Anyone have a fantastic homemade pizza crust recipe?

MaskedMarvel

Hi friends, I'm doing a pizza tomorrow. Anyone have a great crust for me? I want to make my own this time. I prefer a thin, crunchy crust to thick and doughy. Simple is better. Thanks everyone! This forum is the best! 8-Damien

RRP

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This recipe is courtesy of Randy Price aka AZRP on the Greeneggers forum.

It is quite simple, but tasty and the nice thing is you can roll it thin. In fact my pizza crusts using this are only 3/16” thick!

 

            2 cups bread flour

 

            1 tsp instant yeast

 

            1 T olive oil

 

            2 tsp sugar

 

            2 tsp salt

 

            ¾ cup warm water - USE good bottled spring water – NOT tap water

 

Pre-warm* the water in a bowl in the microwave to 100° to 110° and then add the yeast – NOT VICE VERSA!  Stir well and then add the sugar to proof – let it set for 10 minutes – bubbles should be forming meaning the yeast is alive and well!

 

Knead ingredients in your mixer for 15 minutes at speed of 2 ONLY.

 

Let ball of dough rest on counter for 1 hour before placing in an oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap and place in fridge overnight.

 

Remove dough an hour before you intend to bake it (RRP here: I’ve made my pizzas 3 hours in advance so I’m not sure what difference this makes)

 

Hint for rolling it thin is to use parchment paper on the bottom and cover with plastic wrap such as Saran Wrap and then roll it thin as you want.

 

Bake pizza at 500° for 11 minutes with the parchment paper still in place. Remove parchment paper for final 2 minutes of the 11 so as to firm up and brown the crust.

 

RRP here: This recipe makes enough for a 14” pizza, though I only use 2/3 of it for a 12” pizza and then make bread sticks out of the remaining 1/3.

 

* 28 seconds at 70%

Hibby

Bobby Flay's pizza dough recipe is fantastic. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/pizza-dough-recipe/index.html

Scottborasjr

Most good dough recipes require a overnight or at least a 6-8 hour resting period in the fridge.  Hope you have time to do it.  Good luck with the cook.

Skiddymarker

My goto is pretty much like @RRP simple. If done the same day, I omit the oil, if it is going to be fridged, oil is OK, I use veggie oil or Canola - my son's Italian MIL advised dough is a waste of good olive oil, but that is just a personal taste. 

Richard Fl

Here is another method.  Click on the pizza man.

http://www.greeneggers.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=761290&catid=1

RRP

Thin enough for you?

Nsdexter

The key to almost any dough is a proper rest and rise. I usually use ATKs foccia dough with no rosemary obliviously. It rests for for 24 hours allowing the years to ferment and create co2, which gives the pizza a better doughy flavour and better texture

avibug

Probably too late for today's pizza cook, but we have been using this recipe from the Forno Bravo website and getting great, thin crust -- using the Molino Caputo 00 flour has made a difference: 

http://www.fornobravo.com/pizza/pizza_dough.html 

RRP

RRP said:

Thin enough for you?

after the bake...

johnnyspo

RRP - love the caliper!

MaskedMarvel

Slight delay. Doing the RRP method. Think I already screwed up - the oil is for the bowl? I mixed it in the mixer. Oh well.. Tha k you all for some really great ideas. I've done premade pizzas before. This is my first from scratch.

ringkingpin

RRP, I would argue that's FLAT bread, not pizza lol

MrPotatohead

This is my one and only “go to” for a great pizza crust. It is a VERY forgiving dough. It can be mixed and used right away or it can be risen (proofed) once or more. <?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

MOM'S PIZZA DOUGH

Regna

This is enough dough for two (Maybe three if you’re good at tossing and stretching) 13” thin crusts

 

1 pk. Dry yeast

1 C. warm (100 F.) water

1 t. sugar

1 t. salt

2 T. olive oil

2-1/2 C. flour (all purpose, un bleached)

1/2 C. additional flour for the knead

 

1)) Dissolve the yeast in the water and let stand for about 5 minutes.

 

2)) Add all the remaining ingredients and mix well with a spoon.

 

3)) In the bowl…Add small amounts of the “kneading” flour, punching in with your fist until the dough cleanly pulls away from the sides of the bowl. This will take, more or less, about 1/2 C.

 

4)) Using you hands spread / stretch the dough to the desired shape

 

And a tip: Rub in a few drops of olive oil into your hands before placing / stretching the dough.

MaskedMarvel

Update!

First pizza TURNED OUT DELICIOUS, but I learned a valuable lesson about using parchment paper. That thing was brutalized by the pizza peel.



Next day, gave a different dough recipe a try. Pizza on parchment. And didn't try to do a 16". Just personal size. Did two, dropped one next door for a 68 birthday/50 year anniversary welcome home. Mine had extra garlic.



Amazing crust. Hotter stone and parchment ftw. Thanks everyone for going through this with me. I'll be trying everyone's dough recipes. Much much obliged.

8-Damien

Mickey

Tortillas............. yep, call me lazy but they work fine every time.

RRP

Not sure what you meant about the peel brutalizing your parchment paper, but 10 minutes into a cook I take my peel and slip it under the pie so I can remove the paper to allow crust to crisp  and brown up. 

MaskedMarvel

Sorry. I was not clear at all. I didn't use parchment on the first pizza and it stuck to the peel.

