How To Make Pizza Dough (According To Chef Luigi Peluso)
— Updated on 26 June 2021

How To Make Pizza Dough (According To Chef Luigi Peluso)

— Updated on 26 June 2021
Garry Lu
WORDS BY
Garry Lu

Vanto’s Chef Luigi Peluso has fairly impressive credentials backing his culinary reputation. Beyond the 25 years of professional experience in a kitchen… 15 years of professional experience making wood-fired pizza… the countless accolades and acknowledgements – Chef Luigi studied Chemistry at his hometown of Naples, AKA the birthplace of pizza. Naturally, his pizza dough recipe is not only authentic, but a marriage of both art and science.

The secret behind his signature pizza dough lies within its 60-72 hour maturation process. The result? A base that’s far lighter than what we’ve come to associate with pizza dough, not to mention more fragrant. Meaning there’s less bloat, less of that post-meal sluggishness, and as I’ve previously noted, more room for another slice. A winning combination entering the rig reveal season.

Here’s how you can make restaurant quality pizza dough from the comfort of home, as told by Vanto’s Chef Luigi Peluso. (Note: the pizza dough recipe is an abbreviated version of the fully 60-72 hour process used in the restaurant.)

Vanto Pizza Dough Recipe

Ingredients (serves: 6)

  • 1kg flour – Chef Luigi recommends Caputo blue flour but any good quality 00 flour / Italian milled flour works. 00 is ideal for pizza dough for two reasons: 1. it’s finely ground; and 2. it has a lower gluten content than most flours.
  • 700ml water – “Try to make sure the water temperature is cool, around 18-20 degrees Celsius works best.”
  • 25g salt
  • 4g of fresh yeast

Method (start 24-hours before you need it)

Making dough by machine

  1. Place flour in a mixer and crumble the yeast on top. Mix for 2 minutes on the first speed setting – this allows the flour to oxygenate.
  2. Slowly add the water to the mix and place on a higher speed setting (third or fourth).
  3. When the water is fully absorbed, add the salt and continue to mix the dough until smooth – don’t let the dough get hot. This whole process should take roughly 20 mins.

Making dough by hand

  1. Place water in a mixing bowl and crumble the yeast using your fingertips as you go.
  2. Add roughly half of the flour into the water and yeast mixture, folding it in with a wooden spoon. Once the dough is solid enough, use your hands to continue mixing.
  3. Continue to add the remaining flour, mixing it in by picking the dough up from the corners and placing the flour into the middle of the dough, folding it like a napkin until smooth. This process by hand will obviously take longer than with a mixer.

Dough maturing process

  1. Once the flour has been folded either by hand or machine – and the dough is completely smooth – place what you have in a sealed container for 2 hours.
  2. Place the container in the fridge for a further maturation period of 14-16 hours (or simply overnight). This is especially important for the digestibility of the pizza. Allowing the dough to mature properly makes the pizza lighter and easier to digest.
  3. Remove the dough from the fridge and allow it to sit at room temperature for an hour.
  4. After the dough has settled, with the help of a kitchen scale, split the dough into 260 gram sized balls – fold the dough from the corner to the middle until a ball shape is made; you should be able to get roughly six balls from the mixture.
  5. Place dough balls onto a tray and keep it covered to let the dough double in size – this should take another 6-7 hours depending on the temperature of the room.

And there you have it – restaurant quality pizza dough. Load it up at your own discretion (depending on dietary needs/desires).

Find out more about Vanto in the link below.

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Garry Lu
WORDS by
After stretching his legs with companies such as The Motley Fool and the odd marketing agency, Garry joined Boss Hunting in 2019 as a fully-fledged Content Specialist. In 2021, he was promoted to News Editor. Garry proudly retains a blue belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, black bruises from Muay Thai, as well as a black belt in all things pop culture. Drop him a line at [email protected]

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