Choosing the Right Flour for Pizza Dough
Flour is the single biggest decision you make with pizza dough, and the bag's strength rating tells you more than the word "pizza" on the front ever will. Get the flour right and a long, slow ferment gives you a light, blistered, chewy crust. Get it wrong and you'll be fighting dough that tears, won't stretch or bakes up like a cracker.
Here's how we choose flour for pizza on the Big Green Egg, the exact dough we use ourselves, and straight answers to the questions we get asked most.
What the W rating means
The W rating measures how strong a flour's gluten is, and so how long a ferment it can handle before the dough gives up. It comes from the Chopin alveograph test, which inflates a sheet of dough like a balloon and records how much work it takes to burst it. Higher W means more strength, more water absorption and more tolerance for long fermentation.
Protein percentage is a rough guide, but W is the better one. Two flours at 12.5% protein can behave very differently if their gluten quality differs.
| W rating | Strength | Best suited to |
|---|---|---|
| Under W180 | Weak | Biscuits, cakes, fresh pasta |
| W180–W260 | Medium | Short ferments (up to about 8–10 hours), quick same-day pizza |
| W260–W320 | Strong | 12–48 hour ferments, classic Neapolitan-style pizza |
| W320–W400 | Very strong | 48–72 hour cold ferments, high-hydration dough, pan pizza, biga and poolish |
Most Italian millers print the W on the bag or on their website. If it isn't listed, the flour probably wasn't designed with long-fermented pizza in mind.
Rule of thumb: match the W to your ferment time. A 24-hour room-temperature ferment wants something around W300–W330. Go much weaker and the dough goes slack and sticky by the end; go much stronger and it fights back when you stretch it.
Do you need Type 00 flour?
Not necessarily. "00" describes how finely the flour is milled and how much of the bran has been removed, not how strong it is. Italian flour is graded 00, 0, 1, 2 and integrale (wholemeal), from finest and whitest to coarsest.
That means one 00 flour can be a soft cake flour at W150 and another a powerhouse pizza flour at W350. The "00" on its own tells you almost nothing about how it will ferment.
Why 00 is still the go-to for pizza:
- The fine grind hydrates quickly and gives a smooth, extensible dough that stretches thin without tearing
- Pizza-specific 00 flours are usually unmalted, so they won't scorch at the very high temperatures an Egg can hit
- They produce the soft, airy cornicione (the puffy rim) people want from Neapolitan-style pizza
Can you use UK strong white bread flour? Yes, and it makes a decent pizza, particularly New York or pan style. It's milled coarser and often contains malted flour, so it browns faster, stretches less easily and bakes up breadier and chewier. For a Neapolitan-style result, a strong 00 pizza flour is the better choice.
Our house dough: Ooni W320 and Caputo Red, 9:1
Our everyday pizza dough blends Ooni 00 flour (W320) with Caputo Red pizza flour at 9 parts to 1, then ferments at room temperature for 24 hours. The Caputo Red is a strong flour in the same W300–W320 bracket, so the blend sits right around W320: exactly where you want to be for a full day's ferment.
| Ingredient | Amount | Baker's % |
|---|---|---|
| Ooni 00 flour (W320) | 900g | 90% |
| Caputo Red pizza flour | 100g | 10% |
| Water | 620g | 62% |
| Fine sea salt | 28g | 2.8% |
| Dried yeast | 0.33g | 0.033% |
This makes roughly 1.65kg of dough: six balls of about 270g for a 12–13 inch pizza, or seven of about 235g for something a little thinner.
- Dissolve the salt in most of the water. Keep back about 50g.
- Add all the flour, then the yeast, and mix until no dry flour is left.
- Rest for 20 minutes. This lets the flour hydrate and makes kneading easier.
- Knead for 8–10 minutes, working in the reserved water a little at a time, until smooth and slightly tacky.
- Cover and bulk ferment at room temperature for about 18 hours.
- Ball the dough, cover and leave for the final 6 hours.
- Stretch, top and bake.
A note on the yeast: 0.33g is not a typo. For a 24-hour room-temperature ferment you need very little. A kitchen scale that reads to 0.01g is worth the few pounds it costs; a pinch is not accurate enough.
How much salt?
For 1kg of flour on a 24-hour room-temperature ferment, use 28g of salt (2.8% of the flour weight). Anywhere from 25g to 30g works; below 25g the crust tastes flat, above 30g it starts to taste salty.
Salt does more than season. It tightens the gluten, which makes the dough easier to handle, and it slows the yeast down. On a long ferment at room temperature, that brake matters: it stops the dough over-proofing before you get to it.
For reference, the traditional Neapolitan guideline is 40–60g of salt per litre of water. At 620g of water that's 25–37g, so 28g sits comfortably inside it.
