Puffy Pizza (No-Scale Recipe)
This one’s for the puffy-pizza people. Big bubbles, tall crust, minimal stretching and no digital scale. Just cups, teaspoons, and a little patience.
We build puff by not stretching much, letting the dough ferment 12–24 hours, and baking hot on a Baking Steel. It won’t be lab-precision but it will be really, really good.
Caution: this recipe isn’t designed to double or triple. Keep the measures as written and make those 2 cups of flour a little “big.”
Watch how we make this Puffy Pizza step by step. Simple ingredients, no scale required—just cups, spoons, and a hot oven with a Baking Steel.
Why This Makes Pizza Puffy
- Minimal stretch: preserves gas so the rim inflates in the oven.
- Slow ferment (12–24h): flavor + extensibility without aggressive handling.
- High heat on steel: rapid oven spring for tall, airy bubbles.
Recipe: Puffy Pizza (Cups & Teaspoons)
Yield: 2 small pizzas | Ferment: 12–24 hours | Bake: 500°F + broil on Baking Steel
Ingredients
- 2 big cups organic bread or all-purpose flour
- 1 cup water
- 1 tsp sea salt
- ¼ tsp active dry yeast
- Quick drizzle olive oil
Method
- Mix: In a bowl, whisk flour + salt. Whisk in yeast. Add all the water and mix with a spatula until hydrated, then knead by hand until it comes together. Clean the bowl.
- Oil & rest: Return dough to bowl, drizzle with olive oil and knead 2 minutes to coat. Cover and rest 12–24 hours.
- Divide & ball: Split into 2 portions. Flour hands, fold and turn to create a smooth, tense surface. Pinch seam closed. Rest balls 3-4 hours at room temp, covered.
- Preheat: With 1 hour left, heat oven to 500°F with your Baking Steel on the top rack (convection if available).
- Shape minimal: Keep handling light don’t stretch much. You’re preserving gas for puff.
- Bake: Build on a floured/semolina peel. Switch to broil; when the broiler fires, launch onto the hot steel. Bake ~2 minutes, rotate, switch back to 500°F convection, and bake ~2 minutes more or until tall, blistered, and golden.
- Finish: Cool briefly, slice, and let the bubbles speak for themselves.
Pro Tips for Maximum Puff
- Warm room = faster ferment; cool room = slower. Use the full 24 hours if it’s chilly.
- Resisting stretch? Set the dough down for 60–90 seconds and let gluten relax.
- Go light on toppings so bubbles don’t collapse.
- Stretch it out, just not too thin. We want this dough to spring when it hits that hot Steel...
Ready for those Puffy rims?
Bake on a fully preheated Baking Steel for instant oven spring.
