[Closed] Pizza-ists - what’s your dough recipe?

I use this pizza dough recipe which is a winner if you have any sourghdough starter on the go. I make pizza once a week with it now and it is super easy and taste amazing.

For a pizza stone use Jamie Oliver’s for a pizza oven, well that’s a whole new genre you’re entering.

Mine is
400g of plain flour,
7g sachet of yeast,
teaspoon of sugar,
about a teaspoon of French quarte seasoning salt,
a decent glug of olive oil,
enough warm water to get the dough to be smooth, glossy and the kitchen aid walls clean & not sticky,
keep the kitchen aid kneading whilst reduce down the tomato base.

It'll be interesting to see what others use

I used to use strong white bread flour but recently started using Pivetti flour as they had it on special offer at Sainsbury's. I won't be going back. If you can't get Pivetti flour then just get any 00 grade flour.

For a new york style chew i used this.

https://feelingfoodish.com/the-best-new-york-style-pizza-dough/

Its came out very very well.

And this sauce.

https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/10/new-york-style-pizza-sauce.html

Its on the dirty side of pizza eating but sometimes you don't want fresh mozzarella and fesh pasta sauce, sometimes you wan pepperoni and dirt.

My oven only goes to 250 so preheat the stone for an hour then flick it to grill seems to work.

500gm "OO" flour
some salt
some yeast
sometimes a bit of sugar
300ml warm water.

Mix.

Prove as a blob.

Prove as 4 or 5 smaller blobs.

The proving bit is as important as the recipie, TBH.

DrP

It's all about the tipo '00' flour. That finer ground flour gives the best base, lighter, fluffier and Crisps up at the edges and base well.
Franco Manca recipe all the way.
250ml water
30g sourdough starter or. 2g yeast
8g olive oil
10g salt
380g flour.

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/bread-recipes/neapolitan-pizza-base/

This is the best I've found assuming you want something close to what you'd get in an Italian pizzeria. It's definitely better to make it in advance. Also helps to divide it into balls when you've knocked if back and let then rest/proof again for a bit before shaping them into pizza bases, And finally, stretch don't roll. I find that if you roll it you compress the dough. Takes a bit of trial and error, so be patient and don't expect to nail if for the first few goes.

200g OO Flour
100g Semolina
200ml lukewarm water
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried bread yeast

I use this in the bread machine for ease but works just as well hand kneeded.

Place on a hot tray (or stone) and add toppings.

About as close to an Italian pizza as I can get at home.

The OO / Semolina flour mix gets rid of that 'bready' base.

I used to use strong white bread flour but recently started using Pivetti flour as they had it on special offer at Sainsbury’s. I won’t be going back.

Totally agree with this. Worth hunting out Pivetti flour.

Pizza Pilgrims for me: Pizza Pilgrims - Neapolitan Frying Pan Pizza

The recipe and method has been excellent. Definitely recommend leaving to rest for a good while (for dinner, I'll make the dough either in the morning or the night before).

Stretch it out rather than using a rolling pin, and leave the outer 1cm untouched as that'll give a better edge.

This proving the dough malarkey- does that make the base more deep pan or you still making thin pizza bases with it?

I got this online and I've no reason to try any other...

In a bowl add

250g Strong white bread flour

325g Lukewarm water

5g Fast Action Yeast

Mix with a wooden spoon and leave covered overnight.

The next morning add

250g Strong white bread flour, or replace with an equal quantity of alternative (wholemeal/barleycorn/5seed)

10g Fine Sea Salt

Mix until it comes together and knead for 10 mins on a worktop until silky and soft

Oil the bowl lightly with olive/rapeseed oil but the dough in and let rise until doubled.

Knock back and split into portions. Ball them then put into proving trays. Leave until ready for pizza,at least a few hours.

This probably isn't a true authentic way to do it but it's easy to do for enough pizzas for 2 people or 20 people and tastes good and bubbly.

Been doing the following until this week when I tried sourdough - needs a bit of tweaking as it was a bit too wet/stretchy:-

520g of very strong/type OO flour, 320ml of warm water, sachet of yeast. Mix/knead and leave 20+ mins. Add 15g salt and 15ml of extra virgin olive oil. Knead until homogeneous - seems like it’ll never happen, then just does!
Put in air tight container over night.
Next night remove, divide into 4 equal pieces and stretch/fold into themselves until smooth balls. Pop back into airtight container and in fridge overnight again.

