
Last weekend we went to a local pizza restaurant that supposedly has the “best” deep dish pizza outside of Chicago. I hate deep dish pizza. I like my pizza thin and crisp – the way it should be! But I agreed to go (kicking and screaming all the way). The things I do for the people I love!
The interior was appealing and the staff was friendly, although they may have the most uncomfortable booths that I have ever graced with my rear. Lulled by the well decorated restaurant and free flowing soda, I thought, “Hey – this deep dish adventure might not be half bad”. Of course, I would did not utter this out loud in fear of having my earlier objections rubbed in my face. I opened the menu and was pretty excited because a.) they had flaming cheese and I’m all about cheese and flames b.) they had flatbread pizzas… Score!
I decided on a Mediterranean flatbread because feta cheese makes me a happy girl (see, I told you I have a thing for cheese). Well, I was no longer in anti-deep dish pizza restaurant mode until my flatbread appeared at the table. Although I was suspect from the moment is was placed on the table, I went against my better judgement and actually took a bite. Now, the toppings were fine. You can’t really mess up olive oil, feta and some herbs.
But, oh my goodness, the flatbread was a hot mess! In a blind taste test, I truly don’t think I would’ve been able to tell the difference between that flatbread and a piece of cardboard topped with feta cheese. Not good, not good at all.
When I got home I was determined to find a recipe that was not only simple (I kind of have a minor yeast phobia), but also amazingly delicious! I turned to Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day and found a pizza dough recipe that’s so good, it’ll blow your mind.
This olive oil dough recipe is ridiculously easy to make. So easy, I questioned if I had skipped a step! It is rich, full of flavor and perfect for pizza dough and focaccia. It also makes a lot of dough, but the beauty is that you can store the leftover dough in the fridge for up to 12 days and use it as the urge strikes. Trust me, after your first flatbread, you’ll have a new habit and it’ll be used up in no time!
Just FYI, I’m obsessed with flatbread now. Stay tuned for posts that highlight this recipe from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day for pizza dough perfection.
Olive Oil Dough
Yield: Makes 4-1 lb loaves
Ingredients:
2-3/4 cups lukewarm water
1-1/2 tablespoon granulated yeast (2 packets)
1-1/2 tablespoons Kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
6-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flourDirections:
1. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, or in a large (5 quart) bowl working with a wooden spoon, mix the yeast, salt, sugar, and olive oil with the water.
2. Mix in the flour without kneading. I found this process to be incredible simple with my stand mixer, but it will certainly come together the old fashioned way. If you are not using a machine, you may need to wet your hands in order to incorporate the bit of flour.
3. Transfer dough to large (5 quart) bowl or lidded food container. Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
4. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 12 days.
Notes:
- from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
- This recipe can easily be doubled or halved
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{ 93 comments… read them below or add one }
I can’t wait to try this!! We are huge pizza fans
Love that it can last 12 days!!
I ordered that cookbook last night b/c of another blog I read posted a recipe out of it! Incase anyone else wants it, barnes and noble had it super cheap!
I love the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes recipes! Could eat this pizza every day
What, praytell, is flaming cheese? I really love flat breads too. Mmm. I’d make chicken tikka pizza.
It’s a Greek appetizer that is essentially a block of cheese that that has been seared in a pan and then flambéed at the table. The flames are extinguished with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice. It’s typically served with flatbread…boy oh boy, it’s delicious!
I think it’s saganaki? My first introduction to saganaki was not by taste, but by smell at an all-night diner years ago. The minute that thing is lit up, the entire restaurant reaked of burnt vomit. blech!
Maybe they used bad cheese or that’s just the smell, but I’m not crazy about trying it.
Earlier today I was checking out Goodlife Eat’s blog and saw that she also recommended recipes from this book for pizza dough and breads. I think I need to get it!
How do you bake it, and at what temp? Thanks!
I’ll cover that in tomorrow’s post, but you’ll want to bake at high heat (about 500-525 degrees) for about 12-15 minutes.
I love, love, love that book. Bake from it all the time. For bread lovers, the other absolutely necessary book (IMHO) is Jim Lahey’s My Bread.
Any idea if you can freeze it? I love to make a large batch of dough every once in a while and divide and freeze it. That way I just pull it out in the morning, and it’s good to go for dinner.
Amy-
I have read online that you can freeze it; however, I have not tried it, so I can’t comment on the outcome. Thanks for stopping by!
-Jamie
Yummy! Pizza is one of my favorite things to make. Delicious!
