the light on, and if it's not enough, I set the temperature to 68-86°F (25-30°C). After five minutes, you should see a slight bubbling, even just a hint on the sides. This means the yeast is active. If not, start all over again.
Add the olive oil to the yeasted water and mix well.
Place the salt on the bottom of the mixer's bowl. Add the flour too.
Initiate the engine, slow speed, and gradually pour in the yeasted water. Work the dough for about ten minutes; you'll see it coming together and collect all the flour from the bowl sides.
After ten minutes, add circa 1.7 oz (50 ml) more hot tap water, and work the dough: it will wrap itself around the hook after about five minutes. Timing depends on the flour quality and gluten.
Add about 0.7 oz (20 ml) of hot tap water. At this point, the dough will go back to almost liquid, but don't worry, keep kneading, always low speed, until it wraps around the hook once more. The result will be a soft and sticky dough.
Remove the hook and cover the bowl with a kitchen cloth. Place it in a warm spot of your house - away from drafts and temperature swings - or in the light-on or low-temperature oven, 68-86°F (25-30°C). I keep the oven on for four to six hours, then turn it off and leave the dough rising overnight. Try to get close to this.
The next day, take back the bowl, pour the dough over a lightly floured working surface and grease your hands with a bit of olive oil. Don't worry if the surface of the dough has dried a bit: it happens. Work the dough with your hands, shortly, and form four round, same-size loaves.
Cover them with the kitchen cloth and let them rise for at least a couple of hours.

TOOLS AND INGREDIENTS USED IN THIS RECIPE:

THIS LIST INCLUDES AFFILIATE LINKS.

HOW TO BAKE PIZZA WITH THE CAST IRON SKILLET METHOD – PIZZA MARGHERITA!

Pizza Margherita is the basic, tomato sauce, mozzarella, and fresh basil leaves, Italian favorite. You can add toppings like Prosciutto Crudo – after baking, I beg you! – olives, mushrooms, etc., and use buffalo mozzarella or burrata instead of Fiordilatte, plain mozzarella. But it is important to dry the mozzarella from the excess milk: simple as dicing it and placing it in a colander for at least half an hour.

Also for Store-bought Pizza Dough!

The cast-iron skillet method is also great for store-bought pizza dough. In Italy, we order our “panetti”, loaves, at neighborhood bakeries or pizzerias. With the skillet, the results are a thousand times better than simply rolling out and baking the pizza in the house oven!