Pizza Dough, Pizza Dough 1 2 3
Monday, December 31, 2007

Posted in Recipes From the Kitchen

Classic-Crust Pizza Dough Recipe
This recipe will make enough pizza dough for two, 12" deluxe pizzas. It's a good place to start if you've never hand-made dough before. It's not too much to work with at one time and requires no special machinery, (except your hands).

Ingredients:
1 - 1/4 Oz Envelop - Active Dry Yeast, (or 2 1/4 Tsp)
1 1/2 Cups - Warm Water (110°F -115°F)
4 Cups - Bread Flour
1 1/2 Tsp. - Salt
2 Tbsp. - Olive Oil
1 Tbsp. - Sugar

Extra flour
Extra Olive Oil

Pour the warm water in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and package of yeast. Stir the mixture slowly until yeast and sugar are dissolved. Let sit to allow the mixture to "mature" for about ten minutes or so. The mixture will begin to react; clouding and forming a foamy "head" on the surface of the mixture.

Add the salt and olive oil and stir again to combine and dissolve the ingredients. Add 1 cup of flour and whisk in until dissolved. Add the second cup of flour and whisk it in. Add the 3rd cup of flour and combine. By now the dough mixture should be fairly thick. Add the last cup of flour and, with your hands, begin to combine and knead the dough.

Remove the dough ball to a tabletop to knead it. You may need to add a dusting of flour from time to time to reduce the stickiness of the dough. Be patient, folding the dough ball in half and then quarters, over and over again for about 8 to 10 minutes, (or about 100 "cycles".) Kneading by hand is laborious, but very important. Better to over-knead than under-knead. You'll know you've done well when the ball no longer sticks to your hands. It will become a smoothly-textured ball slightly larger than a large grapefruit.

Coat the dough ball with a thin layer of olive oil, and place it in the bottom of a large mixing bowl which has also been coated on the inside with olive oil. Stretch a piece of kitchen film over the top of the bowl and set it in a warm place such an as un-lit oven, (ambient temperature of 70°F to 80°F). Allow the dough to rise, undisturbed, for 60 to 75 minutes. The dough will have grown to at least twice its original size.

Take the dough out of the bowl and cut in half with a knife. You now have two pizza dough balls, enough to make two (2) 12" deluxe pizzas. Take each raw dough portion and hand-mold them into balls. Press each doughball flat to squeeze and release any air trapped inside. Form the portions back into balls, smoothing the outer surface and tucking each ball "into itself" from underneath, (like folding a sock into itself), before storing or going on with the next step.

If you wish to store the dough, by either freezing or refrigeration, you can place the dough balls in zip-lock bags. Squirt a little olive oil into each of the bags to keep the balls moist and pliable and to ease removal when ready for use. If you choose to freeze or refrigerate: the dough balls may continue to rise until they are substantially cooled down or frozen, which is OK as long as they don't break out of their bags. If they do, mold them back down into balls and re-bag them.

If you choose to continue with making the pizzas now, here's how. Some dough experts like to "proof" their dough balls at this point. They can be set in a bowl or plastic tray, covered, to "rest" for an additional 15 or 20 minutes if you wish. Some recipes call for up to an additional hour of rising. For practical purposes, pizza dough does not have to be put through a complete second rise cycle.

Also see these pages for more pizza dough making tips and techniqiues:
How To Make Pizza, Making Pizza Dough
The Basics Of Pizza Making, Making The Pizza Dough


Thin-Crust Pizza Dough Recipe
Single Pizza Recipe
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon dried yeast
1 tablespoon soy oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup warm water (110° -115°F)
11/2 cup bread flour
1 tablespoon soy flour
1 teaspoon salt

Combine yeast, sugar and 1/2 cup very warm water in bowl let sit for five minutes. Combine flour and salt in bowl. Mix yeast mixture with bowl containing dry ingredients. Add a little extra flour if dough is sticky. Knead for a good 10 minutes. Put into a greased bowl and let rise for 60 minutes until it doubles in size. Turn out onto a floured surface then knead lightly until smooth. Roll out into a 1/4" thick, 12" diameter circle. Fit into greased pizza pan. Top as desired and place on bottom rack. Put sheet of aluminum foil on top rack above pizza to keep ingredients from browning too quickly. Bake at 375°F for 30 minutes.


