24+ Hour Room-Temperature Pizza Dough

The exact room-temp dough I actually make. Bread + AP flour blend, 0.06% yeast, 20 hours on the counter. Three 12-inch pizzas.

Time: 24 hr 25 min | Yield: 3 12-inch pizzas | Difficulty: Intermediate | Serves: 3 | Published: 2026-04-23

If you've watched my videos and wondered what dough I'm actually using most weeks, this is it. Room-temperature ferment, 24+ hours, 500 grams of flour, enough yeast to cover the tip of a pen. Three 12-inch pizzas out of one batch.

I mix it one night and bake the next day. This is a room-temperature ferment, not a cold ferment, important distinction. The dough sits on your counter for about 20 hours, no fridge. No babysitting required.

The trick is using almost no yeast (0.06%) so it ferments slowly at room temp instead of exploding. Get yourself a microscale that measures to 0.01g and this recipe is unlocked forever. Without one, you'll overshoot the yeast measurement and the dough will rise, peak, and collapse before you're ready.

Why this works

Pizza dough flavor comes from fermentation, not ingredients. When yeast slowly eats sugars over long time, it produces lactic acid, ethanol, and hundreds of aromatic compounds, the same complex flavors you'd get from sourdough, just in a shorter window. Fast doughs (1-2 hours) taste like bread because they haven't had time to develop any of that. This recipe hits the flavor sweet spot at around 18-24 hours.

The trick is using almost no yeast. At 0.06% (0.3g for 500g flour), there's just enough yeast to cause a slow, steady rise over 20 hours at room temperature. More yeast would over-proof the dough, it would rise, peak, and collapse into a slack, alcoholic mess long before you're ready to bake. Low yeast is what makes this recipe actually work without a fridge.

The bread + AP flour blend gives you the best of both worlds. Bread flour alone (like in most classic NY recipes) is chewy and strong but can feel tough at home temperatures. All-purpose flour alone is tender but lacks structure. The 70/30 blend I use here hits the middle, you get the chew of bread flour with the lighter bite of AP flour, which matches what most home ovens (topping out at 550°F) can actually deliver.

Room-temp ferment also gives you a more *extensible* dough, easier to stretch without it snapping back. A cold-fermented dough needs a long warm-up before it stretches well. This one is ready to go from the counter. If you've fought with stretching dough before, see why your pizza dough won't stretch for more on this.

Ingredients

• 350 g bread flour
• 150 g all purpose flour
• 13 g salt (2.5%)
• 0.3 g instant dry yeast (.06%)
• 310 g cold water (62%)
• 10 g olive oil (2%)
• 10 g sugar (2%)
• Crushed Ice (if using a mixer)