This recipe is definitely a keeper! It’s so quick and simple, I have been debating getting that book for a while I think I might have to buy it.
Stoked on this recipe b/c 2 weeks ago I botched a batch of dough, badly, and all I could think was “I need a no knead pizza dough.” Pumped to try this, maybe w/ feta too!
Wow…you said it! So basically this is the stand up mixer way to get things done. Kneading this would take forever. Great post.
I can’t wait to try this I’ve been wanting to make some homemade pizza. Love focaccia bread I will look at getting the book. I love to make homemade bread.
P.S. Why the yeast phobia?
Deep dish fan.
I just bought Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, and it arrived yesterday…. pizza dough was the first thing I looked at. Glad to know it’s as good as I was hoping it’d be!
This Pizza dough is my type… Simple yet perfect…
Thanks for sharing this pizza dough recipe, Jamie – sounds delicious!! Two weeks ago, my boyfriend and I also had an unpleasant experience at a highly recommended pizzeria in Chicago – the place and pizza totally disappointed us. Our deep dish pizza was totally lacking flavor – even salt. Glad to hear there is a pizza dough recipe that may help my boyfriend and I avoid these situations again
I love this book, in face I just made the “classic” loaf a couple days ago.
The good thing about most of the recipes in this book is you can easily halve or double them. I’ve not yet tried the pizza dough, guess it is next on my list!
Jeff and Zoe’s book is one of my favorites! I absolutely adore how easy it is to have homemade bread at home.
This looks like a great alternative to my standard homemade pizza dough… I’ll definitely give it a try! I love how easy it is… Looks like something I can handle, even on a busy day.
I didn’t know this was possible! Great recipe, this looks like a fun one
Great-sounding dough. I hope you are planning on following this up with a post on how best to form it into a pizza and suggested toppings and cooking methods. I will check back! thanks!
Jamie, I ALSO have a minor yeast phobia, but this looks super easy, so I’m definitely going to try it!
Your recipe doesn’t specify what type of yeast to use though. Did you use active dry or quick rise yeast?
Oh thank heaven I dont need to Knead this!
I cant wait to try it out.
Thanks for sharing!
What a joy not to have to knead the dough!
I am just in love with Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day; it truly has changed my life! I agree with you though; I am just not a deep dish fan. I can’t wait to try your flatbread!
What a good looking dough! Looks so simple.
I have been wanting that book for a while now. Everyone swears by it and its 5 minutes! – so I’m really curious. This should be a good recipe to start. Who says no to pizzza?!
What Chicago pizza place did you try? We were just in Chicago a couple of weekends ago, and we had a blast at Lou Malnati’s pizza place. I just attempted to make deep dish pizza at home too, but this thinner crust recipe may be easier. Mine ended up being more like pizza bread than pizza. Thanks for sharing!
LOVE that book! I keep finding treasures in there that I haven’t realized were in there before. And the pizza crust is fantastic.
This looks great and I can’t wait to try, just an FYI though, flatbread, is an unleavened bread product, this and anything else made with yeast or baking powder or baking soda, is just a regular crust, that is probably why you didn’t like the flatbread pizza from that restaurant, it was real flatbread.
Very Interesting. Medi…Flatbread..I’ll have to try it.
Awesome – I’ve been on the hunt for an easy, good pizza dough recipe for a while. I’ve tried others which had promises of “awesome results” but wasn’t too impressed. Looking forward to trying this one!
We love pizza nights around here, too!
Oh I so hear your pizza story…..Having grown up on delicious NY style pizza, I love it when people recommend a pizza place to me and I simply find it inedible! It happens all the time. There is one place a hour away that I go to and they know me there well (I even spent an afternoon in their kitchen
Other than that, I make my pizza at home. I made five different pizza’s this past week. Here is the last post that include all the photos, since you like cheese, oh yes-me too
you may like the goat cheese/balsamic pizza I made, or the Asian Pear/Gorgonzola. Would love to hear what you think!
I’ve been holding out on buying that book, and am now hot to get my hands on it! I’m now very looking forward to what you’ll do with this recipe. I’m staying tuned!
Oh fun! I came up with a similar recipe of pizza dough wich is similar to this one with a similar technique ! However, Instead of using all white unbleached flour I use 1/3 whole wheat and 2/3 white unbleached flour. Makes it a bit more rustic and chewier. Do you think the dough would freeze well? BTW, I hate deep dish pizza too. Try making a vegetarian pizza and use just a little Italian cheese (enough to hold the veggies down). Then place a few thin slices of Brie (a great way to use up over-ripe Brie) on top. To die for! My husband, who has spent much time working in Italy and eating street food, says my pizza is more Italian than American. What a compliment!
