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A Pizza Primer
The dough at most neighborhood pizza joints contains a few more ingredients. Fats are added to make the dough more supple, and sugars are added to feed the yeast and give the bread a touch of sweetness. I suggest that home bakers begin with a simple, versatile pizza dough recipe like the one below. Once you've got that under control you can experiment to find something more to your liking. Realize that you are going to give your pizza a lot more TLC than the employees at most chain pizza places do. If teenagers working at Dominos for 6 bucks an hour can make a decent pizza, you shouldn't have any problem doing it yourself at home! This is the Neo-Neapolitan Pizza Dough from Peter Reinhart's American Pie. It is a low-yeast, slow-rising dough with enough suppleness to make it easy to work with. I find it to be the most versatile dough recipe I've come across. At the end of this article I will talk about how to modify it to better match your preference in pizza dough style. But, first things first:
Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon or mix in an electric mixer. After you've combined all of the ingredients, set the dough aside to rest for 5 minutes. Stir again for 3 to 5 minutes, adding more water or flour if necessary. Generally speaking, you want the dough to be wetter and stickier than your typical bread dough. It should be dry enough that it holds together and pulls away from the side of the bowl when you mix it, but it doesn't need to be dry enough to knead by hand. Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Place each one into an oiled freezer bag. I just squirt a couple of sprays of spray oil into the bag. You can also brush the outside of the dough with olive oil and then place it into the bag. All that matters is that you be able to get the dough out of the bag later. If you aren't going to bake them that day, you can throw the bags into the freezer. They'll stay good in there for at least a month. The evening before you intend to bake them, move the frozen dough balls to the refrigerator to thaw. If you intend to bake them later that day, place the bagged dough balls in the refrigerator. Remove them from the fridge and let them warm to room temperature an hour or two before you intend to bake them. Remember that, as a baker, time is your friend: longer, slower rises at reduced temperature result in better tasting bread. But sometimes you don't have the luxury of time - that is OK; this dough will still work well if only given an hour or so to rise at room temperature. Allowing pizza dough to rise is more about giving the yeast time to bring flavors out of the wheat than it is about leavening. Most of the leavening occurs when you put the active dough into the hot oven, so you don't need to wait until the dough balls double in size. Surely you can prepare the dough an hour before baking, can't you? That'll give you time to make the sauce, grate the cheese, and get the oven hot. Speaking of which, it is time to put together a sauce. Getting Saucy Once again, there are a million different pizza sauces. If you already have one you like, feel free to stick with it. Or consider doing something totally different, like using pesto or barbecue sauce instead of a tomato sauce. I throw this recipe out because it takes under 3 minutes to make and is quite good. Once again, it is from Peter Reinhart's pizza book.
Stir everything together. If the tomatoes are too chunky, break them up with your fingers. Fresh tomatoes or herbs can be substituted for canned tomatoes and dried herbs. The fresh tomatoes don't even need to be cooked first, since the time in the oven baking is enough to cook them. Shaping I am not experienced enough to do the whole "throw the pizza into the air" thing. My technique for shaping the dough is extremely simple. I pick up a ball of dough and gentle stretch it into a circle. Once I've got a circle four or five inches across, I hold it up by the edge and, while rotating it, let the weight of the rest of the dough pull it down to stretch it out. When I start feeling resistance in the dough, I set it down on a lightly greased plate to rest for 5 or 10 minutes. Then I pick it up again and stretch it a little thinner before lying it down to add the toppings. I like to stretch my dough quite thin, until it is almost transparent. If you like thicker pizza dough then, obviously, don't stretch it out so much. You can use rolling pin to shape the dough. Doing so results in a more uniform dough with numerous small holes. I personally like the dough to be thinner in the center than the edge and to have a thicker, bready crown full of large irregular holes around the outside. This effect is difficult to achieve with rolling pin, but if that suits your taste then go for it. Topping and Preparing for Baking Before you put the toppings on the dough, you need to know on what surface you intend to bake the pizza. If you have a