The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

My Best Pizza Crust So Far!

espinocm's picture
espinocm

My Best Pizza Crust So Far!

Over the past few years I have tried countless pizza dough recipes on my quest for what I consider the perfect pizza crust. Two weeks ago I tried yet another recipe and although it was the closest one so far, it still was not "the one.” Being that close only encouraged me more to continue my search which led me to The Fresh Loaf and more specifically to SylviaH, where I found a picture of exactly what I had in mind, her “Thin Crispy Crust on pizza.” Interestingly enough, that particular pizza was made using the same recipe I used that got me the closest but the way I got to Sylvia's pizza was by googling, "bubbly thin crisp pizza crust" so I decided it was the meant to be recipe; however, I needed to perfect it. Since some of the ingredients in the recipe have different options (table salt or kosher salt; bread, all-purpose or high-gluten flour; sugar or honey; etc.), I wrote Sylvia to ask her which ingredients she used to make this particular crust. She promptly wrote me back and provided me with the information I wanted and so this past weekend I made pizzas and I finally got exactly what I have wanted!

These two pizza crusts were made using Neo-Neapolitan Pizza Dough recipe from PR American Pie book with the following ingredients: KAAP, clover honey, fine sea salt, IADY, olive oil and spring water. I mixed the dough by hand; however, during the second mix, I had to mix a little longer than 2 to 3 minutes as stated in the recipe directions. I mixed the dough until it passed the windowpane test. I immediately divided the dough into four balls, let them rest at room temperature for 15 minutes and then put two in the refrigerator and two in the freezer. The next day, I removed the dough from the refrigerator 2 hours before I planned on using it, heated oven to 550F and heated stone on the bottom rack for 1 hour. Rubbed the pizza peel with flour, shaped the dough as Sylvia stated in one of her posts, “…shaped between my two palms and flipped back and forth over my wrists and gently stretched in my hands…,” placed dough on peel, topped, baked for 6 minutes, as suggested by Sylvia, placed them on cardboard when they were done and I also brushed the crowns with a little olive oil.

Pizza 1: brushed dough with garlic infused olive oil and topped with Italian blend cheese, provolone, parmesan, feta and pesto sauce. The Italian blend had provolone and parmesan but I had some extra so I put it on the pizza.

Four Cheese Pesto Pizza

Pizza 2: a little tomato sauce and topped with sausage, Canadian bacon, pepperoni, onions, mushrooms, black olives and Italian blend cheese.

Supreme Pizza

Thank you TFL and Sylvia for helping me achieve my goal of finding the perfect pizza dough recipe! And just in time! Now I can make and store dough in the freezer and concentrate my efforts on other things I usually make around this time of year such as tamales which can take most of a weekend and on some other breads I want to try.

Christi - Oklahoma City, Ok

Comments

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

Your Welcome, : ) The pizza's look amazing, what delicious toppings!  You can be very proud of these pies, it takes more than just a recipe to make a great pizza!  I came by the TFL the same as you....looking to make delicious pizza's and that was just the beginning.

Sylvia   

espinocm's picture
espinocm

Thank you! The supreme pizza didn’t bubble as much as the cheese and pesto pizza because it was a little heavier. Keith, my husband likes a lot toppings and even though I tired to keep it light, I don’t think I made it light enough but it was still a great pizza. I have other bread recipes lined up that I want to try so I have more to come :-)

Christi

LeeYong's picture
LeeYong

Wow! They look amazing! Can you share the recipe with us? Would love to give this one a try!

Happy baking!

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

this recipe from 'American Pie by PR' in the recipe list to the left, under 'A Pizza Primer'.

espinocm's picture
espinocm

Thank you!

The recipe is as follows:

5 cups KAAP (plus a little extra for my hands while shaping and to lightly rub on pizza peel)

1 Tablespoon clover honey

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

1 teaspoon instant yeast

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 3/4 cups plus 1 Tablespoon spring water (plus a little extra to dip my hands in while mixing)

I mixed all of the dry ingredients first and then added the rest of the ingredients.  I mixed by hand for 4 minutes, let rest for 5 minutes and then continued mixing until the dough passed the windowpane test.  I divided into 4 balls, rubbed with oil, put in bags, placed 2 in the refrig and 2 in the freezer.  The next day I took the 2 balls out of the refrig 2 hours before using.  I heated the over to 550F and the stone for an hour at 550F.  Lightly floured the peel, shapped the dough by tossing back and forth, topped, baked for 6 minutes, put on cardboard and lightly brushed with olive oil.

Enjoy!

Christi

belle's picture
belle

Hi Christi..

I have tried at least 50 pizza dough recipes and finally found great success with yours..I was wondering if I would get the same results with KA Bread flour...

I loved the texture that the all purpose flour gave it but would even like it more if it had some texture and wholes..what do you think? 

How long can you keep this dough in the refridgerator?

If I put it directly into the freezer after making it, does it effect the dough in anyway?

Thanks so much..you are a genius..

Belle

 

foodslut's picture
foodslut

Discovered the pesto+feta combo a while back, and is it EVERY savoury-tasty - kinda encourages one to drink.  Great job - thanks for sharing the info.

espinocm's picture
espinocm

This is actually my second favorite pizza but with all of the dough recipes I have been trying, I wanted a change from my favorite: garlic infused olive oil (instead of a tomato sauce), topped with sausage, a variety of sautéed mushrooms, sautéed onions, black olives and Italian blend cheese and then finished with Italian herb seasoned olive oil brushed on the crown.

GSnyde's picture
GSnyde

you can't lose.

Looks beautiful!

Glenn

espinocm's picture
espinocm

Thank you for the compliment!

Christi

Amori's picture
Amori

Agreed,

After so many trials, this recipe seems to be our family's favorite......

good job!

espinocm's picture
espinocm

It's definitely a keeper!

rhomp2002's picture
rhomp2002

My oven has a top temp of 500F.  It also has a convection capability.  I was wondering what would happen if I used 500F with convection.   Wonder what the equivalent Fahrenheit would be for baking and what affect the convection would have on pizza.

SylviaH's picture
SylviaH

I always leave the convection heat on when baking my pizza's indoors...my oven heats to 550F and that's the temperature I bake my pizza.  My oven with convection on is about 10 degrees hotter than when set at the same temperature on regular bake oven.  The reason why I like convection setting for one reason, is it mimics the natural convection action of a wood fired oven, when it has a fire going for the pizza's a wfo oven works in a covection manner rolling the heat around the oven, that's why the fire in a wfo is pushed to one side of the oven walls, with a large flame/fire going you can see the rolling flames over the rounded dome of the oven, this action also helps heat the floor/walls, all of the oven.  This is why wfo  have a rounded dome.

Sylvia

wmtimm627's picture
wmtimm627

My Bosch has a top temperature of 525F. Unfortunately, it has a hard time maintaining that temp while in convection mode. I've found that 525F with a stone is more than adequate for making the small pies for myself. I've grown quite fond of Van Over's recipe with about 100g of semolina substituted for AP.

highmtnpam's picture
highmtnpam

Those look sooo wonderful  Thanks for the recipe.  Pam

espinocm's picture
espinocm

but the credit goes SylviaH and PR :-)  I couldn't have done it without them!  Christi