Directions

1. Weigh out all your ingredients first. A microscale is helpful for anything under 15g to keep the recipe precise. 350 g bread flour, 150 g all purpose flour, 0.3 g instant dry yeast (.06%), 10 g sugar (2%), 13 g salt (2.5%)
2. Yeast amounts change depending on the outdoor weather (crazy I know). If the temperature is below 80°F, go with 0.06g. On hotter days (above 80°F), use 0.03-0.04g. 0.3 g instant dry yeast (.06%)
3. Add all of your dry ingredients in a bowl and mix. 0.3 g instant dry yeast (.06%), 13 g salt (2.5%), 150 g all purpose flour, 350 g bread flour, 10 g sugar (2%)
4. Add wet ingredients and mix until all dry bits are incorporated. 310 g cold water (62%), 10 g olive oil (2%)
5. Dump on a clean countertop and begin kneading for 5-7 minutes. If it's way too sticky, rest (covered) for 15-20 minutes and try again.
6. If using a mixer, add crushed ice to keep the water super cold. Crushed Ice (if using a mixer)
7. After kneading/mixing, lightly oil a container, place the dough inside, and cover. Let it rest on the counter for 30 minutes.
8. After 30 minutes, perform 4 stretch and folds by wetting your hands and folding the dough over itself in every direction 4 times.
   You'll know it's right: Each fold should be easier than the last as gluten develops. After fold 4, dough should feel slightly springy and taut on top, not slack and shapeless.
9. Cover for another 30 minutes and repeat until it passes the window pane test (example in video).
   You'll know it's right: When you stretch the dough between your thumbs and forefingers, you should see a thin translucent film for at least 2-3 inches before it tears. That's the window pane. If it tears immediately, do another fold round.
10. After passing the window pane test, cover the dough in a container with enough room to double in size. Leave on the counter for about 20 hours or so, it should double or triple in size. You should hopefully see some nice gluten strands.
    You'll know it's right: By hour 20, dough should have doubled or tripled in size. Surface should be visibly bubbly with large gas pockets. Tilt the container, dough should jiggle and you should see gluten webbing through it like a spider web. If it's flat and didn't grow, your yeast was dead or your kitchen was too cold.
11. 3-5 hours before making pizza, ball the dough. 3 doughballs = 12 inch pizzas. 2 doughballs = 16 inch pizzas.
    You'll know it's right: Each ball should be smooth and taut on top, with a sealed pinch at the bottom. After 3-5 hours of bench proof, balls should look slightly puffy and feel pillowy when poked.
12. ENJOY!

Things I've learned

• Buy a microscale. A $12-20 scale that measures to 0.01g precision is the single most important upgrade you can make for this recipe. 0.3 grams of yeast is about 10 tiny granules, if you eyeball it, you will end up with 3 grams and a dough that explodes. OXO makes a cheap one that ships in two days.
• Adjust yeast for your kitchen temperature. The 0.06% yeast recommendation assumes a 72-78°F kitchen. Above 80°F (hot summer), drop to 0.03-0.04%. Below 68°F (winter), bump to 0.08%. Your target is dough that doubles-to-triples in 20 hours, not quadruples and collapses, not fails to rise.
• Don't skip the stretch-and-folds. The window pane test is the signal, not the timer. Most batches need 2-3 rounds over 90 minutes. Testing is non-negotiable, if you try to ferment an underdeveloped dough for 20 hours, the gluten breaks down and you get soup.
• For a 16-inch pizza, make 2 balls instead of 3. Each ball ends up around 420g, perfect for a larger pie. If you want 14-inch pizzas, split the difference (2.5 balls ≈ 335g each, which you can eyeball).
• The dough gets better in the fridge if you need to hold it. Once it's fully risen at 20 hours, you can move it to the fridge for up to another 36 hours without it over-proofing. Great for when life happens and you can't bake that night.
• If you have a stand mixer, add crushed ice. Mixers generate friction heat. If your dough temperature goes above 80°F during mixing, the yeast kicks in early and you lose control of the ferment. Ice keeps it cold.
• Use this dough for any NY-style pizza. It's my base for the NY Slice, cup & char pepperoni, and garlic confit white pie. Same dough, different toppings.

Troubleshooting

Dough over-fermented and collapsed before I could bake

Too much yeast for your kitchen temperature. If your kitchen is above 78°F, drop yeast to 0.03-0.04% (~0.2g instead of 0.3g). Hot kitchens accelerate fermentation, less yeast keeps the timing right. Use a thermometer in your kitchen to dial in the exact yeast amount for your environment.

Dough didn't rise at all after 20 hours

Yeast was dead OR kitchen was too cold (below 65°F) OR you measured wrong (used 0.03g instead of 0.3g). Test yeast: 1 tsp yeast + warm water + sugar, wait 10 min, should be foamy. If not, buy fresh yeast. If kitchen is cold, bump yeast to 0.08% (~0.4g) and find a warm spot (top of fridge, oven with light on).

