Name: Grandma Pizza Dough Recipe
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 1 d 35 min
Yield: 36 oz of dough
Cuisine: New York Italian
Ingredients: 567 g (about 4 1/2 cups) unbleached bread flour; 11 g (1 3/4 teaspoons) kosher salt (I use Morton's); 4 g (1 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast; 454 g (2 cups) cool water (about 60F); 28 g (2 Tablespoons) olive oil; 2 additional teaspoons olive oil for the stretching and folding (I usually use a lot more than this. It will not adversely affect the dough if you use more than 2 teaspoons); 1/4 cup olive oil for panning; 2 teaspoons minced garlic for panning

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I have been a pizza fan since the days we used to go to Shakey’s Pizza and watch them make pizzas through the glass while listening to the player piano. So when I discovered grandma pizza, I was Super Happy! And now I’m here to teach you how to make this grandma pizza dough recipe so you can make whatever kind of grandma pizza you want.

overhead shot of grandma pizza dough recipe baked up with ricotta, mozzarella, fontina and parmesan cheese and cut into squares on a cooling rack

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What Is Grandma Pizza?

Grandma pizza originated in Long Island and probably has never been heard of in Italy, the home of pizza.

That’s just fine with me–hooray for Italian American inventions!

Grandma pizza gets baked up in a parchment-lined half sheet pan that you coat liberally with olive oil.

The bottom of the crust basically fries to a crisp, golden brown in the oil while the interior is puffy but light.

Go easy on the toppings because

you don’t want to weigh down the airy crust and
with a crust this delicious, you want to be able to taste it

Perfect Pan Pizza by Peter Reinhart

Perfect Pan Pizza features 3 master dough recipes you can use to make any type of deep dish pizza or focaccia. And I can say with great certainty that the 100% white flour version is a fabulous grandma pizza dough recipe!

Peter Reinhart is a bread fiend. His seminal The Bread Baker’s Apprentice is still eagerly sought out and is considered by many to be The Bible when it comes to making artisan-style bread and understanding dough.

Perfect Pan Pizza is a treasure trove of knowledge, freely shared in plain, easy to understand language, that will have you churning out truly stellar pan pizzas in no time. I’ve made 3 in the past week, all using his master dough recipe and pizza sauce but then topping them however I want.

Each one has been delicious, and it truly is the crust that makes it.

What Is So Great About Peter’s Grandma Pizza Dough Recipe?

While you can technically use any pizza crust recipe for grandma pizza, Peter Reinhart’s recipe is pretty dang stellar.

It’s crisp and chewy and pillowy and airy. So, so good!

Here’s what I like about it so much:

You don’t need a mixer to make the dough
It requires no kneading, just a few folds
It’s a very wet dough, which means it develops a beautiful, open, airy crumb
The flavor is excellent
Peter’s instructions are very clear and easy to follow, so unless your yeast is dead, there is no way to mess this dough up

How To Make Grandma Pizza Dough

Making the dough is a straightforward process. First, here’s a collage of step-by-step photos:

Mix flour, instant yeast, salt, and water together until shaggy.
Mix in olive oil.
Spread a thin layer of olive oil over your work surface
Plop the dough out onto the oiled counter and, with oiled hands, press the dough out into about a 15″ square-ish shape
Using your bench knife to help you, stretch and fold the dough in thirds, like a letter
Fold the dough into thirds the other way.

From there, put the bowl you made the dough in over the dough like a little dough cave, and let it rest about 5 minutes. Repeat the pressing out and stretch-folds 3 more times at 5-10 minute intervals.

After the last fold, oil the dough, and put it in a lightly-oiled bowl. Cover with a lid or with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least overnight or up to 3-4 days.

How To Shape the Dough for Pan Pizza

This is easy to do, too. You do have to be a little bit patient, because gluten naturally likes to spring back when you press it out, but aside from a little patience, this step takes very little skill. Approach your dough with confidence!

collage of 4 images showing how to stretch dough into the pan and let it rest

Lay a piece of parchment in a half-sheet pan and spread on about 1/4 cup olive oil. Plop the dough in the center of the pan and then use your fingertips to dimple the dough and press it out as far as you can get it to go.
Cover the dough with another half-sheet pan (I find that easier than using plastic wrap) and let it hang out for 20 minutes so the gluten can relax. Repeat the dimpling 2 or maybe 3 more times, waiting 20 minutes in between Dimpling Sessions, until the dough fills the whole pan.
After the dough fills the entire pan, sprinkle it with minced garlic–pretty much as much as you like
Then cover it with the other pan to rest/rise until you’re ready to top it. It’s fine to hang out for 2-3 hours before it goes in the oven.

Grandma pizza topped with fresh mozzarella, homemade pizza sauce, diced sopressata, and fontina cheese, before and after baking

You may top the pizza however you like, using your favorite homemade or jarred sauce, or give my favorite of the 3 types of grandma pizza I’ve made in the past week, lasagna pizza. Lord it was good!

The Bottom Crust Basically Fries in Olive Oil!

This is one of the things that is so magical about this grandma pizza dough. Since you’re not baking it on a super hot stone, it doesn’t end up with little bits of char. Rather, since you pan it up in olive oil, the crust fries to a beautiful, burnished, crispy golden brown!

underside of a slice of grandma pizza showing the burnished golden brown fried bottom crust — That golden brown crisp bottom crust is one of the best things about grandma pizza, and this dough does it beautifully!

More Pizza Topping Ideas

Honestly, I think you’re going to want to stick with this crust recipe once you’ve made it. But that doesn’t mean you won’t want to top it in all different ways. Here are some ideas for you:

Regardless, remember the secret really is in the crust and not to pile on the toppings too thick so the whole thing will bake through.

A Note About Measurements

NOTE: Most of my recipes are written by weight and not volume, even the liquids.

Even though I try to provide you with volume measurements as well, I encourage you to buy a kitchen scale for ease of measuring, accuracy, and consistency.

This is the scale I use, love, and recommend:

I really hope you love this grandma pizza, you guys!

If you make one, control yourself long enough to share a photo with me, either in the PCO Facebook Group or on instagram by tagging @onlinepastrychef and using hashtag #pcorecipe. Then dig in!

Thanks, and enjoy!