Stretch out dough and pop in dry frying pan on relatively high heat and pop toppings on. When risen and browned on base (couple of mins) pop in preheated oven on pizza stone (or similar) that’s at max temp until done - another 5 mins tops.
When one’s in, next can be stretched and assembled on hot pan.

Sourdough as above but with longer proving time and following qtys:-
145g starter
435g flour
245g water.

Salt and oil as before.

Will try 445g flour next time. Also won’t bother dividing the night before as they just become one again (unless more flour sorts the consistency).

This proving the dough malarkey- does that make the base more deep pan or you still making thin pizza bases with it?

With normal bread, proofing (the yeast fermenting and producing gases) gives the bread its 'rise'.

With traditional pizza (e.g. thin crust Italian) you are essentially knocking back the dough again when you shape it into the base which removes most of the gas. The technique of spreading the dough out from the middle to the edge moves the gas to the edge which gives you a thin base and a crust full of air bubbles.

So I'm showing my age by using imperial measurements. This will do two pizza bases.

12oz plain flour
1 tsp dried yeast
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp of sugar
Glug of olive oil (helps stop it sticking)
Enough water to make a pliable dough.

Mix it altogether. Knead. Leave for a few hours covered in a bowl, or overnight until it doubles in size. Knock it back and give it a quick knead. Split in half and turn into pizza bases.

With a pizza stone the key is to get it nice and hot so that it cooks the base straight away. Oh also try and get your base nice and thin.

Had good results from this one (sourdough version):

https://www.francomanca.co.uk/stories/sourdough-recipe/

I make it the night before and don't bother kneading it (tried kneading and wasn't worth the effort IMO). I use a rolling pin to shape it. A bit of cornmeal/polenta helps to stop it sticking and adds a little extra flavour/texture. Worth spending extra on some good quality flour, mozzarella and the best tinned tomatoes you can find.

https://www.pizzacreator.net/

this one from the guardian is my go-to recipe, i just add a skoosh of olive oil to the mix too.

Thanks all. Going to try some 00 flour to see how that goes next time.

I made pizza yesterday using a similar recipe to a  standard white loaf. 500g flour, 5g yeast, 320ml water, 20ml oil, 10g salt. This is my standard pizza dough recipe.

However I made a poolish with 200g flour/200ml water and the yeast which I left overnight, I then added the rest of the ingredients and kneaded for 10mins and then tested in the fridge for a good few hours. It definitely worked better than making it fresh so it's worth taking the time to make the dough in advance.

Finally as I don't have a pizza stone, I put my Silverwood Aga baking tray(thick aluminium) in the oven at full whack (240°c), made the pizza on another baking sheet with a dusting of polenta and slid it onto the preheated sheet(take it out the oven to do the transfer). It cooks in about 8 minutes.

Because we are lazy, we by this...

https://www.tesco.com/groceries/en-GB/products/306932886

It's awesome.

Because we are VERY lazy, we buy these...

https://groceries.morrisons.com/products/the-clay-oven-bakery-plain-naan-bread-457425011

Spread the tomato sauce and cheese+ toppings and in a hot oven et voila. Tastes as good as any bought pizza base and far less hassle than making them from scratch 😋

Foodgeek sourdough recipe, with the Ooni oven obvs 🙂

https://foodgeek.dk/en/sourdough-pizza-recipe/

I use the curious chickpea overnight pizza dough recipe but add a tablespoon of olive oil as the dough is easier to handle and use a little less water and 60/40 OO to strong bread flour

The overnight proving in the fridge gives it more taste. I use less water as I bung it in a roccbox. For the electric oven, as you cook it longer it dries out more so use the recipe as is.

Some 00 flour. 60% the amount of flour in cold water. Some yeast (I probably measured in originally but now I just 'know' the size of piece I want.) Think it was about 7g for approx 200g flour.
Some salt to taste. Put the salt in the water. Put some flour in to form a slurry, then add yeast. If you put the yeast in salty water, the salt inhibits it. Add rest of flour. Knead until silky. Leave to rise in a covered bowl with a very light coating of olive oil. About 12 hours at 17°

200g of flour is about right for a 10" thinnish neopolitian style. 250 or more if you like a thicker crust.

Heston did a show on pizza and the right way to get the base so you get the crispy pockets of doughy air.

