Overnight Biga Neapolitan Pizza Dough

🔧 Equipment

Kitchen Scale
Dough Whisk (optional)
Half-Size 4" Deep Food Storage Container (or any large airtight container)
Pizza Dough Proofing Boxes (optional)

📋 Ingredients

For the Biga Preferment

1000 grams Type 00 Flour
1.3 grams Instant yeast (about ¼ tsp)
540 grams Room temperature water (about 2¼ cups)

Final Dough

22 grams Kosher salt (about 1½ tbsp)
100 grams Warm water (¼ cup + 3 tbsp)
20 grams Flour - Type 00 or All Purpose (about 2 tbsp)

For Oiling and Dusting

Olive oil
Semolina flour

👨‍🍳 Instructions

🌾 Prepare the Biga and First Rise

Make the Biga.

In a large bowl, combine 1000 grams Type 00 Flour, 1.3 grams Instant yeast, and 540 grams Room temperature water. Mix until the flour is just hydrated. Start with a fork or dough whisk, then switch to your hands. It'll be tough; just do your best to hydrate it all.

Proof.

Tear off golf ball-sized pieces of the biga and place them in a single layer in a large airtight container, dough tub or tall-sided baking dish. It will rise quite a bit. Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for 16–18 hours. The biga will be nice and bubbly.

🧂 Season and Knead the Dough

Make Salt Water.

The next day, dissolve 22 grams Kosher salt in 100 grams Warm water in a measuring cup.

Season.

Transfer the prepared biga to your stand mixer bowl. Pour in the salted water. Use your hands to pinch and incorporate the water into the biga until mostly absorbed. It doesn't need to be perfect.

Knead.

Attach the dough hook and knead on medium speed until soft and supple. This should take about 10 minutes.

🍞 Final Knead and Second Rise

Add Flour.

Add 20 grams Flour (could be Type 00 or just All Purpose). Continue kneading on medium speed for another 5–8 minutes. You want the dough to release from the sides of the bowl as it kneads, so push the speed up slowly as needed. The dough will be loose and sticky, which is totally fine and expected. At this point, you can perform a "window pane test". Grab a small amount of dough and try to gently stretch it. It should stretch without breaking, forming a thin "window pane" that light will come through. This means your dough has been kneaded sufficiently.

Second Rise.

Lightly oil an airtight container and place the dough inside. Let it rest on the counter for 1.5 hours, then refrigerate for another 1.5 hours.

🔪 Portion, Shape and Final Rise

Portion.

Turn the proofed dough onto a floured work surface. Using a scale, divide into 5 pieces for larger pizzas or 6 pieces for smaller individual pizzas.

Form.

Shape each portion into a tight ball, seam side down.

Final Rise.

Dust a proofing box (or baking sheet) with semolina and arrange dough balls with at least 3 inches of space between them. Cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Let rise for 4 hours before using.

📝 Notes

Key Ingredient Notes:

Flour: Use Type or Typo 00 flour only. This traditional Italian pizza flour yields the best results, but you can sub with all-purpose flour in a pinch.
Yeast: I recommend using instant yeast because you can just add it directly to the Biga mixture without having to pre-bloom it. If you only have dry active yeast, you will need to add it to the water first before mixing your Biga. You can also use fresh yeast (weigh about 3 times as much fresh yeast vs instant).
Semolina Flour: Used for dusting; adds a nice texture and prevents sticking.

HYDRATION:

This recipe, as written, is for a 63% hydration dough. You can increase the hydration by adding water in the final knead step as such:

For 67% hydration, add 50 grams of water
For 70% hydration, add 80 grams of water

Other Important Information:

Use a kitchen scale to portion out dough balls evenly. It makes a big difference and just keeps your pizzas even.
Don't stress about perfect hydration when mixing the biga. Imperfect is fine. As you get more comfortable with making dough this way, you'll want to start experimenting with hydration levels. To calculate hydration: divide the weight of the water by the weight of the flour and multiply by 100. For example, if your dough has 700 grams of water and 1000 grams of flour, the hydration is 70%. Some people prefer lower hydration (60-65%) while more experienced bakers prefer higher hydration of up to 70% or more. Start low. Work your way up. It's what I did.

🥗 Nutrition (per pizza)

Calories

729

Carbs

153g

Protein

21g

Fat

2g

Sodium

1716mg

Fiber

5g