First Time Pizza Dough Question

tarheelforever · June 2009

I've never made dough in my life so looking for a simple, easy recipe. Don't have a fancy mixer only a hand mixer and my two hands.

Help a brother out and make me a hero.

Thanks in advance...

Florida Grillin Girl · June 2009

Zippylip makes a great dough. Here is the link, scroll down to his pictorial.

http://www.eggheadforum.com/index.php?option=com_simpleboard&func=view&id=547684&catid=1

Faith
Tampa

Carbonizer · June 2009

Try pizzamaking.com

Plenty of info there--

AZRP · June 2009

2 cups flour
3/4 cup warm water
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tsp salt
4 tsp sugar
i tsp olive oil

Mix everything together in a bowl with a large spoon. Turn the dough out on to a lightly floured surface and knead for 15 minutes. Knead by pushing the dough away from you flattening it the fold it over and repeat. When the dough becomes smooth shape it into a tight ball. Place it in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. When it has doubled in size, about an hour, punch it down and shape your pizza. -RP

407BGE · June 2009

What you decide for dough depends on how you plan to cook. What works great at 400 degrees and in a pizza pan does not work on a pizza stone at 600 degrees.

I think that there is no such thing as being too hot and like to cook mine at 650+ dome with pizza stone as high up in the dome as you can get. The crust is much better than the local pizzeria and more like pizza that I've had in Italy.

Also its much easier to get consistent dough using weights rather than volume as flour can be packed tight or not packed tight. Here is the best that I have found

500 grams bread flour ( or better yet Caputo Tipo 00 pizza flour)
325 grams water (65% hydration)
10 grams salt
3 grams active dry yeast

First, mix the flour and water, and let it rest for about 20 minutes. Using a stand mixer set a low speed (use #2 for a minute or two, go to #4, then back to #2 with a KitchenAid mixer), blend the water and flour until you have reached a dough ball. It should take a couple of minutes. Once you have incorporated all of the flour, stop, and let everything rest for 20 minutes. This period will allow the flour to fully absorb the water. I have done this by hand more than once and its a pretty low effort dough.

Next, add the salt and yeast, and knead the dough for 10 minutes. This kneading is best done by hand but you can use a stand mixer.

Then, make a large dough ball, and let the dough rest at room temperature for 90 minutes. It should have doubled.

Then, cut the dough into four balls (about 215g each). Shape the pizza balls, and set them on a floured surface to rest for at least 30 minutes. If you start in the morning or the night before, make your dough balls in advance and put them in the refrigerator.

If you use bread flour (or better yet Caputo Tipo 00 flour) and the moist (65% hydrated) recipe, and you handle your dough gently, you will reward you with a supple, silkly pizza base that is easy to shape, springs in the egg, and tastes great.

I then cook for about 3 minutes at as hot as I can get my egg after preheating the stone for at least 45 minutes.

Good luck !

Aron · June 2009

I agree that the type of flour and a high hydration makes a big difference. I don't know where to find Caputo flour other than the internet, and it's relatively expensive from what I've seen. If I can find a cheaper source, I'd love to try it. I found this recipe which simulates the Italian flours by mixing all purpose flour with cake or pastry flour (lowers the protein and gluten content vs just using all purpose flour).

As 407BGE said, handle dough gently--this means stretch or throw by hand--don't use a rolling pin--if you want the nice springy crust.

While it probably is better to use weights instead of volume, I don't have an accurate scale, so measuring cups have been just fine for me.

1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 1/4 cups warm water
1 cup pastry or cake flour
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (plus a little extra to knead)
2 teaspoons salt
Olive oil, to grease the bowl during rising

The full recipe is here:
http://www.cooksrecipes.com/bread/neopolitan-pizza-dough-recipe.html

I like to cook it between 650-700 (I don't have a specified cooking time--anywhere between 2-5 minutes depending on how it's looking--I cook until it looks done).

emilluca · June 2009

The dough will be sticky at first and as you knead using a little flour you will have the dough come together. It does take about 15 minutes to get it where it needs to be. Let rise and hour then pinch down form into the shape you want and go. If the dough is shrinking back on itself let it rest awhile the gluten is holding on.
E

Darnoc · June 2009

I just can't figure out where you are coming from on that comment.I thought that I read the question how do I mix up the pie dough without a Kitchen Aid etc. I don't that tarheelforever has a clue as to what you are talking about.All he needed to know is how to do it in a bowel,your hands and a floured surface to knead it out..

Judy Mayberry · June 2009

Whatever dough recipe you choose, the flavor will be MUCH better and easier to handle if you let it rise for several hours or overnight in the refrigerator. That's a promise.

And invest in some INSTANT YEAST (not active dry yeast)...you don't have to put it in warm water and wait till it bubbles. You just mix it in with the dry ingredients and off you go.

Judy
San Diego, CA

Judy Mayberry · June 2009

Oooooh, I wouldn't want to do it in THAT container! :unsure:

tarheelforever · June 2009

Thanks to everyone. It took me awhile to come back to my thread. (Work is tough sometimes)

I will give it a whirl tonight and let you know how it goes.

First Time Pizza Dough Question

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