RCP: Pizza Dough for BobH, with lots of pics

Last chat, Bob asked us to post our easy pizza dough recipes. We made a batch last night, so here's ours. Recipe is for a single batch (makes four pizzas), but photos are of a double batch (we had friends over for dinner).

500g bread/bakers/pizza flour (high protein)
10g instant yeast
10g fine salt
320ml water
50ml olive oil

1. Pour flour into a mixing bowl. Whisk in yeast. Then whisk in salt.

2. Add water and olive oil. Mix first with a spatula, then get your clean hand in and scrunch all the dough together. Cover and allow to rest for 10 minutes (trust me, this little resting time makes kneading much easier!)

3. Turn onto lightly oiled bench and knead until smooth - this is a Richard Bertinet recipe, and I use his kneading method, which involves slapping the dough down and folding it over, rather than pushing it with the palm of your hand. I've included some photos before, but there is a great video clip of it here.

4. Oil the bowl you mixed in, then turn the dough into it to rest for about an hour, or doubled in size (mine went a bit mad because it was 35C in my kitchen yesterday!)

5. Turn the risen dough onto an oiled bench and fold it a few times to knock the air out of it. Cut it into 220g pieces, and shape them into balls. Cover with oiled clingfilm, and allow to rise again for about 15mins.

6. Scrape up a ball and place it onto a sheet of parchment paper which has been floured. Flour the top of the dough, and roll flat with a rolling pin. Then top, bake and enjoy! (The parchment paper is optional, but it makes it easier for me to get the pizza onto the stone. Might not work in your Kooker, Bob, as it might be too hot!)

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Celia, you are truly poetry in motion.

An admirer,
JuliaB

That is an excellent tutorial, Celia. Well done!

Thank you! I hope Bobby finds it useful. I'm waiting for Stuart to post his recipe so I can see how the master does it.

Cynthia pointed out in chat today that you can also make pizza dough in the Kitchenaid - I didn't even think of that! I guess it would be easier, but I blew up my last mixer trying to make dough (brioche) and haven't been game to try anything like that in the new one.

Not that differently, but we do use a wetter dough and a single rise. And I cheat and use a round form.

I'll ask Cynthia to do a step-by-step photo essay next weekend when it's Pizza Night again.

Great photo essay! Thanks for that.

I am one of those who uses my kitchenaid for making the dough. I have had my KA for over 20 years and it keeps on mixing, so I guess pizza dough isn't too much of a strain on the machine.

Great photo montage Celia. Thanks
I am wondering why the olive oil. I always use it for focaccia but for pizza it is just flour,starter,water and salt.
Never thought about it before but after looking at some recipes never realized how many do use oil.

Thanks! Stuart, I'm looking forward to it - now that you have your own personal photographer, I hope we see lots more cooking photos!

Christina, I actually wondered about that as I was posting the recipe. We use the "olive oil bread dough" recipe from the Bertinet book "Dough" (highly recommended, btw), and one of its suggested uses was for pizza. I never actually started with an "authentic" pizza dough recipe, but would be curious what goes into one. A while ago someone (John T perhaps?) posted a link to a guy who had made it his life's work to create the perfect pizza - I can't find it now, but if anyone has it saved, I'd be grateful if the could repost the link - thanks!

I'm also interested that you use a starter - I have seem recipes that make a yeast slurry the day before and then add that to the dough (with more yeast) the next day. Is that what you do? I've tried making a sourdough pizza, but wasn't really happy with the results, so we've stuck to a yeasted one.

I keep a bit of dough in the fridge, refresh it with flour and water and let it sit out overnight. I use that for the starter dough with very little instant yeast - about 1/4 tsp- for 250 grams flour. The other thing I do to develop flavor is let the dough raise in the fridge. The longer and slower, the better. The bacteria in the starter can do their flavor thing at cold temps while the yeast does its gas thing at warmer temps. Like Stuart I need a wet dough that poufs at the high temps of the wood fired oven.

Celia, the pizza guy is Jeff Varasano. He is opening his own place in Atlanta. The cite has a link to the article you mentioned. It does have a lot of helpful tips about working with dough in general. One that I now always use has to do with letting dough [ not just pizza ] autolyze. I have been experimenting with it and there really is a transformation that makes it much easier to work with. Used it last week with an all semolina bread which absorbs liquid much more slowly . Now that is a dough that could wreck your mixer - when it is finished kneading it feels like silly putty.
http://www.varasanos.com

I think your recipe is more traditional than mine - I've read elsewhere that a starter is usually added to improve the flavour of the pizza dough. Interestingly, you and Stuart both seem to like a puffier base - we're usually aiming for a super thin base which mimics the one we get at our favourite pizza restaurant. I wonder how they make it in Naples? Though it's probably as wide and varied as it is everywhere else..

Thanks for the link, Christina!! Yes, I let all my doughs autolyze (which is what the "let it rest 10 minutes before you knead" above was about) - makes kneading so much easier afterwards. I also find I need to knead far less because of the resting time.

I am wondering why the olive oil. I always use it for focaccia but for pizza it is just flour,starter,water and salt.
Never thought about it before but after looking at some recipes never realized how many do use oil.

I believe the olive oil makes the dough more forgiving, ie easier to work.

Well, this thread led me to make a dough this morning for pizza tonight. Can't wait.

The ideal dough is one that stretches to paper thin on the bottom without tearing. The raised rim is what "jumps" in the oven. It takes a lot of practice to "feel" the right moisture and gluten. I am not there yet - but what a good item to practice on !
Flavor in the dough has gotten to be more important - I am disappointed when its just ordinary bread dough tasting

Celia, my pizza doesn't poof on the bottom- I like them crisp and thin, just like my reference standard (a little place in Neviglie, near Alba).

"C", I am going to save this entire thread to my recipe folder. Thanks for taking the time!

Bobby, you're most welcome, and Stuart, my mistake - your pizzas are pretty flat, I just had another look. Really looking forward to seeing your production photos - can't you move pizza night forward?

We made some tonight, but it was with leftover dough. Did not suck.

Did not suck.

What he said.

I agree, Celia, every night *should* be pizza night.

Last chat, Bob asked us to post our easy pizza dough recipes. We made a batch last night, so here's ours. Recipe is for a single batch (makes four pizzas), but photos are of a double batch (we had friends over for dinner).

"C", I have saved this recipe including pictures to my food recipe folder. I promise I will try it soon. I can't believe how much extra work you went to in order to post this for me. Thank You!

Bob, this is the same dough I use for yeasted bread too. So instead of shaping it into pizza, you could shape it into loaves or rolls, let it rise a second time, and then bake them in the oven or Hot Mama. I know Duane bakes all his bread in his kooker, and they always turn out brilliantly.

Today I made the dough using bread flour, and tried something different. I let it rise, and then flattened it out onto a large oven tray (not as flat as for pizza). Then we topped it with pizza toppings, let it rise a little bit, then baked it - ended up with a cross between pizza and bread - a bit like what they sell at the school canteen, I'm told. I baked it at the oven temp I normally use for bread rather than the one I use for pizza (which is the max the oven will go). I managed to snag a pic of the leftovers - the wolves ate the rest too quickly for me to get a shot of the finished product!

It's really a very versatile recipe, and I hope you get a chance to play around with it!

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Sicilian style!