pizza stone, it should be put in the oven and getting hot (450 or 500 degrees) by now. If not, the back of a cookie sheet works fine. If you are going to try transferring your pizza from one surface (like a peel or a cookie sheet) to another (like a hot pizza stone), I strongly recommend using parchment paper under the pizza. Particularly if you are going to add a lot of toppings to the pie: the extra weight pressing down tends to make the dough stick to the surface you dressed it on. You could also try to sprinkle corn meal or semolina flour on the surface hoping that will be enough to let you slide the dough without sticking - in my experience, though, it rarely is; I've had many pizzas end up looking like roadkill because they wouldn't to come off the peel smoothly. I've cut the number of swear words I use in the kitchen in half just by springing for a 5 dollar roll of baking parchment and placing a piece of it under the pizza. I just grab a corner of the paper and tug it into place when it is time to slide the pizza into the oven. Much, much simpler. Whatever surface you decide to dress the pizza on, sprinkle it with corn meal or semolina flour and spread the dough over it. Add the sauce, the grated cheese (typically mozarella and parmesan, but there is no reason you can't improvise), and toppings. Baking As I mentioned earlier, most of the rise you get from pizza dough actually happens in the oven. Professional pizza ovens are much hotter than home ovens. At home you typically want to make pizza at the highest temperature that your oven can safely handle, like 450 or 500 degrees. Baking on a pizza stone will give your dough a little more pop when it gets in the oven but it is not necessary to make good pizza. If not the lowest shelf, then the second to lowest is probably the best place to bake your pie. You want the pizza to be as close to the heat source as is possible without burning. But every oven is different, so adjust accordly. Place the pizza in the hot oven, close the door, and let it bake for 5 minutes. Check it every minute or two until the cheese is melted and the dough looks baked. In my oven with the size pizzas I make, I bake them for 7 to 9 minutes. Pull them out, slice them, and eat! The Pizza Spectrum As I mentioned, there are dozens of dough recipes for the endless different styles of pizza. The most traditional recipe includes nothing but flour, yeast, salt, and water. Adding a little bit of oil makes the dough more supple so that it can be stretched easier and is softer to the bite. Adding a touch of sugar gives the yeast something to snack on. And more yeast can be added to guarantee a rise even for heavily topped pies. Some general recommendations, based on a couple of the more popular styles of crust:
Any of the other techniques you've learned for baking bread can be adapted for pizza: sourdough, the sponge method, including whole wheat flour, even grilling, which I will write about when the weather warms up. So use your imagination! If other folks have dough recipes they've had good experience with, I'd love to have them share them below. Please specify what style dough it makes.
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Re: A Pizza Primer
WOW...your pizza looks if it was baked in a brick oven 8-). . Actually i was planing to buy this book ;-) plus a pizza stone and peel. i`ve tried a recipe from the ITALIAN BAKER and a recipe from FINE COOKING magazine(using pizza pans with holes) ... I`m searching for the best pizza dough. I can hardly wait to try this delicious recipe.
Did you use a pizza stone and a peel to bake this pizza??
TIP: I once read if you want the look of a resturant pizza, brush the edges of your pizza with olive oil when you pull it out from the oven.
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Re: A Pizza Primer
Video Clip: http://www.taunton.com/finecooking/pages/cvt033.asp.
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Re: A Pizza Primer
Did you use a pizza stone and a peel to bake this pizza??
I did, but as I said, I've had really good luck in the past just using the back of a cookie sheet.
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Re: A Pizza Primer
We really enjoyed the recipe for the dough AND the sauce! I had a little trouble with leaving the dough too sticky, but I think that is just something I learned from making the mistake. Still everything turned out perfectly! We made pizzas on Friday night and Sunday night, from the one recipe. We even had a few pieces left over from Friday night,reheated them Sunday night, and they even reheated super well! I can't wait to do this again! :-D
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Re: A Pizza Primer
Glad to hear it turned out well.
Yeah, sticky dough takes practice to handle. A little flour on your hands can help, or a little extra olive oil on the outside of the dough. You can make it drier but you really want it to be as wet as you can handle so that it'll stretch real easily.