Found you on foodgawker and love that you don’t have to knead it! Will definitely have to try this out. My only question… could I use whole wheat pastry flour ?
Looks super simple! My family has a ton of food allergies and it’s always hard to find anything simple these days… Can’t wait to give it a try! Thanks for sharing!
I am a total pizza crust snob, and am with you on that deep dish thing. Sometimes flatbread means matzo cracker…I am going to try this recipe with a little whole wheat! The no knead breads have always been fantastic! Also a poster asked about freezing it, I always freeze my dough in balls, and let them thaw in the fridge before rolling them out…sometimes they need a little more flour to absorb the moisture, but no problems.
Susie, thanks for answering the question. I freeze my Challah dough and it works fine. But that stuff contains eggs and butter etc and I wasn’t sure if a plain pizza dough would work. I’ll give that a try! It’s going to save me a lot of time. I’ll make a batch now.
Thanks for the pizza dough recipe to try, nice and simple the way it should be.
I freak’n love that photo!
I say we just live off feta cheese flat bread from here on out
Loved your story and the recipe. I can’t wait to see what else you come up with using it.
This dough recipe looks amazing! I am in a pizza phase at the moment, and am trying out every recipe I see. Love that it makes a whole bunch of dough so that we could have pizza for days!
I actually prefer kneaded bread over the no-knead version, but I enjoyed your story and the lovely balls of dough! YUM!
When you say ‘Mix in the flour without kneading’ – what exactly do you mean? Which attachment of the stand mixer do I have to use? Also, LOVE the post. I’m going to try this very soon!
Hi-
Step one of the directions states to use a dough hook if you choose to use a stand mixer. Simply mix the ingredients until they come together. No kneading is required.
-Jamie
Love, Love, Love Artisan bread in 5 – That is the only bread I will eat. Haven’t tried the flatbread, but will!
I have this book and the Olive Oil dough was the first one I tried and we love love love it for pizza dough! and faccocia of course!
Oh my goodness…this recipe is so absolutely amazing! My family LOVED it! The flavor is so much better than any other homemade pizza dough recipe. My one question, for regular pizza, how do you suggest baking it? Do I pre-bake the dough before adding toppings or just bake it at a higher temp? Thank you SO much for sharing! This will now be our standard pizza dough. Thank you!!
When you say no knead using the dough hook with a stand mixer to you mean to just mix until flour is incorporated or do you knead the dough with the dough hook for an extended length of time – like I do when I am making bread dough with my stand mixer?
Rebekka-
Yes, just use the dough hook to combine the ingredients, not to knead.
-Jamie
As much as I love pizza, I am a little ashamed to admit that I love eating raw pizza dough even more! I plan to use this recipe to make a delicious pizza and satisfy my craving for a good chunk of raw dough at the same time. Thanks!
I made this last night for Friday pizza night, and it was great! Can you provide the links to the other blog posts that have to do with this dough? Thanks.
Can you grill this on a pizza stone? Any recommendations about that?
Hi!
I am sure it will be great, but I have never tried it. Let me know if you give it a whirl.
-Jamie
hi just want to know if granulated yeast same as instant yeast? or same as active dry yeaST? thanks
Isabelle–
I have actually never heard of granulated yeast, sorry I am not more of a help. Here is a link that may help.
–Jamie
Yummy! We make pizza all the time…do you think I could make this in my bread maker? I still do not have a stand mixer since almost everything I do is by hand or with my hand mixer or food processor.
Deanna-
I have never attempted it with a bread maker, but I am guessing it will do just fine. Remember your aren’t kneading it, just working the dough until it comes together.
-Jamie
HI Deanna,
When I made my first batch – I used my big bowl and a heavy wooden spoon. No mixer was needed. I’ve made cookie dough that was ‘heavier’ than this bread dough. I suppose you could use the bread maker, but why? it was so easy to do it by hand…. and nothing else to clean but the spoon!
Hi Jamie! I was just letting you know I blogged about you and this recipe today at http://jackatessa.wordpress.com/2011/08/06/olive-oil-pizza-dough/. This is such a great recipe! Thanks for having such awesome posts, I can’t wait to see what you have every day!
Thanks, Teresa! I’ll definitely check it out.
-Jamie
Would it work with whole wheat flour? I’m not one for making lots of bread so I don’t know what tricks to implement when switching flours like that.
