Pizza dough

I love watching Pizza being made , almost as much as I like eating it.

So how good are your efforts then?

A new line maybe : "Flame" Grilled Pizza?

I started making my own bread recently with surprising success, so I am tempted to branch out a bit. I had in mind either ciabatta or focaccia, but you have inspired me to have a go at pizza dough - probably this weekend.

At the risk of Mick dropping in to tell us this is a waste of bandwidth...

I've used my Panasonic bread maker to make Pizza dough (using the recipe in the manual), and it seems fine, nice and 'springy' etc, but it rises too much and ends up far too thick. I'd welcome a recipe for a dough which i can make thin and crispy pizza with. Anyone?

Phil

Its very easy to make and wants to be stickier than you think it should be. It comes smooth in the end.

And roll it real fin.

Hi all and thanks for the input.

BigH47: smart line there

Officer DBL & Phil;
What I've done tastes quite good and is easy to do. I've elected to change the recipe a bit in order to incorporate "brown" whole wheat flour. You may do it using just white flour.

Recipe:
1 & a half cups of white flour
1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
1 TBSP of dry yeast
1 tsp of salt
1 cup of water

Throw in all ingredients into a bowl and get an electric dough mixer thing and use it (as technical as I can get really).

Once it has become very hemogenous and all as one lump, allow it to rest for about an hour. It might look a bit weird at first and the extra hour is what allows it to become just right.

The above quantities are enough for two medium sized crusts (2 persons each) or 3 smaller (one hungry guy) crusts. Use your hands to break the dough into two or three dough balls as needed. When you try to rip some of the dough off it should have a rubbery nature to it. Have fun and please, if you do try it, let me know what you think.

Regards...

Try the spicy chicken pizza off the Wolfgang Puck site, or better yet, buy his cookbooks.

His pizza dough recipe is also very good. We make it in a Cuisinart, let it rest to rise, put it in the refrigerator to lose its elasticity, and when it comes back to room temperature, it is easy to get it thin. Great fun for a party for kids or adults.

http://www.wolfgangpuck.com/re...search/results/Pizza

Phil,

How much yeast are you using? How long are you leaving it before rolling/kneading/tossing? Are you using 00 flour or the strong bread making type?

I use the same bread maker for pizza dough because I am too lazy to do it all by hand, but have no problem. Take the dough straight out after the 45 min pizza cycle, and roll/knead into shape, bung the toppings on and stick it the oven. It is always likely to be thicker than the "biscuits" you get from the supermarket, but can easily be rolled thinly if you want just use plenty of flour. Might be worth trying a pizza stone if you have not got one.

Regards

Nic

quote:

Originally posted by Phil Cork:
At the risk of Mick dropping in to tell us this is a waste of bandwidth...

I've used my Panasonic bread maker to make Pizza dough (using the recipe in the manual), and it seems fine, nice and 'springy' etc, but it rises too much and ends up far too thick. I'd welcome a recipe for a dough which i can make thin and crispy pizza with. Anyone?

Phil

Sheer laziness all round! Make it by hand, it only takes 10 minutes to knead and the experience is good for the soul.

To get a thinner crust, once you've allowed the dough to rise in a warm place (in a large bowl, covered in oiled cling film, in an airing cupboard works well) for at least 45 minutes, cut it into individual balls and loosely work again into a flattened ball and allow to rise again before making the basic pizza shape - you can use a rolling pin if you have problems doing it by hand but just ensure you roll it out really thin. In the absence of a pizza oven, like most of us, you can slightly precook the base on a really hot pizza stone beforwe adding the topping and that maintains a wonderful crispness.


Dave

Anyone got to try the recipe I posted?

As a chef I never came to terms with 'cups'

quote:

Originally posted by Flame:
Anyone got to try the recipe I posted?

No olive oil? or honey?

How does the base rise with no sugar and only salt?

quote:

Originally posted by Stephen Tate:

quote:

Originally posted by Flame:
Anyone got to try the recipe I posted?

No olive oil? or honey?

How does the base rise with no sugar and only salt?

Hi Stephen. It just does Don't know really. I was searching around the net and found that Italian pizza makers get really upset when they hear of sugar or olive oil being added to the dough. That's the reason I did it this way. On the baking pan, the crust is initially around 2mm thick and by the end of baking it gains a mm or a bit more of thickness. I hope you're not into Pizza Hut thick pan pizza crusts.

Regards...

Hi Flame,

Well in that case;
I shall give your recipe ago.

I'm always up for trying something new that is different from my take on things.

I roll mine out really thin...

Regards, steve

Good luck and let me know how it goes

quote:

Originally posted by Flame:
Anyone got to try the recipe I posted?

I will try this weekend. I have just used up the last of the bread I baked at the weekend to make sandwiches for tomorrow's lunch, so I will include the pizza dough experiment during my Sunday afternoon baking session.

I was watching a program on the history of bread this evening and at one point a guy was demonstrating how to make ciabatta. I had not realised that the dough for that bread was so runny. He described it as being similar in consistency to custard and he was working what looked like a very gloopy mass with a pair of large plastic paddles. The result when baked however looked inviting, but I think I need some more practice with other breads before I try ciabatta.

Brad

Very interesting
Good luck on Sunday.

Regards...

I am not going to participate much in this thread as I would start getting asked a load of questions as I work in the baking industry.

I have also seen warm milk used in recipes but never not used Olive Oil to make Ciabatta. A friend of mine who was an Italian chef always used Olive Oil.

We tend to prove it for a long time. Some bakers will double prove it. Once before it is streched and another time after.

But try this recipe as it might work for you if you don't want to use oil.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/reci...ciabatta_85453.shtml

I get my recipes from http://www.bakingmad.com/