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Re: A Pizza Primer
My husband and I LOVE to make our own pizzas and we do it quite often (something about meeting each other in Italy I assume) and I tried this dough recipe tonight and it is my new pizza dough recipe. I actually made it is my mixer, I usually always make is by hand, and though a little sticky it turned out great. I added just a tough of extra flour and kneaded is for about 2 mins just to combine well. We baked them on the bake of a cookiie sheet but I definately want to try our stone next!
I also love how this recipe makes enough for two nights of dinner! No more frozen pizzas for us!
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Amazing pizza!
I tried that pizza recipe too and i will have to agree with the last comment, it's delicious. I have always had a hard time making good pizza, i'm not quite sure why. It tastes great when i buy it from the restaurant, but i always had problems making it myself. But with that recipe, it feels like it comes out of a brick oven hahah :)
My beef recipes!
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Excellent dough
We just made this pizza dough and it turned out excellently. We've got hungry men over for dinner, so we just made the bases and let them top them how they liked. It worked really well! We also did a plain one with olive oil, herbs and salt. Very tasty.
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pizza primer
Elagins@sbcglobal.net
i generally use a local (southern california) wild-yeast starter that i built and make about a 65% water/breadflour dough, with about 2% salt. Per Peter Reinhart, I also bag my dough, but let it slow ferment overnight in the fridge before I freeze it. With that long ferment, I get gorgeous gluten chains,which lets me make my crusts ultra-thin. Lately, I've also been playing with a softer thicker crust, more like Sicilian ... add 5% olive oil and reduce the water accordingly.
Incidentally, I discovered that a generous dusting of semolina is usually more than enough to prevent sticking on the peel ... and I make sure the dough is free by wiggling it on the peel before I dress it.
I bake mine on one of those great made in Taiwan rectangular stones at 550 for 7-9 minutes, depending on the thickness of the crust.
Enjoy!!!
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I recently purchased Peter
I recently purchased Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice and American Pie. I must say the crust and sauces are wonderful. Little work and tons of flavor. As for baking on stones, I've filled my little electric oven with unglazed quarry tile. It seems to do wonderfully in creating an extra crispy crust. And the best part, it only cost me $17 to get enough tile to create a 1" thinkness on top and bottom. I usually do 1" on the bottom and 1/2" on top though, saving the extra six for when I inevitably break one.
Here my question, has anyone used the Super Peel? (www.superpeel.com) I'm seriously thinking about purchasing one. I can work with semolina/cornmeal just fine but would like something a little easier if possible.
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Super Peel
I use a Super Peel for my bread baking and consider it to be among my most valuable baking tools. I think of it as a mini oven loader for the home baker.
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Been far from USA would like
Superpeel cool tool created by a guy that calls himself Gaspar AKA Pizza Meister. Too expensive to consider so been far from USA shiping costs will kill me.
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Pricing
Ricardo,
You are correct about the shipping. Just sent one to Australia and shipping alone was 36.90. But, I have shipped all over the globe. I have a work-around which can make this product available to anyone/anywhere for only a very small surcharge over the advertized price. If you are interested, you can contact me for details.
Pizzameister
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I sure will
I sure will Pizzameister
Thank you
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Dough to thin
I made this dough earlier in the week and froze it. We ended up eating some last night and the taste was great, but one problem I had was that the dough wasn't elastic enough. Just picking it up caused it to stretch paper thin and the pizza ended up more like a roman pizza than one that has a thicker crust.
Is this normal for this dough? What would be the best way to make the crust a little thicker and chewier without altering the flavor to much? It was almost impossible not to get the dough paper thin.
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Re: A Pizza Primer
I just had to try these recipes. I made half the recipe and did one fresh pizza and placed the other ball of dough in the freezer to see how well it will work later. I'm not sure how much later I'll be able to go though because I really enjoyed my finished product. The dough was easy to work with and my only personal taste would be to add perhaps a bit more sugar. I like a bit of a sweet taste to my bread.
This was my first attempt at these recipes but I'm sure I'll be experimenting some with this in the near future. I liked the sauce recipe as well. I used basically the sauce, bell peppers, onions, mozarella cheese and topped mine with some sliced tomato as well.