I've always thought I'd like a pizza oven but we couldn't use a wood burner due to fire risks in summer.

Also, pizza varies so much from town to town, I'm not entirely sure there's a one recipe to rule them all scenario.

If anyone could knock me up a ham and spinach calzone I'd be well happy.

From the excellent Dough book. We do this every week. It’s never failed.

- 333 g 00 flour
- 10 g yeast
- 7 g salt
- 33 ml oil
- 213 g of warm water

Numbers are odd as we’ve done 2/3rds of the original recipe for so long (to make two bases) I know it off the top of my head.

– 333 g 00 flour
– 10 g yeast
– 7 g salt
– 33 ml oil
– 213 g of warm water

I think that's pretty similar to what we've been using for years now - this recipe, https://www.bakingmad.com/recipe/pizza-dough-by-allinson except we now use OO pizza flour, rather than the suggested strong bread flour. Oh, and use a bit of semolina when stretching/rolling to add a bit of extra texture. It's super-easy and our kids much prefer these to shop-bought pizzas.

ok ok, i think i need a bit of advice. i really should have this dialled now, but i do still get the odd disaster and i dont know why.

my recipe is pretty much along the same lines as everybody elses, specifically its the guardian recipe i linked to up there ^^^

however, im never totally happy with my dough and i always feel 'relieved' when it the dough behaves rather than expect it.

certainly, attempts at 'last minute dough' are usually disastrous, no stretch in the dough, may as well have bought one in. but even the dough that ive made the day before, proved overnight in the fridge and let rest for an hour before shaping and baking, sometimes when stretching just goes so thin to the point of tearing in places and thicker elsewhere.

ive tried various stretching techniques, the one where you just hold the dough up, let it flop down and keep rotating it, and also the one where you keep flapping it over your forearm and rotating 90 degrees each 'flap', and im happy enough with either technique.

id really like to be happy that my dough will stretch well and make great pizzas EVERY time tho rather than being apprehensive.
ive even seen videos where they load the pizza on the bench and transfer to the peel afterwards, how on earth do they do that?? mine would be waay too sticky.

you reckon im making the dough too wet? is it easier to play with the less hydration you use?

its a strange one, i make enough good ones to know that ive got the ingredients right (i also use 00 flour), so i think the problem will be in how long i prove for, the temperature, knocking back vs not knocking back, when i divide the dough, how i store it when proving etc etc.
ive never had a dough that ive felt i could just keep on stretching and stretching if i wanted to, ive always got to the point where 'its getting a bit thin there, its nearly through, id better stop now' which sometimes leads to it sticking if im not quick enough from loading to the oven. and that always feels like a race too, "quick, get the sauce and ingredients on before it starts sticking!!"
id like it to be a far more relaxed affair with the knowledge its going to go juuuuuuust great. every time. and know that i can make great dough no matter when we'll need to eat, in 6 hrs time or the next day.

anyone else feel the same or have you all got it dialled now?

Are you doing a bulk fermentation before putting in the fridge, ie knead and let double in size?.

I dont do quick dough, always do it the day before (or 2 or 3 days), it's very quick to make, only cold prove that takes time.

Sounds like you need to mibbe try and use a bit less water, experiment with that, and maybe not try and make them as thin?.

Lots of new ideas to try there! We started making pizza dough during lockdown cos the Sainsbury's delivery kept missing out pizza dough balls, I suspect they were simply unable to locate them in the shop!!

Our quantities are controlled by the fact that Sainsbury's yeast comes in 7g sachets 🙂 so 300g flour, 7g yeast 1tsp salt 1tsp sugar 1tbsp olive oil and 168 g water

My modest contribution is to suggest using burrata instead of mozzarella - makes a much nicer pizza IMO 🙂

Our quantities are controlled by the fact that Sainsbury’s yeast comes in 7g sachets

For cold proved pizza, I'll use a 7g sachet to make double what you make.

Two problems you’ve described:
1) not stretchy
2) sticking to bench

Number 1 could be anything, but I’d say most likely cause is not kneading enough/well-enough.

Number 2 is not helped by problem 1, but Probably not enough flour. When getting your dough balls out at pizza time, you can literally drop the ball in a bowl of flour. Scatter plenty on the bench too. I’d suggest you experiment with using what seems like too much, this should make the pizza easy to move, and you might be surprised that it doesn’t ruin the pizza! Then adjust from there for the next one. Could be other technique issues. It’s tricky. Try watching some YouTube Vids, try Vito iaocopelli [sp?]

