Level up your pizza nights with this overnight recipe for Neapolitan-style pizzas. An airy crust, thin bottom, and chewy yet tender texture. I have loved getting creative with the toppings, and every pizza I’ve made has been a hit!
Why Make the Crust from Scratch?
While you can buy pizza dough at the store, I’ve had so much fun making at home! I did lots of research to find the best techniques that work for my home oven and needs. The crust was super fluffy and delicious, and making the pizzas is a fun activity by yourself or with family/friends. I love a good frozen or premade dough, but making from scratch is a delicious experience worth trying at home at least once.
The recipe & instructions I’ll be sharing are flexible and include (with alternatives):
| Ingredients, Technique, & Supplies | Alternatives |
| Bread flour | ’00’ or all-purpose flour or KA pizza flour blend |
| Instant yeast | Active dry + (optional) sugar to help with activation & rising |
| Overnight Rise | Same-day bake (8-10 hours if possible) |
| Stand Mixer | Knead by hand |
| Pizza Stone | Baking steel or sheet tray |
| Basic Home Oven | Pizza Oven (if you have) |
| Pizza Peel | Thin but sturdy wood or plastic cutting board |
If you’re looking for pizza equipment, I got this pizza stone + peel kit that I really like from Amazon for $37! However, I have also made this recipe using a normal baking sheet (flipped upside down) in place of the pizza stone.
Research + Other Helpful Resources
My research and recipe combines what I learned, largely from two other great resources, which I highly recommend if you’re looking for more options or knowledge!
The Recipe – Overnight Neapolitan-Style Pizza in a Home Oven
My go-to pizza recipe makes four 10″ pizzas, but I often halve the recipe to make just two pizzas. Using the hydration percentages, it is easy to adjust the recipe to make larger or more pizzas as well.
| Ingredient | Four 10″ Pizzas | Two 10″ Pizzas | Percentage |
|---|---|---|---|
| ’00’ or Bread Flour (with minimum 12.5% protein) | 500 grams | 250 grams | 100% |
| Water | 375 grams | 187.5 grams | 75% |
| Instant Yeast | 1/4 tsp (1 gram) | 1/8 tsp (0.5 grams) | 0.2% |
| Kosher Salt | 2 1/2 tsp (15 grams) | 1 1/4 tsp (7 grams) | 3% |
| (Optional) Sugar – I usually omit | 1 tsp | 1/2 tsp |
How to Make the Pizza – Technique and Tips
To make this pizza, Day 1 may require anywhere from 4 to 8+ hours, depending on how long it takes your dough to double in size, so plan accordingly. This time depends on humidity and temperature (the colder, the slower).
Once made, the dough can sit in the fridge for up to a few days before you make the pizzas. Day of cooking will require at least 2 hours as well, to allow the dough to come to mostly room temperature / give you time to prep toppings / allow your oven to preheat.
Luckily – most of this is resting/passive time, not active cooking. Enjoy the recipe!
For a same day bake, start your dough at least 8 hours in advance (if not more). You may need to practice to get the timing down, but I’ve successfully kneaded my dough, bulk fermented until doubled, and cold rested for 1-2 hours all within an 8 hour window before.
0. Understand Hydration level
For a tender yet chewy crust, I like a higher hydration of around 75%. This means for 500 grams of flour (100%), I will add a total of around 375 grams of water (75% of 500).
Leopard Crust’s intro dough recommends starting with 65% if you are a beginner. As you get more comfortable handling, you can increase the hydration of your dough. For a 65% hydration dough, keep all measurements the same expect use a total of about 325 grams of water.
1. Autolyse
To reduce total kneading time, I like to mix my autolyse – just flour and water – for 30 minutes to 2 hours before the rest of the ingredients/kneading.
This is optional, but I found it truly does reduce kneading time. This step allows the flour to hydrate and gluten to begin forming.
Instruction: Mix 500 grams of flour + 370 grams of water with a wooden spoon or stand mixer paddle attachment until no dry spots remain. Cover and let rest for 30 min to 2 hours. (Reserve the last 5 grams of water for the next step)
2. Add Other Ingredients & Knead Until Window Pane
Instruction: To the 5 grams of reserved water, add your 1/4 tsp (1 gram) yeast and dissolve as best you can. Add this yeast + water mixture, plus the 2 1/2 tsp (15 grams) of salt to the autolyse dough from Step 2. If you are adding sugar, add now as well.
To knead, I prefer a stand mixer. If you don’t have, you can knead by hand on the counter or a bowl. The videos from Leopard Crust have a great beginner walkthrough if you need more instruction.
My tips: Using a wet hand, start with the dough in the bowl. Stretch up, and fold down to the middle. Rotate 90 degrees and repeat. As the gluten builds up and strengthens, it will require more effort to stretch. Dump the dough onto the counter if you’re comfortable and continue kneading there.
Instruction: Knead until your dough passes the window pane test. This could take over 20-30 minutes if kneading by hand or mixer. Cover & rest for bulk fermentation.
I’ve read that people have great success when just kneading until the dough is strong and smooth, but not passing the window pane test.
Especially when using a stand mixer, I prefer to keep kneading until my dough passes this window-pane test for maximum tenderness and chewiness.
At this stage, when you pull the dough, it should be elastic. It should not break, and you should be able to get a thin layer that light filters through. After this step, you can stop kneading and rest your dough.
6. Bulk Fermentation
During this step, the dough will rest and continue building strong gluten for a chewy yet tender crust.
Even with instant yeast on a summer day in Houston, bulk fermentation takes 4-6 hours for the dough to double in size.
To speed up this process, place your dough in the oven (turned off) with the light on. Or, place in a warm spot in your home such as a sunny summer window.