Commercial Thin-Crust Pizza Dough Recipe
30 Lb. Recipe (Enough for about 30-40 medium pizzas)

Ingredients:
2 1/2 ounces fresh yeast
20 pounds high gluten flour
5 ounces salt
10-11 pounds water

In a mixing bowl, crumble the yeast into the flour. Add the salt. With the mixer running at medium speed, add the water. Mix the dough for 13 to 14 minutes, until the dough cleans the side of the bowl and is soft, but no longer sticky. Scale and ball as needed. Makes about 30 pounds of dough.


Potato-Based Pizza or Focaccia Dough Recipe
Enough for 2 - 9" pizzas or focaccias

Dough Ingredients:
8 ounces potatoes, preferably yellow Finnish
1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons warm water (105 -115°F)
3 3/4 cups durum flour or unbleached all-purpose flour (If using unbleached flour, reduce water by 2 tablespoons).
2 teaspoons sea salt

About 20 minutes before you are ready to make the dough, peel the
potatoes and boil them until tender, drain, and mash or press them,
through a ricer. Use the potatoes while they are still warm but not so
hot as to kill the yeast; they should be about the same temperature as
the yeast water.

Stir the yeast into the warm water in a large mixing bowl. Add the
flour, mashed potatoes, and salt in two additions and mix until the
dough comes together. If you are making this by hand, knead the dough
for 10 minutes until the dough is velvety, firm and slightly sticky. You
may want to spread 1 to 2 tablespoons of flour on the board to reduce
the stickiness.

FIRST RISE
Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic
wrap, and leave to rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

SHAPING AND SECOND RISE
Divide the dough in half on a lightly floured surface, and shape each
into a ball. Place each ball into a well-oiled 9-inch round baking pan,
and stretch the dough toward the edges. Cover with a damp towel, let sit
for ten minutes, and then stretch a bit farther to the edges. Cover
again and leave until doubled, about 45 minutes.

BAKING
Preheat the over to 400°F. Just before you are ready to bake,
dimple to dough with your fingertips. Add toppings of your choice. Bake
for 25 to 30 minutes until golden. Remove from pans and let cool on racks.


Cornmeal Pizza Dough Recipe
Enough for 2 - 15" pizzas, or halve this recipe for a single pizza.

Dough Ingredients:
3 Cups - Bread Flour
½ Cup - Yellow Cornmeal (Fine ground)
1 Teaspoon - Dry Yeast
1 Tablespoon - Sugar
½ Teaspoon - Kosher Salt
2 Tablespoons - Olive Oil
1 Cup - Water

Start the yeast by using ¼ cup warm water, (110° -115° F), and ½ the sugar and the yeast. Mix well and set aside for perhaps ten minutes.

In a mixing bowl add the flour, cornmeal, salt, olive oil, and the remaining ½ sugar. Mix well.

When the yeast has become active (foamy) add it to the bowl and mix.

Add the remaining water and mix well.

On a flat lightly floured surface, knead the dough until smooth and elastic, (five minutes).

Place in a lightly oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap to rise until doubled in size (one hour). Punch down and allow to rise a second time. Long, slow rises are best.

After the second rise, punch down and on a lightly floured surface roll the dough out to make a 15" circle of pizza dough.

New York-Style Pizza Dough Recipe I made this one and so far it has turned out great. I'll let ya know when we eat it!
Enough for one 12"-14" pizza.

Dough Ingredients:
1 cup lukewarm water
2 tablespoons milk
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon shortening
1 tablespoon corn meal
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 package yeast
3 cups bread flour

In a large bowl, mix water, milk, brown sugar, salt and shortening with an electric mixer on a low speed for about 1 minute.

Add corn meal, olive oil and yeast, and continue mixing it for one minute. Let it rest for 5 minutes.

Add the remaining flour and mix it with your hands.

Turn the dough out on a lightly floured surface and knead the dough about 8 to 10 minutes.

Form the dough into a ball and place it on the table around a warm place. Let it rest about 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Here's the finished Piece.

Coccoli Bread Dough (Fritters) Recipe
Fried bread dough for 60-80 fritters.

Similarly; Panzanelle, Panzerotti and Ficattole are all bread dough fritters with different shapes from different parts of Tuscany.

Dough Ingredients:
6-8 cups of bread flour
4 cups of milk (110° - 115°F)
1 oz. cake yeast, (equivalent to 2 pkgs. dry yeast, use the rapid rise)
1 tbsp honey or sugar
4 tbsp softened butter or lard
2 tsp salt
Olive Oil or peanut oil for frying

Preparation:

Dissolve the yeast in 2 cups of milk with 1 tbsp honey or sugar.