Edit: also, I don’t add any oil to my dough. This solved sticking issues for me early on. my techniques better now but I haven’t tried adding oil back in.

I think it's Allinson who do yeast in a 100g mini tub for about £1, keep it in the fridge once opened and it lasts for ages (I've used yeast almost a year after opening).

Number 1 could be anything, but I’d say most likely cause is not kneading enough/well-enough.

That was previously my instinct, but a friend suggested I try kneading less after I complained about hard-to-work-with hole-y dough, as he said the gluten strands can get too strong. I cut back from 15 minutes hand knead to 10 (I had been doing 15 to account for an assumed rubbish technique) and immediately made the best pizzas in ages.

thanks for the advice, some interesting thoughts. to start with ill cut out the olive oil then. i love the taste of it, seen it in some recipes, so thought yep, thatll do for me too, so ill try without.

secondly the yeast. i have a tupperware tub of it that was given to me some time ago. im not totally sure that it hasnt gone 'out of date', plus its quite difficult to measure out exactly 7g yeast on my scales, same with the salt, i dont think my scales are sensitive enough. it maybe better if i could use 'half a tablespoon' or whatever instead maybe. certainly it doesnt froth up like it says it should. thinking about it, im not sure my dough doubles in size even.

i do 2 or 3 pizzas worth of dough, mix and knead for 10 mins, then plop into an oiled bowl for 4 hours or so.
i then divide into however many pizzas i want (each one aiming for 180g) then 'shape' into balls. this involves 'folding it in on itself' until it becomes tight. i pull a corner out, fold it into itself underneath and keep rotating and folding under until i have a tightish ball (no s****ing at the back).

these balls are kept in separate containers in the fridge for a day or so until needed, left out at room temp and then go go go!
or......just in the fridge for a few hours if needed that night.

reading that back, i can see a few areas which may need improving, from buying fresher yeast, to measuring the yeast out, the folding technique......

cheers

FWIW that tub of Allisons yeast has never really worked for me, no idea why, but I've tried it a few times. As much as Id rather but a tub, the sachets just work.

I don't knead at all by hand, fire it all in the magimix for 30secs, works every time.

If the yeast doesn't froth, I bin it, not wasting good flour on it.

Now that I read back, you defo have a yeast issue. Ooer. 😬😂

I started using this guys techniques when I saw this video. Nice results

On the sticking to the worktop thing, we add polenta to the flour on the surface, which I think helps. No problem getting the peel under it. Also I think it pays to go about the job with a bit of confidence.

I had the big horn out at the weekend no puns please and for making 10 pizzas stress free for a novice I bought the northern dough co pizza doughs and would say they are pretty good. I haven't mastered the nice round disc yet, my ones look more like nan bread shape with ears but do get them nice and thin, can't find semolina anywhere

@redmex try adimaria for semolina flour (and lots of other good stuff for pizzas). They sell pizza doughs also from a very good Italian flour maker, though I've not tried them.

On the sticking to the worktop thing, we add polenta to the flour on the surface, which I think helps. No problem getting the peel under it.

same, but theres no way id be able to have any success doing a ninja swipe with the peel and get my thin dough plus toppings onto it ready for the oven. so, for some reason your dough must be stronger/sturdier than mine for some reason, and i dont know what that reason is.....

For a pizza stone use Jamie Oliver’s for a pizza oven, well that’s a whole new genre you’re entering.

Have used his dough recipe in a wood oven was perfect. 👍🏼

https://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/bread-recipes/basic-pizza/

I've used Jamie Olivers pizza dough recipe for years. First in an uuni 2s and now in the recently acquired koda. Always works great. I roll mostly by rolling pin and they're never round, but no one minds

Half and half cos the kids don't like jalapeno or basil.

Watched some videos on neapolitan shaping and I'm getting a lot better.

This is my sourdough recipe I've posted before with dalla Giovanna Napoletana 2.0 flour at 66% hydration and a cold prove overnight. These doughs came out of the freezer around 3pm today.

[IMG] [/IMG]

I roll mostly by rolling pin

I persuaded myself I needed to learn how to hand stretch a pizza when I bought my ooni fyra. 50-60 crappy pizzas later, I was running late prepping 8 pizzas so pulled out the rolling pin - absolutely no bloody difference but tons quicker. Bollocks to the artisan approach from now on.

