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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. - Active dry yeast,
(or 2 1/4 tsp.)
1 1/2 cups - Warm water (110°F
-115°F)
4 cups - White, all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. - Salt
2 tbsp. - Olive oil
1 tbsp. - Sugar
Extra flour
Extra Olive Oil
Preparation:
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 tsp. - Dried yeast
1 tbsp. - Soy oil
1 tsp. - Sugar
1/2 cup - Warm water (110 °F
-115°F)
11/2 cup - Bread flour
1 tbsp. - Soy flour
1 tsp. - Salt
Preparation:
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# Recipe (Enough for about 30 - 16 oz.
(large pizza) dough balls.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 oz. - Fresh yeast
20# - High gluten flour
5 oz. - Salt
10# - Water
Preparation:
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
Ingredients:
8 oz. - Potatoes, preferably yellow Finnish
1 1/4 tsp. - Active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp. - 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 tsp. - Sea salt
Preparation:
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.
Ingredients:
3 cups -
Bread flour
½ cup - Yellow cornmeal (fine ground)
1 tsp. - Dry yeast
1
tbsp. - Sugar
½ tsp. - Kosher salt
2 tbsp. - Olive oil
1 cup - Water
Preparation:
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
Enough for one 12"-14"
pizza.
Ingredients:
1 cup - Lukewarm water
2 tbsp. - Milk
2 tsp. - Brown sugar
1 tsp. - Salt
1 tbsp. - Shortening
1 tbsp. - Corn meal
1 tbsp. - Extra virgin olive oil
1 package - Yeast
3 cups - Bread flour
Preparation:
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.
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.
Ingredients:
6-8 cups - Bread flour
4 cups - 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 il 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°F
-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
Preparation:
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°F
-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)
Preparation:
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 tbsp. - Gluten-free dry yeast
2/3 cup
- Brown rice flour or bean flour
1/2 cup - Tapioca flour
2 tbsp. - Dry milk powder or non-dairy milk powder
2 tsp. - Xanthan gum
1/2 tsp. - Salt
1 tsp. - Non-flavored gelatin powder
1 tsp. - Italian herb seasoning
2/3 cup - Warm water (105°F)
1/2 tsp. - Sugar (or 1/4 tsp. honey)
1 tsp. - Olive oil
1 tsp. - Cider vinegar
Cooking spray
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 425°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
This recipe will make enough pizza dough for one large dinner-sized pizza.
Ingredients:
1 envelope - Active dry yeast
1/2 tsp. - Sugar
2/3 cup - Lukewarm (110°F - 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
Preparation:
Combine and knead all ingredients for 8 minutes. Let rise 1 hour. Re-knead and
roll out to 14"-16" circle..
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