Place 4 cups of flour in a large bowl and make a well in the center and pour the milk and yeast mixture into the center and add the salt.

Beat in the butter or lard for 2 minutes until it’s thoroughly blended.

Slowly add the rest of the flour, and more of the milk, as necessary, kneading until you have a smooth dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl.

Place the doughball in a greased bowl, cover with kitchen film or a damp kitchen towel and allow to rise for about 45 minutes.

Punch down and roll out the dough into a ¼ inch thick sheet. Cut out shapes, or, roll into bite-sized balls.

Heat your oil to 375° and deep fry for a couple of minutes. Don’t over fry or they will get chewy.

You can roll your coccoli in course salt for the taste of a soft pretzels, or granular or powdered sugar.

By spreading the dough with a rolling pin to about ¼ inch thick and cutting it into diamond-shapes you can make the famous crescentine. Depending on the size of your cutter this recipe will make 60-80 coccoli.


Whole Wheat Pizza Dough Recipe
Enough for two 12"-14" pizza.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 Cups - Warm Water (110° -115° F)
2 Tbsp. - Sugar
1 Envelop - Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 Tsp. - Salt
2 Tbsp. - Olive Oil
3 Cups - Bread Flour
1 Cup - Whole Wheat Flour

Yes! There is a trick for creating whole wheat pizza dough, and, it's an easy one.

Let's say you are going to make a pizza dough that normally requires 4 cups of all purpose flour. Use all the same ingredients in their normal proportions except, try this flour formula:

1 cup - whole wheat flour
3 cups - all purpose flour

Depending on the brands of flour you use, you may find this formula a little tough. If so, back off on the whole wheat flour measurement.

2/3 cup whole wheat
3 cups - all purpose flour

You'll find this mixture is going to be more of a challenge to knead, due to the rougher texture of the whole wheat flour, but the end result is well worth the effort. Add a little water if the mixture becomes too dry. Make sure to knead the dough completely, until supple. Let the dough ball rise for an hour. Then re-knead the air out of the ball until supple and elastic. At this point you are ready to roll out (rolling pin), the sheet of dough to a thickness of 1/4 to 3/8 of an inch, then pan the dough in your baking pan.

There is nothing like a whole wheat pizza dough to add flavor, color, texture and interest to any pizza recipe!

Procedure:

Pour the warm water in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and package of yeast. Stir the mixture until dissolved. Let sit to allow the yeast to mature for about ten minutes.

Add the salt and olive oil and stir again to combine the ingredients. Add 1 cup of whole wheat flour and whisk in until dissolved. Add the first cup of white flour and whisk it in. Add the 2nd cup of white flour and combine. By now the dough mixture should be fairly thick. Add the last cup of white flour and, with your hands, begin to combine and knead the dough.

You may need to add a dusting of flour from time to time to reduce the stickiness of the dough. Be patient, folding the dough ball in half and then quarters, over and over again for perhaps 5 to 8 minutes. You may wish to remove the dough ball to a tabletop to knead it. You'll know you've done well when the ball no longer sticks to your hands. It will become a smoothly-textured ball slightly larger than a large grapefruit.

Coat the dough ball with a thin layer of olive oil, and place it in the bottom of a large mixing bowl which has also been coated on the inside with olive oil. Stretch a piece of kitchen film over the top of the bowl and set it in a warm place such an as un-lit oven, (ambient temperature of 98°F to 100°F). Allow the dough to rise, undisturbed, for 60 to 75 minutes. The dough will have grown to at least twice its original size.

Take the dough out of the bowl and cut in half with a knife. You now have two pizza dough balls, enough to make two (2) 12" deluxe pizzas. Take each raw dough portion and hand-mold them into balls. Smoothing the outer surface, tuck each ball into itself from underneath before storing or going on with the next step.

If you wish to store the dough, by either freezing or refrigeration, you can place the dough balls in zip-lock bags. Squirt a little olive oil into each of the bags to keep the balls moist and pliable and to ease removal when ready for use. If you choose to freeze or refrigerate: the dough balls may continue to rise until they are substantially cooled down or frozen, which is OK as long as they don't break out of their bags. If they do, mold them back down into balls and re-bag them.

If you choose to continue with making the pizzas now, here's how. Some dough experts like to "proof" their dough balls at this point. They can be set in a bowl or plastic tray, covered, to "rest" for an additional 15 or 20 minutes if you wish. Some recipes call for up to an additional hour of rising. For practical purposes, pizza dough does not have to be put through a complete second rise cycle.


