Pizza Dough Plan

There are lots of differing recipes for pizza dough. Please report back how well this one works. It does seem like the initial room temp rise is very long. I usually see a first rise of 1-2 hours for doughs that will be refrigerated for a slow rise.

I do what this guy says.  He's clearly spend his life mastering pizza making.
http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm
Here's the part of pizza making that I pay most attention to:

• Autolyse - Autolyse is a fancy word that just means one simple thing. The flour and water should sit together for at least 20 minutes before kneading begins.  It's a CRITICAL step. Some say that you should mix just the flour and water together, then after 20 minutes add the salt and yeast, then mix. Others say you can add all the ingredients at the beginning. I have found very little difference.

  • Pour all the ingredients into the mixer, except just use 75% of the flour for now. So all of the water, salt, Instant dry Yeast (if used)  and 75%  of the flour are put into the mixer.  Everything should be room temperature or a bit cooler.

  • There is no need to dissolve the yeast in warm water or feed it sugar. 'Proofing' the yeast was probably required decades ago, but I've never had yeast that didn't activate. The yeast feeds on the flour so you don't need to put in sugar. The proofing step that you see in many recipes is really an old wives tale at this point.

  • Mix on lowest speed for 1-2 minutes or until completely blended. At this stage you should have a mix that is drier  than a batter, but wetter  than a dough. Closer to batter probably. 

  • Cover and Let it rest for 20 minutes. One of the most important things I've found is that these rest periods have a huge impact on the final product. I've seen so much arguing online about the proper flour for making pizza. "You need super high protein flour to get the right structure for a pizza dough". People argue endlessly about brands and minor changes in flour blends, types of water, etc. A lot of this is myth and a big waste of time. The autolyse period is FAR more important to creating structured gluten development than is the starting protein percentage. Autolyse and knead properly and AP flour will produce a great pizza with a lot of structure. Do these steps poorly and bread or high gluten flour will not help you at ALL. This step reminds me of mixing pie dough. After you add the water to pie dough, it's crumbly. But after sitting for 20 minutes, it's a dough. The water takes time to soak in, and when it does it transforms the pie dough. It's really a similar thing here with pizza dough

ChokeOnSmoke said:

I do what this guy says.  He's clearly spend his life mastering pizza making.
http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm
Here's the part of pizza making that I pay most attention to:

• Autolyse - Autolyse is a fancy word that just means one simple thing. The flour and water should sit together for at least 20 minutes before kneading begins.  It's a CRITICAL step. Some say that you should mix just the flour and water together, then after 20 minutes add the salt and yeast, then mix. Others say you can add all the ingredients at the beginning. I have found very little difference.

  • Pour all the ingredients into the mixer, except just use 75% of the flour for now. So all of the water, salt, Instant dry Yeast (if used)  and 75%  of the flour are put into the mixer.  Everything should be room temperature or a bit cooler.

  • There is no need to dissolve the yeast in warm water or feed it sugar. 'Proofing' the yeast was probably required decades ago, but I've never had yeast that didn't activate. The yeast feeds on the flour so you don't need to put in sugar. The proofing step that you see in many recipes is really an old wives tale at this point.

  • Mix on lowest speed for 1-2 minutes or until completely blended. At this stage you should have a mix that is drier  than a batter, but wetter  than a dough. Closer to batter probably. 

  • Cover and Let it rest for 20 minutes. One of the most important things I've found is that these rest periods have a huge impact on the final product. I've seen so much arguing online about the proper flour for making pizza. "You need super high protein flour to get the right structure for a pizza dough". People argue endlessly about brands and minor changes in flour blends, types of water, etc. A lot of this is myth and a big waste of time. The autolyse period is FAR more important to creating structured gluten development than is the starting protein percentage. Autolyse and knead properly and AP flour will produce a great pizza with a lot of structure. Do these steps poorly and bread or high gluten flour will not help you at ALL. This step reminds me of mixing pie dough. After you add the water to pie dough, it's crumbly. But after sitting for 20 minutes, it's a dough. The water takes time to soak in, and when it does it transforms the pie dough. It's really a similar thing here with pizza dough

Do you think this recipe would work with the Caputo 00 flour?

QDude said:

ChokeOnSmoke said:

I do what this guy says.  He's clearly spend his life mastering pizza making.
http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm
Here's the part of pizza making that I pay most attention to:

• Autolyse - Autolyse is a fancy word that just means one simple thing. The flour and water should sit together for at least 20 minutes before kneading begins.  It's a CRITICAL step. Some say that you should mix just the flour and water together, then after 20 minutes add the salt and yeast, then mix. Others say you can add all the ingredients at the beginning. I have found very little difference.

  • Pour all the ingredients into the mixer, except just use 75% of the flour for now. So all of the water, salt, Instant dry Yeast (if used)  and 75%  of the flour are put into the mixer.  Everything should be room temperature or a bit cooler.

  • There is no need to dissolve the yeast in warm water or feed it sugar. 'Proofing' the yeast was probably required decades ago, but I've never had yeast that didn't activate. The yeast feeds on the flour so you don't need to put in sugar. The proofing step that you see in many recipes is really an old wives tale at this point.

  • Mix on lowest speed for 1-2 minutes or until completely blended. At this stage you should have a mix that is drier  than a batter, but wetter  than a dough. Closer to batter probably. 