Cookinbob

I use the recipe from serious eats.  The crust is easy to work with and I can get it nice and thin.

I always use parchment paper, and find that there is no need to remove it, I get a very crispy crust.  I do not bother to trim the parchment, and it if it turns black around the edges, so what - it does not affect the cook.

macboy

Hey - sorry to unearth an old thread but had a question about Bobby Flay's dough recipe (or any for that matter)....I've used BF's in the past and found it easy and great.

We're having a "Bring your own pizza topping" party here and could be in need of being ready to fire a dozen or more pizzas one after the other. Should I make the dough one batch at a time or can I safely double it (will make the dough in food processor to save time / energy). If I can double it'd mean only three or four batches which seems much easier to contemplate than six or eight or more.

Also, as an aside....how long should I expect to be able to hold 550-600 degrees for on a full load?

morgaj1

A neat trick I like to use is to substitute molasses or sorghum for the sugar in a pizza dough recipe.

dstrbd488

I have been using this with pretty good success. I made like 20 pies following these recipes a few weeks ago for a birthday party http://www.laurainthekitchen.com/recipes/homemade-pizza/

smokeyj

I have been using this recipe and it's been great. I never had such an easy time stretching. I changed the recipe to two 16 inch pies though.

Each dough ball I use is around 15 oz with a thickness factor around .08

 

 

 

http://doughgenerator.allsimbaseball9.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=18

laserdoc85

Publix has great pizza dough. Always has it and it is over in the deli area

Zippylip

macboy said:

Hey - sorry to unearth an old thread but had a question about Bobby Flay's dough recipe (or any for that matter)....I've used BF's in the past and found it easy and great.

We're having a "Bring your own pizza topping" party here and could be in need of being ready to fire a dozen or more pizzas one after the other. Should I make the dough one batch at a time or can I safely double it (will make the dough in food processor to save time / energy). If I can double it'd mean only three or four batches which seems much easier to contemplate than six or eight or more.

Also, as an aside....how long should I expect to be able to hold 550-600 degrees for on a full load?

It sounds like you may not be sure how many pies you'll actually be making.  Couple suggestions:  Yes you can safely double the recipe you're using.  Maybe begin by doing that to get you up to the minimum number of pies you think you'll need.  Then, if after the party starts it's looking like you'll need a few more pies, do a quick batch of warm rise & pop it in your oven at about 100 degrees, you can have as many extra dough balls as you need in as little as 45 minutes.

To make it is simple, combine 4 cups of flour to 1.5 cups of water & a teaspoon each yeast, salt & sugar, knead for about 7 minutes & split into 3 pieces.  They'll be ready to hit the egg after about 30 minutes in the 100 degree environment.  Of course double that if you need 6 more pies.

As for the timing question, at 550-600 your pies should be coming off every 8 minutes or so; so if you're efficient & have the next one ready to go on quickly you should be able to rip through a dozen pies with no problem on a full load of lump.

HDumptyEsq

+1 for Publix or Emeril Lugasse's recipe on Foodnetwork.com.

Here's Publix  done a couple weeks ago;-

njl

Mr. Potatohead's recipe is very close to what I've been doing...and family routine has meant that I've made a pizza a week for the past couple of years, using this recipe with minor adjustments along the way.  The only differences between "Mom's recipe" and mine:

I use 3 T olive oil.
I use a mix of unbleached AP flour and white whole wheat. I think mixing the flours improves the color and texture of the crust.  I've even experimented and used entirely spelt flour...that was different.  It worked (was one of the easiest ones ever to stretch out), but was more crumbly than I'd like.
I use a little squirt of honey instead of sugar.  It doesn't take much to feed the yeast.
After mixing by hand in a bowl using a sturdy fork, I hand knead on the granite counter top, adding flour as needed until the dough is no longer sticky.

While this can be used almost immediately after mixing, it improves considerably if you give it more time.  My usual is mix it up the night before.  Put in the fridge (in an oiled covered bowl).  Punch down in the morning.  Put back in the fridge.  Remove from fridge at least an hour (more is better) before you want to cook.  Punch down again 10min before you're going to press/stretch it into a crust.  I do the pressing/stretching on a floured counter top...then transfer to parchment.  Punch all over with a fork to avoid making a giant pita bread.  If making the same day, after kneading, let it rise in an oiled bowl 90min, punch down, give it another 30-60 min, punch down, let rest 10min, and stretch it out.

Bake on a heated stone at 425F.  There's no need to remove the parchment...and having it in place means you don't need a peel...just a flat baking sheet.  I pre-bake 2 minutes, add sauce and toppings, then bake another 13-14 minutes.

As for the water temperature...I agree with the temp...but the microwave time/power will vary greatly depending on your initial water temp and microwave wattage.  Use your thermopen to make sure the water is warm enough, but not too hot.

This 2.5C flour recipe makes 1 roughly 16" pizza for me (which I'll cut into 10 slices...2 slices per meal.  I've halved it before, making one "personal" sized pizza that was really 2 meals worth.  I don't see why you couldn't also scale it up, as long as you don't exceed the capacity of whatever you're mixing in (large bowl by hand, Kitchenaid, etc.).  A typical Kitchenaid probably wouldn't do well with more than a doubling of this recipe (5C flour).

danv23

morgaj1 said:

A neat trick I like to use is to substitute molasses or sorghum for the sugar in a pizza dough recipe.

I've had better luck with Agave Nectar.