Overnight Pizza Dough Recipe (Easy, New York Style)
Mix today, bake tomorrow · one ball or scale up · foldable NY-style slice
✦ Jump to recipeWhen you don't want to plan two days ahead, this is the dough. Mix it today, let it cold-ferment overnight, and you'll have a thin, foldable New York-style crust by tomorrow afternoon — crisp on the bottom with a light, satisfying chew. A small rye addition gives it a clean, faintly tangy flavor that tastes like it took far more effort than it did.
The recipe below is written for a single ~640 g ball so you can dial it in, then scale up linearly for a crowd. It uses just a pinch of yeast, because the slow overnight ferment does the lifting.
Why this recipe works
- Overnight cold ferment (12–18 hours): big flavor for minimal planning.
- 70% hydration: open, foldable crumb with good oven spring — the NY-slice texture.
- Just 0.5 g yeast per ball: a slow rise that won't overproof by dinner.
- 5% rye: a sourdough-adjacent tang with no starter to maintain.
Easy Overnight Pizza Dough
Mix today, cold-ferment overnight (12–18 hours), temper 2–3 hours before baking. Scale ingredients linearly for more balls.
Ingredients
Per ball (multiply for more)
- 358 g bread flour
- 19 g rye flour (~5%)
- 265 g room-temperature water (70%)
- 9.5 g fine sea salt
- 2 g sugar
- 5 g olive oil
- 0.5 g instant dry yeast (IDY)
Instructions
- 1
Autolyse
Combine the bread flour and rye. Add the water and mix until no dry flour remains. Cover and rest 30–45 minutes.
- 2
Mix
Dissolve the yeast in a splash of water, then add it with the salt, sugar, and oil. Mix until smooth and cohesive.
- 3
Bulk and fold
Do 3 sets of stretch-and-folds about 30 minutes apart over the first 1.5 hours, then a short bench rest.
- 4
Ball and cold ferment
Shape a tight ball, coat lightly in oil, cover, and refrigerate 10–18 hours.
- 5
Temper
Pull the ball 2–3 hours before baking and bring it fully to room temperature.
- 6
Stretch and bake
Stretch to 14–16". Bake in a hot dome (about 450–475°C floor), rotating every 20–30 seconds, for 60–90 seconds total, until leopard-spotted with a crisp bottom.
Tips
- Check the table bellow if you want to push the fridge time toward 18–24 hours for more flavor/tang in your dough.
- No pizza oven? Preheat a steel or stone at max temp for 45+ minutes and finish under the broiler.
- If the crust browns too fast on top, crack the oven door briefly before launching.
FAQ
- How far ahead can I make this?
- Up to about 24 hours of cold ferment works well, see the table bellow for considerations around a longer ferment. Past that, the higher hydration dough can start to overproof and weaken.
- Can I make several balls at once?
- Yes — just multiply every ingredient by the number of balls. The method stays identical.
Cold fermentation adjustments to consider:
This dough is flexible — you can bake it anywhere from 10 to 30+ hours after mixing. The trick is matching your yeast to your timeline: the longer the cold ferment, the less yeast you need, so the dough peaks right at bake time instead of over-proofing in the fridge. Just as important is when you ball. For short ferments, shape your balls before they go in the fridge. For anything past ~18 hours, bulk-ferment the dough as one mass, then divide and ball 6–8 hours before baking — this re-tightens the gluten and gives you structured, oven-ready balls instead of slack ones. Find your window below and adjust.
| Cold ferment | Yeast per ball | When to ball | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10 hours | 0.55 g | Ball before fridge | Shortest useful window; needs the most yeast to rise in time. |
| 12 hours | 0.5 g | Ball before fridge | No adjustments, this recipe's sweet spot. |
| 14 hours | 0.45 g | Ball before fridge | Slight drop in yeast, still works great as is. |
| 18 hours | 0.36 g | Ball before fridge, or bulk + ball ~12h in | Transition zone — a bulk ferment or cold fermenting the dough ball works here. |
| 20 hours | 0.33 g | Bulk cold, ball morning-of (~6–8h out) | Now its time to move to a later balling process. |
| 24 hours | 0.28 g | Bulk cold, ball morning-of (~6–8h out) | Same as above, this will do best with a bulk first. |
| 30 hours | 0.22 g | Bulk cold, ball morning-of (~6–8h out) | Dont push this recipe past this window. |