1kg of Caputo pizza flour
700g of warm water
28g of fine salt
2g of active dried yeast, or 1.5g instant yeast

Mix it all together
Leave it for a bit
Stretch and turn
Leave it for a bit
Stretch and turn
Cover in cling film and leave over night somewhere cool. Maybe in fridge for a bit if it looks a bit excitable.
Ball into 200g balls
Cover in cling film and leave for a few hours
Make into pizzas

Tekp2
Are you sure about 2 g of dried yeast - that seems to be an incredibly small amount for 1kg of flour....

that seems to be an incredibly small amount

My thoughts exactly, and a fairly high level of salt, I’d be amazed if that rises?

If he's proving overnight not in the fridge you don't want much yeast in case it overproves. I don't know about exact quantities because I'm a sourdough purist. 😛

Salt does seem v high though. I stick to 2% or thereabouts cos I'm usually making pizzas for the kids and we eat it pretty often.

Yep - Tekp2's recipe up there is almost exactly the same as the Pizza Pilgrims one and that works a treat. I too thought it was a fair amount of salt and not much yeast when I first made it but it tastes sensational.

https://uk.ooni.com/blogs/recipes/100-biga

resurrecting this thread as my mates just bought an ooni and is asking me for tips and i dont want to tell him wrong.
over the last few months ive been experimenting a bit with times and mixes, and theres something thats always puzzled me. it makes sense to me but ive never seen suggested so thought id ask here.

i think we generally all mix the dough, knead, leave it to bulk ferment for a few hours or so, divide and shape, leave a bit longer (refrigerating until an hour or so before cooking) then shape and cook.
but why does nobody divide immediately after the knead stage?

i figure that during those few hours, glutens forming, the whole bulk is getting stronger, but then we're cutting it, weighing individual balls, adjusting the weight by cutting a bit more off the dough to make them all equal, and then we shape and leave for an hour or so, or refrigerate, whatever.
but if we weighed and divided earlier, we wouldnt have to cut the gluten strands at all, we'd be leaving each individual ball to ferment and gain strength in the gluten before shaping into balls. no cutting/dividing it later.

ive started doing this as it makes sense to me, but dont want to tell someone else to do it if its the wrong thing to do.

btw i was amazed at his ooni cooking time. my firepod apparently cooks at the 'optimum pizza temperature' according to the maker (high 300s?) and takes 5 mins or maybe a little more to cook.
he put his first pizza in the ooni and it was pretty much burnt at the back within 10/15 seconds!!
experimented a bit and found that even on just over halfway on the dial they still cooked faster than mine, but the lower heat was a bit more forgiving. that usual for ooni ovens?

cheers

I've got a 3 with the gas burner and I run the burner at max to heat up the stone but then lower for cooking. At max you can burn the top really easily.

Also there's a lot of dough recipes with sugar in - that's fine for lower temps but it's more prone to burning in a proper hot oven.

I think bulk proving keeps more heat in the dough vs balls but it's also logistics - bulk takes up less space than trays of balls.

I've been using this poolish method recently - I like it as it's an overnight prove of a small container in the fridge (usually don't have space for a full batch) then a couple of hours prove on the day. Quite a high hydration dough if you follow that recipe, definitely need a dough scraper to work with it. Comes out lovely though.

This one (the OO one);
https://www.thepizzaovenshop.com/make-perfect-pizza-dough/
Made in the bread maker (takes 1.5hrs)

Use an Igneus Classico as the oven and its fab. In fact I cooked 19 pizzas in it last night as had some family round.

I divide mine after kneeding, it works fine. I have little bowls that I oil and put each piece in to rest in the fridge. I generally use 500g of flour for four pieces and wil use two and freeze two.

I divide mine after kneeding, it works fine.

ahhh finally, a kindred spirit.

bulk takes up less space than trays of balls.

thats what i thought the reason would be, but you still have to take up the same space eventually when youve divided them, so why not as early as possible?

I’ve been using this poolish method recently – I like it as it’s an overnight prove of a small container in the fridge (usually don’t have space for a full batch) then a couple of hours prove on the day. Quite a high hydration dough if you follow that recipe, definitely need a dough scraper to work with it. Comes out lovely though.