Pumpkin Pizza Dough Recipe
This recipe will make enough pizza dough for two, 12" deluxe pizzas.

Ingredients:
1 Cup - Warm Water (110° -115° F)
2 Tbsp. - Sugar
1 Envelop - Active Dry Yeast
1 1/2 Tsp. - Salt
2 Tbsp. - Olive Oil
3 1/2 Cups - Bread Flour
1/2 Cup - Canned Pumpkin Pie Filling
1 Tsp. - Cinnamon (Ground)

Pour the warm water in a large mixing bowl. Add the sugar and package of yeast. Stir the mixture until dissolved. Let sit to allow the yeast to mature for about ten minutes.

Add the salt, olive oil, cinnamon and pumpkin pie filling. Stir again to combine and dissolve the ingredients. Add 1 cup of flour and whisk in until dissolved. Add the second cup of flour and whisk it in. Add the 3rd cup of flour and combine. By now the dough mixture should be fairly thick. Add the remaining flour. With your hands, begin to combine and knead the dough.

Should the mixture become too dry, add small amounts of water until pliable. You may need to add a dusting of flour from time to time to reduce the stickiness of the dough.

Be patient, folding the dough ball in half and then quarters, over and over again for perhaps 5 to 8 minutes. You may wish to remove the dough ball to a tabletop to knead it. You'll know you've done well when the ball no longer sticks to your hands. It will become a smoothly-textured ball slightly larger than a large grapefruit.

Coat the dough ball with a thin layer of olive oil, and place it in the bottom of a large mixing bowl which has also been coated on the inside with olive oil. Stretch a piece of kitchen film over the top of the bowl and set it in a warm place such an as un-lit oven, (ambient temperature of 98°F to 100°F). Allow the dough to rise, undisturbed, for 60 to 75 minutes. The dough will have grown to at least twice its original size.

Take the dough out of the bowl and cut in half with a knife. You now have two pizza dough balls, enough to make two (2) 12" deluxe pizzas. Take each raw dough portion and hand-mold them into balls. Smoothing the outer surface, tuck each ball into itself from underneath.

They can be set in a bowl or plastic tray, covered, to "rest" for an additional 15 or 20 minutes if you wish.


Gluten-Free & Wheat-Free Pizza Dough Recipe
This recipe will make enough pizza dough for 6 servings.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon gluten-free dry yeast
2/3 cup brown rice flour or bean flour
1/2 cup tapioca flour
2 tablespoons dry milk powder or non-dairy milk powder*
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin powder
1 teaspoon Italian herb seasoning
2/3 cup warm water (105 degrees F)
1/2 teaspoon sugar or 1/4 teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 teaspoon cider vinegar
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

In medium bowl using regular beaters (not dough hooks), blend the yeast, flours, dry milk powder, xanthan gum, salt, gelatin powder, and Italian herb seasoning on low speed. Add warm water, sugar (or honey), olive oil, and vinegar. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. (If the mixer bounces around the bowl, the dough is too stiff. Add water if necessary, one tablespoon at a time, until dough does not resist beaters.) The dough will resemble soft bread dough. (You may also mix in bread machine on dough setting.)

Put mixture into 12-inch pizza pan or on baking sheet (for thin, crispy crust), 11 x 7-inch pan (for deep dish version) that has been coated with cooking spray. Liberally sprinkle rice flour onto dough, then press dough into pan, continuing to sprinkle dough with flour to prevent sticking to your hands. Make edges thicker to contain the toppings. Bake the pizza crust for 10 minutes. Remove from oven. Spread pizza crust with your favorite sauce and toppings. Bake for another 20-25 minutes or until top is nicely browned.

Greek Pizza Dough Recipe

Ingredients:

1 envelope - active dry yeast
1/2 tsp. - sugar
2/3 cup - lukewarm (110° - 115°F) water
2 cups - bread flour or unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/4 cup - stone-ground cornmeal
1½ tsp - coarse salt (kosher or sea salt)
2 tbsp - extra-virgin Greek olive oil
2 tbsp - Greek oregano, finely chopped

Combine and knead all ingredients for 8 minutes, let rise 1 hour, re-knead and roll out to pan size

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Comments

Monday, January 7, 2008 - Untitled Comment

Posted by southernbelle

Wow! Thanks for educating us on one of my favorite things to eat! And I never leave any crust behind!

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