Need help with pizza dough...

[Mynyel]

I have been trying to find the perfect pizza dough recipe but just can't seem to find it.

 

Every recipe I try ends up like having pizza on regular bread. I want pizza dough, not bread.

 

How does one get pizza dough and not bread? It rises somewhat when I bake it.. to much yeast? How do I get it crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside?

[SonshineLearner]

When I sold ads to restaurants, the guy said that resting the bread for a day is one of the things that make it good :)

[Joker]

I use this one. I usually make it the night before I need it and just leave it in the fridge. Dds ask for it weekly and say its better than eating pizza out.

[love2read]

We make pizza at least once a week and making the dough in advance does seem to make a big difference. If you've ever been in a mom and pop pizza parlors, you'll see a huge tub like mixer with dough rising in it all the time? They just add new dough fixin's every night and keep a sour dough type element to the dough. I've left our dough right on the counter all day or in the fridge for a few days. I don't have a pizza stone, so once the pizza's bottom is firm, I slide it off the pan and let it crisp the bottom and finish cooking directly on the oven rack. It's easy to slide back on to the pan to remove, and then I put it on my cookie cooling rack so that moisture doesn't accumulate and soften the crust. I would guess the cardboard box from the pizza place accomplishes the same thing. Give it a good five minutes before you return it to a cool pan to cut.

[KatieJ]

This is the recipe I use over the years. It is from Breakin bread with Father Dominic, who had a TV show on PBS some years ago.

 

 

FATHER DOMINIC'S PIZZAS

 

FOR THE PIZZA DOUGH:

1 cup warm water

1 package active dry yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

1 cup warm milk

1/4 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

4 1/2 to 5 cups all-purpose flour, divided use

FOR THE PIZZAS:

1 cup sauce

2 cups shredded cheese

Toppings of your choice

 

Combine warm water, yeast and sugar in large mixing bowl; stir to dissolve. Let stand 5 minutes.

 

Add warm milk, olive oil, salt, cornmeal and 3 cups of the flour; stir until well-blended. Add 1 cup of the flour; mix with your hands until the flour is thoroughly incorporated. Add remaining 1/2 to 1 cup flour, about 1/4 cup at a time, mixing after each addition, until a soft dough is formed that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

 

Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Knead 6 to 8 minutes, adding small amounts of flour as needed to keep dough manageable. When finished, the dough should be slightly soft but should spring back when pushed. Lightly oil the surface of the dough and put in the rinsed mixing bowl. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free place 60 to 90 minutes or until doubled.

 

Punch down dough. Knead about 1 minute. Oil the surface again and place back in bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 60 minutes. (Or let rise in refrigerator for several hours, then let the dough stand at room temperature 30 minutes before proceeding.)

 

Punch down dough. Briefly knead. Divide dough in half for two 14-inch deep-dish pizzas or into quarters for four 8- to 10-inch pizzas.

[Mrs Mungo]

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pizza-pizzas-recipe/index.html

[Dobela]

A friend of mine makes her pizza crust thin. She likes it very crispy. Her base recipe is that for flour tortillas and she rolls it out to the thickness she prefers. I like it but it is not my favorite. I usually use this just rolled out instead of a loaf or this one. The second recipe makes way too much dough for one pizza so I will cut it in half or use the rest for bread sticks.

[ondreeuh]

Another trick is to preheat the oven with a baking stone inside. Then transfer the dough to the stone using a pizza peel (flat metal sheet with a handle). When the dough hits the hot peel, it seals the dough on the underside.

 

I'm looking for a better recipe too. Some people pre-cook the crust a little bit before they add toppings - I might try that.

[butterflymommy]

The crispiness factor has a lot to do with heat while cooking. Hardcore pizza people have been known to rig their ovens to cook on the self cleaning mode (about 800F I believe). So make sure you are cooking at least 450 or 500F.

 

As far as dough, there are a lot of possibilities. I'm a purist so I use a very basic bread dough that has risen 12-48 hours (3 cups flour, 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp yeast -- water is variable depending on humidity, about 1 1/4 cup, it should be just slightly sticky). My son likes a more complicated recipe-- 3 cups flour, 1 tbs yeast, 2 tbs sugar, 1/4 olive oil, 1/4 cup cornmeal, 1 1/2 tsp salt -- again water is variable but between 1 1/4-1 1/2 cups, dough should be slightly sticky. That second recipe only needs to rest 20 min before being cooked, we refrigerate the dough up to a week.

 

The toppings should spend as little time as possible on the dough before being cooked, and ideally the toppings should be room temperature (as should the dough) before being put together.

 

We put olive oil directly on the pan, sometimes a little cornmeal, and shape the dough on the pan with our hands-- no rolling on the counter or spinning in the air. Use as little sauce as possible.

 

Oh, and there shouldn't be more than 1 1/2 cups flour in your average large sized pizza-- so a 3 cup recipe yields 2 large pizza crusts.

Edited November 15, 2011 by butterflymommy

[Mrs Mungo]

I do use a hot oven and pizza stone. I also pre-bake the crust.

[mrsrevmeg]

I like this one. I put a small pan of ice cubes (or just water) on the bottom rack of the oven while the pizza is cooking. I like using pizza crust yeast when I can find it, but usually I just use plain yeast. It seems firmer when we have the pizza yeast.

[Swimtaxi234]

I have copied all of the ideas posted here and can't wait to try them. THANKS!

[ashfern]

I use the olive oil dough recipe from the Artisan Bread in 5-Min book. I make personal size pizzas so each person can put what they like on it. I preheat the oven with the stone inside. I cook them for 9 min at 450. :drool5: The kids like homemade pizza better than delivery.