As things would go, as soon as I cut a slice and sat down the phone rang. I ended up having to reheat the pizza about 45 minutes later but it was still very good. Thanks for the recipes and the photo's to guide me along as well. I love this website!!!
"We're Making Footprints In The Sand"
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wow i got to give this a
wow i got to give this a try but even if this bans me for life domino is not good pizza the dough is too spongy and the sauce taste like chemical stew and now they are advertising bklyn style even in new york pizza in new york
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Floydm-dinner was to be
Floydm-dinner was to be seared tuna and a salad...we now have pizza dough in the fridge...I blame the picture!! Too good to pass by.
Thank you..I think....
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Pizza Cooking Tip
This is what I do
Stretch the pizza dough out on a floured surface to get the shape you want, roll it then around a rolling pin and then onto a teflon coated cookie sheet, then add what you would like for toppings. From here I place the cookie sheet on top of a rectangular pizza stone of the same or larger size, preheated to about 475 degrees. I bake the pizza on the cookie sheet for approx. 5 minutes then transfer it very easily using a spatula onto the stone to give it that crispy bottom...mmmm !!!
Good Luck...the pizza horizon is endless !!!
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You can freeze more than
You can freeze more than just the dough! I make pizza all the time and stick them in the freezer already stretched and topped. You only have to rearrange the topping order. Make sure the cheese is next to the crust and the sauce is on top of everything. This keeps the crust from absorbing the sauce and getting soggy. I don't even thaw them. Just in the oven until crispy and melted!
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dough that breaks
Hi, I tried the recipe and I couldn't get the dough to the consistency I wanted. Every time I would stretch the dough out instead of creating the baker's window pane, it would just break (this was after kneading it and letting it rest for 18 hours in the frig, the letting it warm to room temp for 2 hours). Do you have any ideas why this is? Was it too much or too little flour? Too much kneading by hand (I don't have a mixer and I kneaded it for an hour because it wouldn't do what I wanted)? The water was warm, but could it have not been warm enough?
Sorry for so many questions I just want to learn how to do this because the results look and sound so delicious.
Garrett
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No kneading
I didn't knead mine at all. Just followed the instructions. I just mixed the ingredients with a wooden spoon, let it sit for about 15 minutes, then mixed for 5 more minutes with the wooden spoon. I guess that is all the kneading it 'needed'. Came out perfect tasting, but kind of sticky to work with. It's worth it though.
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More Dough
Hi all--
I'm really enjoying the site! I'd been searching all over for instructions for using the sponge method since watching Aston Brown bake on a pizza stone, and I'm find the recipes here are inspiring.
I have a pizza crust recipe I've developed that has a lot of ingredients in it, including fresh garlic, honey, and herbs:
http://www.gourmand2go.com/pizza_crust.html
As you can see from the first pic, the focus of the pizza is the crust, and it's quite filling. At the bottom of the page is a recipe for yeastless crust with buttermilk, which is handy when you have less time and also makes a thinner, crisper alternative.
Let me know how it turns out if you decide to try it!
I've just found a great book on peppers written by a publisher: <i>The Pepper Harvest Cookebook<i> by Barbara Ciletti. It includes a Marinara Pizza Sauce which I haven't yet tried, but intend to.
5-6 lbs. ripe tomatoes, chopped
2 purple or red bell peppers, chopped
1 cayenne chile, or 1 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 cup sugar
3 tbls salt
1/2 cup fresh oregano
5 cloves garlic, chopped
Combine ingredients in large saucepan and simmer over medium-low heat 35-45 minutes, or until bubbly. Stir to prevent sticking.
When mixture reaches desired thickness, pour into hot, sterilized jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Screw lids and rings tightly and process 20 minutes in boiling-water bath.
Yield: 5 pints
I think I'd be inclined to use the tiny jam jars so I wouldn't have left-overs from one or two pizzas, but at least the hot chili will discourage mold growth if kept in the frige. I'd also like to try roasted jalapenos and pure with a hand blender toward the end.
Gourmand2go
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Hello! I just made this
Hello! I just made this dough, two bags in the freezer and two are sitting out for tonight! It looks great, I can't wait to bake it!!