I don't have a microscale, can I measure the yeast another way

0.3g of instant yeast is genuinely tiny, about 1/16 of a teaspoon. Eyeballing creates 5-10x errors. A microscale is $12-20 on Amazon and ships in 2 days. There's no good workaround for this recipe. If you really can't get one, use 1/8 teaspoon as the closest volumetric measure (still imprecise, but better than guessing).

Window pane test never passed, dough kept tearing

Either flour was too low protein OR you didn't knead enough initially. Verify your bread flour is 12.5%+ protein (check the bag). Knead longer in the initial mix, 5-7 minutes is the floor. Some flours need a 4th or 5th fold round to pass window pane.

Dough was too sticky to ball

High room temp made the dough overproof, OR you over-hydrated. Use wet (not floured) hands when balling sticky dough. Don't add flour during shaping, you'll make it tough. If this keeps happening, drop water to 60% (300g) on next batch and adjust yeast slightly down.

Bumped this dough into the fridge halfway through and it never recovered

Room-temp ferment is designed for steady warm fermentation. Cold halfway kills momentum. Don't refrigerate mid-ferment. If you must hold this dough, only refrigerate AFTER it's fully risen (around hour 20). Then it'll hold another 24-36 hours without over-proofing.

FAQ

Why so little yeast? Will it actually rise?

Yes, 0.3g for 500g of flour sounds impossibly small, but over 20 hours at room temp it multiplies enough for a full rise. The tiny amount is what LETS the dough ferment for 20 hours without over-proofing. More yeast = collapse in half the time. See my hydration guide.

What if my kitchen is really cold (below 65°F)?

Bump yeast to 0.08-0.10% instead of 0.06%. You can also do the first 2 hours near a warm oven to kickstart activity, then move it to a normal room. Goal: doubled-to-tripled dough at the 20-hour mark. Warm kitchens need less yeast, cold kitchens need more.

Can I use all bread flour instead of the blend?

Yes, replace the 150g AP with 150g more bread flour. You'll get slightly more chew and a sturdier crumb. The AP addition lightens the texture; some prefer straight bread flour. See best flour for pizza dough.

Can I put this dough in the fridge mid-ferment?

Yes, but timing changes. Once visibly risen (around 15-hour mark), move it to the fridge. It holds another 24-36 hours without over-proofing. Pull 2-3 hours before balling. The cold pause actually adds flavor, similar to the 48-72 hour cold ferment technique.

Why cold water and not warm?

Slow, controlled fermentation needs slow yeast activity. Warm water kickstarts yeast, great for a 3-hour rise, disastrous for 20-hour. The dough would over-proof in 6 hours and collapse. Cold water (40-50°F) keeps yeast dormant the first few hours so the long ferment can happen.

What's the difference between this and the same-day dough?

Same-day dough uses 10-20x more yeast for a 3-4 hour rise, almost no fermentation flavor develops. This 24-hour version tastes pizzeria-quality and takes ~20 minutes of work spread across two days. If you only have hours, make same-day. If you can wait a day, make this.

My dough didn't rise enough at 20 hours. What happened?

Most common: kitchen too cold (give it another 6-12 hours). Second: dead yeast (check expiration, yeast over 6 months loses potency). Third: weighed yeast wrong (this is why microscale matters). If there are zero bubbles after 24 hours, the yeast is dead.

Can I freeze this dough after fermentation?

Yes. Once fully risen (around 20 hours), portion into balls, lightly oil each, wrap individually in plastic, freeze in a ziplock up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in fridge, then give 2-3 hours on the counter before stretching. Freezing kills some yeast but doesn't hurt flavor.

Notes

This is a room-temp ferment, do NOT put this dough in the fridge at any point. The fridge stops fermentation and the dough won't build flavor. If you need to hold it past the 24-hour mark, you can move it to the fridge ONLY after it's fully risen (around 20 hours in) and it'll hold another 24-36 hours without over-proofing.

Nutrition (1/8 of one dough ball (~52g)): 170 calories, 5g protein, 32g carbs, 2g fat.