I hear wonderful things about their book. I’ll have to finally give them a try! But I’ll have to wait until it isn’t 100 degrees outside to kick the oven on. Maybe we’ll grill it!
Hi Mary Ellen,
Yes – pay no attention to how hot it is outside – just fire up the grill. That’s how I did my first batch of bread. You’ll Love the book(s). I have both and they are Great!
Loving this recipe. I have been wanting to make homemade pizza for forever and needed a good dough recipe! Thanks
I too am a bit yeast phobic so I will definitely be trying this recipe! My family has been taking care of dinners the nights I am at school so this will be a great way to have dough on hand so they can whip up some homemade pizzas!!
This recipe confuses me a bit. Salt kills yeast. You should add the salt later with the flour after you’ve given the yeast time to activate and feed on the sugar. I bet the results will be much better.
Nicole-
I have made this recipe many, many times and have never had anything but stellar results.
-Jamie
You’re right about this recipe. I’ve been using it for several years. It makes a great pizza, a fabulous focaccia and a nice rustic loaf of bread. Many great recipes in that coobook.
I’m enjoying your blog and your Facebook page. Keep up the great work.
pat
The dough is extremely salty….is it supposed to this way? Does it mellow out once its baked? thanks
Jenn-
This recipe makes 4 1-pound loaves, so although it seems like a lot of salt, there is not an overly salty flavor to the dough. In fact, I think it is perfect.
-Jamie
You can skip the rising and it works just fine. Ive made a half version of almost this exact same recipe. http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pizza-Dough-I/Detail.aspx
I cant say if its better or not letting it rise 2 hours, but I can say it was great without.
Thanks for the great dough recipe. Made a bbq pizza and some bread that was perfect for toast! Much appreciated.
I’ve been making no-knead pizza breads for over a year now with success.. some comments after reading some comments.. I don’t use a big mixer, I do it all by hand (partially for the hand exercise!).. I always let yeast and sugar-source sit in water a few minutes to activate before adding flour/salt mixture. Also, I use a nice glazed pizza stone (Emile Henry, bought thru amazon), and the pizzas always turn out awesome! and with a pizza stone you can make on the grill too! I also use panko crumbs instead of corn meal on the bottom of the crust for sliding onto the pizza stone.
I cannot wait to make this dough recipe, it looks great!!!
This is fantastic! I’m making pizza this week and wasn’t sure I wanted to do the whole drawn out process of kneading dough! I cannot wait to try this!
Do you activate the yeast in the warm water first or just put it all together right away?
Hi!
great post! I was wondering, how do you handle it to shape it into a pizza? What consistency are you looking for when you are shaping it, what should it look like?
Thanks!
Monica-
Honestly, I don’t really pay too much attention to the shape, I just roll it out until it’s pretty thin, but the crust is great thick or thin. Thanks for stopping by.
-Jamie
YES! I’ve been on a pizza kick recently. Looks lovely.
Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day is easily my most disliked cookbook. When I bought my copy in 2007 I didn’t know that I should go out to their website and print out a copy of the 22 errors and misprints in their recipes. Ooops!
I also felt mildly duped by the “five minutes a day” claim. I wasn’t surprised that there was a catch – essentially a five minute investment a day after an hour or more initial investment in preparing a week’s worth of dough. I was surprised that even after the initial time investment, there was little daily net gain. There were many little steps (resting, rising, and preheating) that made their recipes no different or easier than the baking I was already doing. To make matters worse, I found the bread was decidedly mediocre.
Perhaps they should have named their book, Big Batches of Average Bread (if you correct our mistakes) in about the Same Time You Already Bake.
Hello. I am planning on making this pizza dough for bbq chicken pizza. Do you have to let the yeast rise for a few minutes like other dough recipes??
Kathleen,
I typically let it rest for a few minutes before baking. Hope this helps.
-Jamie
I’m trying this out tomorrow – want to make pizza:-) I can hardly wait! Your process is simple and uses minimal ingredients. And the photos are wonderful…loving it all.
I understand that granulated yeast is the same as saying active dry yeast (and not rapid rise) but I do not have active dry yeast on hand. I do, however, have rapid rise. Can I use that and if so, how are the directions modified when using rapid rise in place of active dry?
Tried this dough for grilled pizza and it was bland for me
“Simple No Knead Pizza Dough Recipe | My Baking Addiction” was a terrific posting, can
not wait to browse a lot more of ur postings.
Time to squander a bit of time on the web lmao. Thanks for your effort -Armando
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