A question though, for some reason this article cuts off right at "Getting Saucy", where the sauce recipe should be (I think...) there are ads and then the comments. Is this where it ends and I am just crazy?! ^_-
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It's been a while!
I made this tonight instead of finishing up the corned beef and cabbage. My wife and daughter loved it and the crust was perfect. I used 1 cup of King Arthur Italian style flour and 4 cups of AP as called for. The other thing I did outside of the recipe is before I top the pie, I bake the shell for about 3 minutes completely clean. It started to raise like focaccia but even with multiple toppings it didn't get soggy on the bottom center. My wife paid me the ultimate complement when she said "you made it look so easy". Which of course it was. Our last attempt was more entertaining since the dough was more like rubber. This was nice and smooth and easy to work with.
Thanks Floyd for all you do!
Eric
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Hi Floyd! Just wanted to
Hi Floyd! Just wanted to report that the pizza turned out the best yet! It was exceptional from my perspective. So the technique part helped and the PR recipe was terrific!
I think I need to make a tweek to the sauce because my canned tomatoes were pretty watery. If I used Del Monte again, I will probably drain them first before squishing them (I used the diced tomatoes) so they were a little wet. But the flavor of the crust was awesome.
Crisp on the outside and tender on the inside. By the time I baked the second pizza, the dough was so supple. I'm learning that term should really be extensible.
Thanks again for this step by step guide, Floyd!
Cheers!
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6 in 1
I try to avoid developing brand loyalties, but I have to admit, the best and most consistent pizza sauce that I have made so far has been with 6 in 1 brand tomatoes. Of course some sort of labor intensive, home-grown, organic something or other would be better. However, I have found that a can of 6 in 1, with all your favorite herbs in a one quart mason jar with lid makes a very good sauce in just minutes. Nothing extra to clean, not much of anything to prep. You don't even need a spoon! Just put in all the ingredients, tighten the lid and shake. In fact, if you make the sauce ahead of time, you can use dried herbs and allow the sauce to mellow and mix, and the sauce will actually be nice and deep with plenty of flavor. That makes it about a 2 minute sauce! And it is already in a jar, so if you don't use it all, you can just pop it right in the fridge.
-Loafer
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Pizza on Grill Conversion
Has anyone cooked P. Reinhart's dough (thanks Floyd for the recipe) on a grill? Do you just do the standard cook one side, flip, cover in olive oil, toppings, place back on grill?
Thanks
SD Baker
PS, made the dough on the Cooks Illustrated homepage. If you don't have an account, it's a free link at the moment. Approx 90 min rise time. Taste was great, but my pizza dough spreading skills could use some work. The sticky dough was hard to roll, so the hand method worked ok - just not round. Artisan Pizza?
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I'd love to hear feedback on
I'd love to hear feedback on this. Grilled pizza's one of my projects for the summer. I'm taking a cooking class next month that's featuring grilled pizza so it should be interesting to compare.
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A few simple lessons learned
One lesson is that wetter doughs are probably pressed/worked better OFF the peel..had some sticking on the peel after I put pressure on the dough.
Oh.. don't forget to place the toppins on the 1st cooked side! Made that mistake once. One side gets VERY cooked if you don't.
Fewer toppings seems to work better given the relatively quick cooking time.
I am experimenting with adding wood chips to increase the smoke flavor.
What a great summertime project!
SD Baker
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Pizza on the grill
Elagins@sbcglobal.net
I tried pizza on the grill once ... used my standard very slack pizza dough 65% water, 10% olive oil, 2% salt, 1% active dry yeast and Costco (ConAgra) bread flour (~13% protein). Basically, I put my stone onto the grill used the Weber gas grill to replicate my oven -- heat from the bottom, covered, with temp about 525-550 according to the built-in thermometer. I gave the stone a good long preheat and found that the pizza wasn't much different from what comes out of my electric oven (I bake my pizza at 550). Maybe a bit smokier and slightly crisper crust because of higher temp, but I can't be certain. All in all, not very different.
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Interesting
That's what I thought would happen with pizza on a gas or electric grill. I'm sure a woodfired grill would make all the difference. If grilling for company and eating outside I can see the fun of making some pizzas on the grill but otherwise the oven is just as easy or easier. But then I don't know much about grilling so I may be missing something.