Use fine sea salt so it dissolves fully, and dissolve it in the water first. Dumping salt straight onto the yeast won't kill it, but there's no reason to take the chance.
When should you ball the dough?
On a 24-hour room-temperature ferment, ball the dough 6–8 hours before you plan to cook. That means about 16–18 hours of bulk ferment in one mass, then 6–8 hours as individual balls.
The bulk ferment builds flavour and strength. The time in balls lets the gluten relax again after shaping, so the dough stretches easily instead of springing back.
- Ball too early (say, straight after mixing): the balls can over-proof and spread into flat, sticky puddles by the end of 24 hours
- Ball too late (under 4 hours before cooking): the gluten hasn't relaxed, and the dough tears or shrinks back as you stretch it
When balling, fold the edges into the centre and turn it over so the smooth side is on top, then roll it gently under a cupped hand to tighten the surface. You want a taut skin, not a torn one. Store the balls in a lightly oiled, lidded dough tray or individual tubs, with space to double in size.
Can you overwork pizza dough?
Yes, but it's much harder to do by hand than in a mixer. Most home pizza problems come from under-kneading or handling the dough too roughly after it's fermented, not from kneading too long at the start.
In a stand mixer, overworking is a real risk. Run it too long or too fast and the dough heats up, the gluten can start to break down, and you end up with a dough that's slack, sticky and tears easily. Keep the mixer on a low speed and aim for a finished dough temperature of around 23–25°C. On a warm day, use cold water.
The bigger danger is overworking the dough after fermentation:
- Don't use a rolling pin. It squeezes out the gas that gives you an airy crust
- Stretch from the centre outwards with your fingertips, leaving a 1–2cm rim untouched
- If the dough keeps springing back, stop, cover it and give it 10–15 minutes to relax
A properly kneaded dough is smooth and passes the windowpane test: stretch a small piece thin and it should let light through without tearing.
What temperature should you store dough at?
For a 24-hour room-temperature ferment, keep the dough at 18–21°C. That's a typical British kitchen for most of the year, and it's what the 0.33g of yeast in our recipe is set up for.
| Where | Temperature | What to expect |
|---|---|---|
| Warm kitchen | 24°C and above | Ferments fast; cut the yeast or shorten the time |
| Room temperature | 18–21°C | Ideal for a 24-hour ferment |
| Cool room or garage | 12–16°C | Slower; allow extra time or add a little yeast |
| Fridge | 3–5°C | Cold ferment of 48–72 hours with a stronger flour |
If you cold ferment in the fridge, take the balls out 3–4 hours before cooking. Cold dough is stiff and tears; it needs to come back up to room temperature before you stretch it.
In summer, watch your kitchen. A hot spell can push a 24-hour dough to over-proofed in 16. If the balls have spread flat, look bubbly and smell strongly of alcohol, they've gone too far.
Pizza dough FAQs
What hydration should I use? Our recipe is 62% (620g water to 1kg flour), which is easy to handle and ideal if you're starting out. Neapolitan-style dough usually sits at 58–65%. Go to 68–70% once you're confident; the crust gets lighter and more open, but the dough gets stickier.
Why is my dough so sticky? Usually one of three things: the flour is too weak for the water you've added, it's under-kneaded, or it's over-proofed. Wet hands and a bench scraper help far more than piling on extra flour.
Can I use fresh yeast instead of dried? Yes. Use roughly three times the weight of dried yeast, so about 1g of fresh yeast in place of 0.33g dried.
Can I make pizza dough the same day? You can, with more yeast (around 3–5g dried per kilo of flour) and a 6–8 hour ferment. It works, but you lose much of the flavour and digestibility a long ferment gives you.
Can I freeze pizza dough? Yes. Freeze the balls after the bulk ferment, in individual oiled bags. Defrost overnight in the fridge, then give them 3–4 hours at room temperature before stretching.
What temperature should I cook pizza at on the Big Green Egg? Set the Egg up with the convEGGtor legs up and a pizza stone on top, then aim for 300–350°C on the dome thermometer. Give it a good 30–45 minutes at temperature so the stone is fully heat soaked, otherwise the base won't cook as fast as the top.
How do I stop the pizza sticking to the peel? Dust the peel with semolina rather than flour; it acts like tiny ball bearings. Build the pizza quickly, give the peel a little shake before you launch, and keep the toppings light.
Why is my crust pale? The stone isn't hot enough, or the dough is under-fermented. Give the stone longer to heat soak, and check your ferment times against your kitchen temperature.
Get cooking
Choose a flour by its W rating, match it to your ferment time, and weigh everything, down to the yeast. Do that and the Egg will do the rest.
If you want a hand setting up your Big Green Egg for pizza, or you're weighing up which size suits the way you cook, give us a call. We've been cooking on Eggs for well over a decade and we're always happy to talk dough.