/blockquote>

just watched that, interesting, im going to try it. he makes it look so easy but im sure its not 😀 ill try it when its not so important if i mess up.

This one (the OO one);

milk?? another one to try, thanks.

 

On the heat front, my stone hits about 500 after a 30/40 minute heat up (wood fired ooni). Cooking in generally 15 seconds then turn with 4 sides to cook and 60 or so seconds to cook when really screaming.

Beer instead of water in the dough and an overnight retardation in the fridge works for me.

On the heat front, my stone hits about 500 after a 30/40 minute heat up (wood fired ooni). Cooking in generally 15 seconds then turn with 4 sides to cook and 60 or so seconds to cook when really screaming.

wowzers, got to stay focussed with that!!

500! Way too hot for me. 350-400 ideally cooking temperature I find in my over, few 90 degree spins to even out the cooking (tend to have the fire/coals at the back).

I've been using this Josh Weissman recipe for New York style pizza. He has others Recipe
It's a really easy, no fuss overnight recipe that's had excellent results.

Even managing to shape and stretch the dough on my knuckles with it.

Came across him on YouTube and he has some excellent straight forward recipes

I’ve been using this poolish method recently – I like it as it’s an overnight prove of a small container in the fridge (usually don’t have space for a full batch) then a couple of hours prove on the day. Quite a high hydration dough if you follow that recipe, definitely need a dough scraper to work with it. Comes out lovely though.

/blockquote>

well im trying it right now. just got as far as finishing the slap and folds and about to try and shape into a ball then leave for another hour. his recipe works out at 71% hydration, messy isnt it 😀

 

wow! that was a revelation, never had such a light, airy dough. ever. this is my new method of dough making now, no question about it.

i suppose the only issue with it is you need to start the day before, so any 'same day, short notice' pizza decisions will need a different recipe, but im still buzzing over what a great crust this made.

i did make one booboo tho, and not sure what happened, but my second of three pizzas stuck to the peel and was ruined. i even tried blowing under the dough but nope, once it stuck there was no going back and it had to be scrapped which was a shame. i had flour and polenta 'ball-bearings' under it too.
it does make me wonder why matey in the video made the pizza on the worktop and then lifted it to slide the peel under, why create an extra 'thing that can go wrong'? why not just make the pizza on the peel and remove that potential problem?

anyone else not load their pizza on the peel? and does it ever go wrong for you?

To avoid the not having pizza dough available last minute, just freeze the dough in portions. They defrost in a few hours. I always do a double batch of dough and freeze half.

You could get a wooden peel, they're quite cheap online. We've got a few and build the pizzas on them, then slide them straight into the oven. Because they're wooden they don't stick like the metal one does, but still need flouring. Then use the big metal one to take them out afterwards.

You could get a wooden peel, they’re quite cheap online.

it is a wooden peel im using for sliding into the oven. i can only think the base was maybe stretched a bit too thin in one place and the tommy sauce started soaking through maybe....

To avoid the not having pizza dough available last minute, just freeze the dough in portions. They defrost in a few hours. I always do a double batch of dough and freeze half.

yep, i tried that before and didnt have much success, im a bit unsure how long to defrost it for to get that sweet spot between being ready to cook or over-proving and becoming a soggy mess.
at what stage do you freeze it, when youve just tightened it up into a ball? or before that when youve divided them, and then tighten/shape once defrosted?

thanks

Pick your dough recipe and double triple the amounts, it's like beer, needs a mass to generate a reaction and depth of flavour. Prove slowly overnight, 200gm portion for one person. Portion the remaining d'oh, wrap in oiled cling and freeze. Pizza sauce freezes well. Remove from the cold in the morning and make pizza for dinner. Been doing this for years. Frying pan and grill method is awesome.

@Sadexpunk I shape into balls after kneading and then usually leave to prove for a few hours in the fridge. I will then wrap tightly in cling film and freeze in those balls. It usually takes about three hours at room temp to defrost. Even if the dough seems a bit flat it should rise in the oven and if it seems a bit stickier then I just use a little extra corn meal to do the final shape before adding toppings.

For me, the frozen dough works almost as well as fresh

we’re cutting it, weighing individual balls, adjusting the weight by cutting a bit more off the dough to make them all equal, and then we shape

No chance! Straight after kneading: handful, roll into ball, put down, next handful..