We used to have a Weber that just took wood or charcoal and we cooked everything on it, always using wood, but I never made pizza, darn it. Wish we had that Weber still, I'd try it. It would be hard to get the heat just right I guess. Would take some experience. Thanks for your post. weavershouse
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When I do pizza on the
When I do pizza on the grill, I just skip the stone and grill right on the grate. With or without wood chips, it turns out nice and smoky flavored.
Nancy
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Mmmmm, smoking chips. What a
Mmmmm, smoking chips. What a great idea.
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Lately I haven't even been
Lately I haven't even been soaking the chips in water for short cooking foods. I just throw a small handfull on the back grate. If they are too small, they will fall through the grate.
SD Baker
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That's a good idea. I'll try
That's a good idea. I'll try that.
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Brown crust?
The pizza came out great just need a little advice on something that has baffled me. Whenever I bake bread or pizza the crust always comes out looking pale, it's done through and through but the pale white color isn't all too appetizing. With the pizza, the bottom is done but the sides are pale. I was baking in my gas oven, had an inverted roasting tray right ontop of the heating elements, measured the temp to be 500 F before putting in the pizza, took around 7 mins, came out perfect except for the darned pale crust.
I just get plain simple all purpose flour in the country where I live, no labels with protein content or anything like that. Although I am looking into it. But what gives? Why does my bread and pizza come out so pale???
Kalvin
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Brown crust
I'm not a pro by any stretch but I've made PR's recipe many times now and lately, I am getting consistently excellent results. I would suggest a few different things to try:
Hope that helps!
Cipizza
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Crust color
I'd definitely agree with tip 1 as the most likely fix.
A couple of other things you could try would be to throw in an extra tablespoon of sugar (more sugars to caramelize) or let the dough rise longer (which releases more of the naturally occurring sugars, also resulting in more sugar to caramelize).
Good luck.
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wolf baking stone
I am trying to use my new wolf baking stone and can not find any information. The instructions are unclear. Does anyone know if there is a special rack that this fits on or does it fit on the regular racks? The one picture it looks as if the stone is as large as the bottom of the oven. Mine is about half the size of the oven. Has anyone had any experience with this?
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Making Pizza in Your BBQ
I've been studying pizza making for about 6 months and after a lot of trials and recieving great advice, I learned a few tricks that may be helpful to you. With these tips, I finally made what I felt was a true NY pizza.
I buy my cheese from a local pizzeria. It is a brand called Grande. They sell it to me already grated for $6 a pound. To my knowledge you can only buy it through a commercial food service and it is a fabulous cheese. They say they mix it with a little grated provolone, but I have not. My pizzeria shared with me the importance of using part skim mozzarella cheese. They said it has more moisture in it and that makes the cheese melt more freely than whole milk mozzarella.
Another very tasty spice to put into your sauce (in addition to garlic, oregano, basil, sugar, salt and pepper) is fennel. Several of the pizza chef's I've corresponded with say they use it. I did and it gave the sauce that little flavor that made it taste just like a delicious NY pizza. Note, some chefs only use basil and some only oregano. Some don't use pepper. Others use only red pepper, not black. I just needed to find the recipe for the sauce that suited my taste.
I bought the stone that goes into your gas BBQ. It was about $80 if I remember correctly. I fire up the BBQ on high as I begin to assemble my pizza. I put the dough, after shaping it, onto a pizza screen that I bought from our local restaurant supply company (only a few dollars). I know Williams-Sonoma sells it, but you can Froogle it and find it cheaper.
Then when assembled I put the screen in the BBQ on the stone, close the lid and lower the heat down to medium. The use of the BBQ to bake the pizza was an incredible find.
Just about 3 minutes later the pizza is perfect.
Key to a great crust is to let it sit in a platic bag coated with olive oil in the refrigerator for 3-4 days. It makes a significant difference. You can use either a basic french dough recipe, or add some sourdough starter to the dough and it tastes even better. One basic french bread recipe will make several pizza's depending on the size of the pizza (i.e. three to four 12inch pizzas).