Instructions: Rest covered dough until doubled in size.
5. Shape Into Dough Balls (No Flour)
After bulk fermentation, I divide my dough into four dough balls. You can use a scale to get even division, but I usually eyeball it.
Most people use flour on their counter to help with the high hydration and stickiness. Personally, I prefer to use wet hands and a wet bench scraper. By rotating your bench scraper in a circular motion, you can create tension to create a dough ball without any additional flour.
I will then use the bench scraper to transfer the dough to a greased container to refrigerate. I use large Tupperware, but the pros use dough proofing boxes.
I also spray my containers with Pam, but you can grease with a little olive oil poured inside as well. Make sure to use a container with a lid to prevent the dough from drying out.
Instructions: Divide your dough into roughly even dough balls. Use a bench scraper to help form dough balls. Transfer dough balls to a greased and covered container that will rest in the fridge.
6. Cold Rest
The longer you rest the dough, the better. Overnight is easiest, but you can make the dough balls up to a few days in advance. This helps develop flavor. I’ve rested for just an hour or two, as well as for over 24 hours. Both are delicious, but the 24 hour rest is even better!
Instructions: Rest your dough balls in covered container in the fridge until you are ready to make (a few hours, overnight, or a few days).
7. Re-Shape + Final Proof
Take your dough out of the fridge 1 -2 hours before you want to cook the pizzas. This step allows the dough to come to room temperature and relax so that it can be stretched into pizza shape.
You may notice your dough has flattened; that is normal! Use a bench scraper to transfer to your counter.
I like to reserve a portion of the counter for the dough balls to rest during their final shaping/proofing. You can put them back into the container or onto a tray, but I find the counter rest is better to prevent me from loosing air pockets in my crust later. I will spray a small section of the counter with Pam to prevent sticking.
Again, using just a wet hand and bench scraper (no flour), I reshape the flattened dough into tight dough balls. Transfer to the reserved area and cover with a lid or bowl. I prefer a lid or bowl that allows room for rising, rather than plastic wrap which is wasteful and can get sticky.
Instructions: Remove dough balls from fridge 1-2 hours before ready to cook. Reshape each into a tight dough ball, and rest on the counter covered for the final proofing.
8. Prep Toppings & Preheat Oven
Instructions: While the dough is final proofing, get your toppings together and preheat your oven to 500F (or as high as it goes) with the Pizza Stone inside during the preheating.
If you don’t have a pizza stone, use a sheet pan or whatever you have.
9. Shape into Pizza + Assemble Toppings
To maintain the texture and bubbles that we’ve built up during the final proof, only shape the dough ball into pizza once all your toppings are ready and the oven is preheated.
Your pizza dough is at the ideal readiness to bake when you poke it, and it slowly bounces back. If the indent from poking immediately bounces back, it is underproofed. If the indent does not bounce back at all, it is overproofed.
If under proofed, the dough will be difficult to stretch, and the crust will not rise to be as airy. If slightly over proofed, the dough will be sticky but still usable. Too long over proofed can cause the dough to be more gummy and hard to work with.
We will finally use flour to prevent sticking! I use bread or all-purpose flour, but you can also use semolina. Dust your surface and add a small pile of flour. Transfer the dough ball on top of the pile. Sprinkle some more flour on top, so the entire surface is coated.
Then, with your finger tips, press down in the middle of the dough. Press in the middle in a circle, punching down the air. Make sure not to press or touch the edges, which will be our airy crust.
If there are any huge air bubbles in the outer crust edge, you can pop them so they don’t burn in the oven, but I like to leave most of them. Gently pick up the dough and shake off the excess flour. Use your knuckles to continue stretching the dough, but be careful not to break it!
The goal is for an airy crust edge (that we have not pressed down), plus a thin floppy inside. Once done, place onto parchment paper. You can use your fingers to gently stretch the dough to the shape you want, again being careful not to disturb the outer edge.
Trim the parchment paper to about 1/4 inch outside the pizza (excess paper will burn), and assemble your pizza with toppings.
Instructions: Once your dough is proofed and ready to cook, use flour to press down the center. Pick up the dough, shake off excess flour, and use your knuckles to stretch the dough to the size you want. Place on parchment paper, add your toppings, and trim the excess paper.
11. Oven Transfer + Baking
Transfer the pizza + parchment to a pizza peel or thin cutting board. Try to minimize excess flour and paper to avoid burning.
Leaving the pizza stone in the oven, slide the pizza and parchment in. The parchment should make it easy to slide. Be careful to not burn yourself, especially if you are using a cutting board to transfer.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, until edges are golden and toasty, and cheese is melty and gooey.
To remove, I use metal tongs or kitchen tweezers in addition to my pizza peel. I grab the edge of the parchment and slide it on my peel.
Optionally, you can let cool on a wire rack. Finish with any last toppings or sauces and enjoy!!
(I prefer cutting with scissors instead of a pizza cutter. This helps maintain and appreciate the airy crust edge!)
If you like this recipe, check out these other fun food posts:
Tips & Tricks to Hosting a Pizza Party
When hosting a pizza party, I only have 1 pizza stone – which means I can only make 1 pizza at a time in my home oven. To make it go more smoothly & so we can all enjoy fresh, hot pizza, we stretch/assemble pizza #1 before starting the others. While pizza #1 cooks, we’ll begin stretching & assembling pizza #2.
After pizza #1 is done, we’ll start eating while pizza #2 cooks and pizza #3 is stretched/assembled! We’ll eat & share all the pizzas as they finish cooking. I’ve found this to be much more successful than everyone making their own personal pizza.
I like serving with a big salad and dessert like gelato or shaved ice for dessert. Check out my shave ice recipes to pair with it below!