  • Cover and Let it rest for 20 minutes. One of the most important things I've found is that these rest periods have a huge impact on the final product. I've seen so much arguing online about the proper flour for making pizza. "You need super high protein flour to get the right structure for a pizza dough". People argue endlessly about brands and minor changes in flour blends, types of water, etc. A lot of this is myth and a big waste of time. The autolyse period is FAR more important to creating structured gluten development than is the starting protein percentage. Autolyse and knead properly and AP flour will produce a great pizza with a lot of structure. Do these steps poorly and bread or high gluten flour will not help you at ALL. This step reminds me of mixing pie dough. After you add the water to pie dough, it's crumbly. But after sitting for 20 minutes, it's a dough. The water takes time to soak in, and when it does it transforms the pie dough. It's really a similar thing here with pizza dough

Do you think this recipe would work with the Caputo 00 flour?

I use Caputo 00, but acccording to Jeff's research, it doesn't seem to make a huge difference which one you use.

Bookmarked. Lots of great dough advice!!  

ChokeOnSmoke said:

I do what this guy says.  He's clearly spend his life mastering pizza making.
http://www.varasanos.com/PizzaRecipe.htm
Here's the part of pizza making that I pay most attention to:

• Autolyse - Autolyse is a fancy word that just means one simple thing. The flour and water should sit together for at least 20 minutes before kneading begins.  It's a CRITICAL step. Some say that you should mix just the flour and water together, then after 20 minutes add the salt and yeast, then mix. Others say you can add all the ingredients at the beginning. I have found very little difference.

  • Pour all the ingredients into the mixer, except just use 75% of the flour for now. So all of the water, salt, Instant dry Yeast (if used)  and 75%  of the flour are put into the mixer.  Everything should be room temperature or a bit cooler.

  • There is no need to dissolve the yeast in warm water or feed it sugar. 'Proofing' the yeast was probably required decades ago, but I've never had yeast that didn't activate. The yeast feeds on the flour so you don't need to put in sugar. The proofing step that you see in many recipes is really an old wives tale at this point.

  • Mix on lowest speed for 1-2 minutes or until completely blended. At this stage you should have a mix that is drier  than a batter, but wetter  than a dough. Closer to batter probably. 

  • Cover and Let it rest for 20 minutes. One of the most important things I've found is that these rest periods have a huge impact on the final product. I've seen so much arguing online about the proper flour for making pizza. "You need super high protein flour to get the right structure for a pizza dough". People argue endlessly about brands and minor changes in flour blends, types of water, etc. A lot of this is myth and a big waste of time. The autolyse period is FAR more important to creating structured gluten development than is the starting protein percentage. Autolyse and knead properly and AP flour will produce a great pizza with a lot of structure. Do these steps poorly and bread or high gluten flour will not help you at ALL. This step reminds me of mixing pie dough. After you add the water to pie dough, it's crumbly. But after sitting for 20 minutes, it's a dough. The water takes time to soak in, and when it does it transforms the pie dough. It's really a similar thing here with pizza dough

Let me be the next to thank you for posting this link.  I have been wanting to up my game with my pizza dough for a while.  Thus far I have been nibbling around the edges, making a few small modifications, without any significant changes in the end product.  I've been reading another forum on pizza making and they are really fanatical about certain things that this guy says aren't as important as some would say they are.  Some of it seemed a bit ridiculous but I was actually considering buying a scale to make sure my measurements are perfect.  It sounds like that is a bit over the top.  

One stupid question I have:  What do you do to take the pizza on and off the egg?  I typically cook around 450 or 500, using a baking stone, and I load up the pizza on the stone before I put it on the grill, then remove it along with the baking stone.  If I try to cook my next pie at 600 or higher, I think the stone will be too hot to handle.  So I have considered buying a pizza peel, but I have worried about transitioning the pizza from the peel to the hot grill without it falling apart.  I also bought one of those perforated metal plates to cook on, my first attempt with that method was OK but not really an improvement on what I usually do.  

Just curious to hear from you and others as to how you approach this.  

You need to use a pizza peel to slide the pizza onto the preheated stone. The stone needs to be throughly preheated before cooking on it. Never handle a hot pizza stone.  The pizza will slide off the peel - it just takes a little practice and something between the dough and the peel to reduce the drag (semolina, cornmeal, or parchment paper).   

TTUEgghead said:

One stupid question I have:  What do you do to take the pizza on and off the egg?  I typically cook around 450 or 500, using a baking stone, and I load up the pizza on the stone before I put it on the grill, then remove it along with the baking stone.  If I try to cook my next pie at 600 or higher, I think the stone will be too hot to handle.  So I have considered buying a pizza peel, but I have worried about transitioning the pizza from the peel to the hot grill without it falling apart.  I also bought one of those perforated metal plates to cook on, my first attempt with that method was OK but not really an improvement on what I usually do.  

Just curious to hear from you and others as to how you approach this.  

I use a wooden pizza peel.  Slap some flour on it and rub it in with your hand.  I don't use parchment paper as I've never had one stick.  As long as you have your ingredients all cut up and ready to go and assemble your pie in a few minutes time, you should be fine.  I give the peel a little shake ever so often just to make sure it's not sticking.  Once assembled, slide it right onto the hot pizza stone.  You want to preheat your stone for a while before putting the wet dough on it (then it won't stick).  I'm up to 45 minutes of preheating before I slide the uncooked pizza on.