Also, the BBQ fires up to over 900 degrees, which is what you really need to bake an amazing pizza. My home oven only goes to 500, and until I bought the BBQ stone, I never could get the pizza quite right. I also didn't know before to let the dough develop flavor in the refrigerator. It helps the sauce too to sit in the refrigerator for 2-3 days.
The chef's also taught me to drizzle a little olive oil over the cheese and sprinkle with oregano. This was another step that gave the pizza a much more authentic NY taste.
Finally, there are several pizza chefs who you can correspond with who love to share information on their passion. It is a lot of fun to write them and learn about their techniques. There are also some good DVD's out there that I've enjoyed watching. They also gave me some additional insights around perspectives on flour and favorite millers as well.
Hope these tips are helpful.
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Great Pizza Dough
have been making pizza for years but thought i would try this dough recipe. it is the best! best crust i have ever made. thanks! tom
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My Mom's Pizza Recipe
This is the recipe for crust and sauce that my mom has used as long as I can remember (I'm 40) and it's delicious. It makes a crust in between thick and thin - what I think of as 'homestyle'. I've used the dough for quick focaccia in a pinch, mix in some herbs and sun-dried tomatoes and sprinkle with caramelized onion and fresh parmesan. The sauce is tangy and not too thick. Hope you enjoy it!
I'm planning to try the recipe above and see how they compare. I'd like to be able to make a thin, cracker type crust and might try to modify Mom's recipe to this effect. I'll keep you posted!
Apryl
Mom’s pizza recipe
Crust (makes 2)
Mix:
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
Let stand 10 minutes to dissolve
Add:
1 tsp. salt
½ tsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. olive oil
3 cups unsifted flour
Knead in bowl until smooth and elastic. Place in oiled bowl to rise. Let rise 1 hour in warm location.
After dough has risen, roll in oil and spread on pizza pan. Bake 10 minutes at 400° F. Top with sauce, cheese, and desired toppings. Bake an additional 20 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and golden brown.
Sauce (enough for 4 pizzas – may be frozen)
28oz can tomato sauce
6 oz. can tomato paste
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1-2 cloves garlic, depending on taste
1 tsp. Italian spices
1 tsp. sugar
Mix all ingredients in saucepan, and simmer 1 hour.
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Flour - Bread or AP
Would it make a big difference if I use Bread Flour instead of AP?
TIA
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Pizza crust - AP or bread flour?
I use whatever I have on the shelf; usually KA bread flour but KA or Gold Medal AP if that was cheaper last week. You will find pizza crust recipes that call flours ranging in strenth from KA's commerical bagel flour (which is one step _above_ their consumer bread flour) through AP all the way down to lower strenth Italian dough flours. Every recipe insists that only that flour type will work!
This recipe is similar to my base recipe and it will work with any reasonable flour.
Have fun!
sPh
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AP or Bread Flour
I used bread flour. Turned out PERFECT!!! I have finally found THE recipe for pizza crust! Eating some right now actually. Anyone else like Anchovies?
Thank you very much
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i guess you found out that
i guess you found out that the flour makes a big diferance
and i love alici!!!!
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Hi .... new here.
Hi .... new here. I make homemade pizza all the time. I have had great luck with many different dough recipes. Currently the one i use the most is the one that is in the manual that came with my Kitchenaid mixer. I double the recipe and divide the dough into 4 or 5 pieces. It does freese very well after rising. I use unbleached all purpose flour and have had great luck. Sometimes I use a pizza pan...but the best is using a pizza stone. After hunting awhile for the right pizza peel, I gave up and found another way to transport the pizza to the stone. i use either regular or nonstick foil with a little oil or spray on it. I turn over one of the larger pizza pans I have and place the foil on top. I then place my hand stretched dough on top. I add the cheese and toppings. When done i pull out the rack in the oven that has the heated stone on it, and I slide the foil off the pizza pan onto the stone. I let the pizza bake about 2 minutes. I then carefully pull the foil out from under the pizza and bake till the pizza looks yummy.
Great....now I want pizza!!! Hmm....I do have dough in the freezer...maybe in a couple of days when it thaws out.
Have a great day!!!!!
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