Mama Rita's No-knead Pizza Dough from Italy

A pizza topped with tomato sauce and bocconcini on a wooden board.

Mama Rita's No-knead Pizza Dough from Italy

When it comes to pizza, Mama Rita knows best. This is her no-knead recipe from Naples, Italy with fast prep and only 5 ingredients. Make REAL pizza from scratch with zero effort - let's go!

Course Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine Italian

Prep Time 10

Cook Time 15

Resting Time 4

Total Time 4 25

Servings pizza bases

Calories 954kcal

Author Wandercooks

Cost $7

Equipment

Ingredients

For the Dough

400 g ‘00’ flour 3 cups / 14.1 oz, sub baker's flour / all purpose flour PLUS extra for rolling the bases out
250 ml cold water 1 cup / 8.45 fl oz
20 ml olive oil 4 tsp / 0.67 fl oz, PLUS 1-2 tbsp oil per pizza tray
10 g salt 2 tsp / 0.35 oz
9 g instant dry yeast 3 tsp / 0.31 oz

For the Toppings - we used the following as 'standard' topping ingredients on each of our pizzas.

pinch salt and pepper
olive oil dash
parmesan cheese sprinkle
mozzarella cut into small chunks

Margherita

tomatoes crushed or diced from a tin

Zucchini & Prosciutto Pizza

2 zucchini grated
2 slices prosciutto roughly chopped, or bacon

Potato & Rosemary Pizza

3 potatoes thinly sliced
1 tsp rosemary

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Prepare the dough

Add flour into a large mixing bowl. Make a well in the centre, then add the salt, active dry yeast, olive oil and water.
400 g ‘00’ flour, 250 ml cold water, 20 ml olive oil, 10 g salt, 9 g instant dry yeast
Use your hands to mix the flour in large circles. Combine just enough until you have created a pillow of dough in the centre of the bowl and there’s no remaining flour. This should take a couple of minutes. Tip: You can freeze the dough here if you’re making a batch to cook later.
Lift the dough and add extra flour underneath to prevent the dough from sticking while resting. Score an ‘X’ shape on the top of the dough. Cover with a towel and rest to proof for 3 hours (or until doubled in size).

Roll out the dough

After the dough has risen, spread plenty of flour onto your rolling surface and rolling pin. Divide the dough into the number of portions you desire. (Ie you could make 2-3 large pizza bases or 8 smaller bases with this amount of dough.)
Roll the dough portions out into circular bases, using your fingers if needed to stretch out into shape. Don’t worry if the dough is quite thin at this stage, it will continue to rise until it’s time to cook.
Spread a thin layer of olive oil over each pizza tray (aluminium trays work best for an extra crispy base). Place the dough on the trays and push out to the rim to cover the pan. Be sure to press gently at this stage so as not to push out too much air. Cover and rest again for around 1-2 hours.

For the toppings

Preheat the oven to 250°C / 480°F.
Prepare your pizza toppings, but don’t add the cheese yet!
For Margherita: Top pizza bases with crushed tomatoes or passata and drizzle with olive oil.
tomatoes, pinch salt and pepper
For Zucchini & Prosciutto: Layer pizza bases with grated zucchini and drizzle with olive oil.
olive oil, 2 zucchini, pinch salt and pepper
For Potato & Rosemary: Drizzle pizza bases with olive oil and layer with thin slices of potato. Top with fresh rosemary and season with salt and pepper.
olive oil, 3 potatoes, 1 tsp rosemary, pinch salt and pepper
Bake in the oven for 10 minutes or so until the first topping layer has cooked through nicely. The dough should be just starting to brown at this stage.
Take out of the oven and sprinkle each pizza with Parmesan cheese and small chunks of mozzarella cheese. Add the prosciutto to the zucchini pizza(s).
parmesan cheese, mozzarella, 2 slices prosciutto
Place pizzas back in the oven and cook for another 5-10 minutes or so until the cheese has melted and the bases are nice and crispy.

Timing the recipe for a 6pm dinner:

12:45pm - 1pm: PREP - Start dough.
1pm - 4pm: 1ST RISE - Cover, allow the dough to rise in a warm location.
4pm - 4:15pm: PREP - Roll out your pizza bases.
4:15pm - 5:15pm: 2ND RISE - Add pizza bases to trays, cover again and leave out on the counter to rise for one more hour.
5:15 - 5:45pm: PRE-HEAT OVEN - Turn on the oven (250°C / 480°F) and add toppings to pizza.
5:45pm - 5:55pm: COOK - Get those pizzas in the oven.
5:55pm - 6pm: ADD - Take out your pizzas and add your final layer of cheese and meat toppings. Cook for 5 more minutes or until cheese is melted.
SERVE!

Video

Notes

Sticky Dough – If the dough mixture is too sticky, sprinkle more flour to the outside of the dough. You can also do this to help remove sticky dough from your fingers.
Portions – You can use this dough to make large pizzas, small mini pizzas or pizza fritta (fried pizzas). Just portion out to the sizes you like.
Rising the Dough – Keep the dough covered in a warm area. If it’s a cold day, pop your oven on its lowest setting or ‘Keep Warm’ setting for 5 minutes to warm the oven. Then switch it off and pop the covered dough in with the oven door shut. We don’t use plastic wrap since we prefer to avoid waste where possible, and find a kitchen towel is enough.
Storing in Fridge – Once risen, you can leave the dough in the refrigerator overnight in an airtight container. Take it out to rest on your kitchen counter an hour to come up to temperature before using . Cold air slows down the dough rising significantly. If storing in the fridge, use within a few days or freeze immediately after mixing.
Batch Cook – If you’re entertaining and want to make extra pizza bases, you can easily double the recipe and follow the same steps.
Aluminium Trays – Aluminium trays are awesome for cooking pizza! Not only are they lightweight, they’re also super thin and transfer heat perfectly for crispy and delicious pizza crusts.
Cutting the Pizza – You can use a regular knife, a pizza wheel or slice it the traditional Naples way – with kitchen scissors!

Nutrition