Grandma Pizza Dough Recipe for Perfect Pan Pizza

Watch my grandma pizza dough web story here.

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

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 This 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

Ingredients

As with most breads and flatbreads, the ingredient list for pan pizza dough is very basic:

• bread flour: you can substitute all purpose flour with a high protein content (such as King Arthur), but you may need to cut back on the amount of water you use by just a smidge
• olive oil: helps to tenderize the dough, assists in browning, and adds some flavor
• water: allows the gluten to develop. This is a very wet dough and can almost better be described as a very thick batter
• salt: keeps the yeast from running wild so you don’t end up with flabby dough and adds flavor
• instant yeast: provides the rise. You can substitute active dry yeast 1:1. Just proof it in a portion of the water (warm the water first) for a few minutes to make sure it’s alive). Then add it in with the rest of the ingredients

A Note About Hydration

As written, this dough is 80% hydration (the weight of the water–16 oz–is 80% of the weight of the flour–20 oz.

If you would like–and I often do this–you can make the dough at 90% hydration, or 18 oz of water to 20 oz of flour.

This yields a dough that is very soft–amost a thick batter. But the texture is incredibly light and airy with large holes throughout the crumb.

This is my idea of heaven.

Since this is a very slack (wet) dough, be sure to oil your hands when working with it. Don’t add flour–just oil your hands.

PRO TIP: To keep this soft dough from sticking to your hands, oil your hands very well with olive oil rather than trying to add additional flour to the dough. The oil will prevent the dough from sticking to you hands, so use it liberally.

Procedure

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

1. Mix flour, instant yeast, salt, and water together until shaggy.
2. Mix in olive oil.
3. Spread a thin layer of olive oil over your work surface
4. Plop the dough out onto the oiled counter and, with oiled hands, press the dough out into about a 15″ square-ish shape
5. Using your bench knife to help you, stretch and fold the dough in thirds, like a letter
6. 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.

Shaping the Dough

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!

1. 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.
2. Cover the dough with another half-sheet pan (I find that easier than using plastic wrap) and let it rest 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.
3. After the dough fills the entire pan, sprinkle it with minced garlic–pretty much as much as you like
4. Then cover it with the other pan to rest/rise until you’re ready to top it. It’s fine to just sit on the counter for 2-3 hours before it goes in the oven.

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!

I generally bake my grandma pies on half-sheet pans, but if you’re looking for a specialty pan to make deep-dish pizzas, this is what I recommend:

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:

• Sausage Gravy Pizza with Peppers and Onions
• Pizza with Ground Beef and Peppers
• Bacon and Pickled Pepper Pizza
• Pulled Pork Pizza

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.

If you’re looking for a great pizza sauce, my homemade pizza sauce is pretty perfect, if I do say so myself.

If you have questions about this post or recipe, don’t hesitate to get in touch. You can leave a comment on the post and I will get back to you within about 24 hours.

If your question is more urgent, please shoot me an email, and I will respond within 4 hours, unless I’m asleep.

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. If you’re unsure, please read my post about how to use a food scale.

And there you have it, friends. A perfect (honestly!) grandma pizza dough recipe.