Pizza Dough

I would either reduce the sugar to a teaspoon or eliminate it. I would DEFINITELY reduce to oil to a tablespoon. The rest looks fine. The dough should be almost sticky or slightly sticky, depending on your terminology. The dough benefits from a long, slow rise. I would just put it in the refrigerator and let it rise over night. When you do manipulate the dough, you have to let it rest. Deflate, let it rest a few minutes, and then make-up the crust. If it gets too elastic, give it a rest. When you manipulate it, the gluten becomes tight and the dough will spring back. Tossing isn't necessary. Some people claim that authentic pizza dough is rolled or patted, not tossed. I don't toss mine, but there are two schools of thought - toss if you must. Also, you might try using AP flour or a blend of 1/2 AP and 1/2 bread flour. The bread flour will produce a dough that has more gluten and that will be harder to manipulate. If the dough is sticky, dust it, the board, the rolling pin, and your hands with flour.

I don't think there is anything wrong with your recipe, I'd disagree with the previous poster about reducing the oil, but that is strictly a matter of taste.

If the dough is too sticky knead in more flour. Because flours vary a lot in their exact composition and moisture content (the same lot of flour will vary a little with seasonal changes in humidity) you need to do this by feel rather than by a strict recipe. It's usually most convenient to set the moisture content and then knead flour in until it feels right. I think pizza dough should be on the wet side--flour your hands and board to keep from sticking too much.

When it is too elastic let it rest, per the other response. You want to be gentle when pulling the dough out into shape. I thought tossing was only in the cartoons--seems like a hard way to go about it :-).

Roger

Sridhar Sathya wrote:

I agree with Vox that your pizza dough sounds really heavy on the oil. A tablespoon at the most.

It's hard to know how you define gooey. tossing is overrated and mostly theater. Sounds like perhaps it's too dense?

Like Vox said, if it's too springy it may just need to rest, but i agree with Roger that maybe it's too dry. I do find that i get the best performance out of my pizza dough when the hydration level is high enough that the dough is a little sticky. just have flour handy to sprinkle with while you work it.

It's Really Easy to get more than '1 cup' of flour into that cup. Try again and stop adding flour when the dough is just a little sticky.

I don't really measure the flour or the water. I just put enough flour to come up the shoulder on my food processor's bade, put in about a tablespoon of oil, a teaspoon of salt, and a scant tablespoon of instant yeast. I turn on the machine and add very hot tap water in a slow stream until the dough forms a ball that tends to stick to the sides of the bowl. I let that knead for about a minute, and then remove it. The important thing is that you have the proper ratio of liquid to flour.

I think that four tablespoons of oil to a pound of flour is pretty high. I have looked at a lot of recipes, and I don't ever recall seeing that much oil for a scant pound (3 cups) of flour. But, if it works for the OP and he likes it, then I say go for it.

It's my guess that most people blindly follow a recipe without paying any attention to ratios. That would work ok if it told them which method to use when measuring flour.

Some people get a 1c scoop and shove it into an open bag, and get considerably more in 1 cup than they would had they poured the contents of the bag into a container and then used a regular measuring cup and the scoop & sweep method, for example.

I start to think my pizza dough is way too greasy when i hit about 2 tablespoons of oil per pound of flour. I don't want to think about what four would be like. But yeah, if it's what he's going for, whatever.

My Fibrament stone arrived this morning. May be making pizza tonight . . .

The food network was big on pizza this weekend and it got me motivated to make one. I whiped out at big one (pizza that is) on Sunday. I have been lazy and have baked most of the recent pizzas in my small microwave convection oven in a pizza pan. On Sunday, I heated up the main oven with my stone and baked the pizza the right way for a change. I kept is simple with a minimum of sauce and a minimumof toppings. It was wonderful. Nothing beats the basics. .

Well, the joke was on me - a new fibrament stone requires a 6 hour drying cycle in the oven before use. increment 100 degrees per hour, standing at 500 degrees for two hours.

So, I'll be staying up late to turn off the oven at the end of the cycle, perhaps I'll get to take the thing for a spin tomorrow night.

You're right about simplicity - one of the tougher lessons in home pizza making is when "lots of cheese" becomes too much. It doesn't matter how much you like cheese (and I have at least 7 kinds in my fridge), you rapidly reach a point where the pizza and indeed the cheese on it is less enjoyable for there being so much of it.

Two weeks ago I got roped into baking 14 calzones for my twin nephews

Hi: Try all-purpose flour. Bread flour requires a good amount of kneading. I would also reduce the oil to 1 tb. of olive oil.

When you continue with the same recipe and get the same results...it might be time to change the recipe.

This is from Fine Cooking and works perfectly every time......

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Pizza Dough/Fine Cooking

breads, italian

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and set aside.

Meanwhile, put the flour and salt in a food processor fitted with the steel blade. Process briefly to mix. With the machine runni8ng, add the water-yeast mixture in a steady stream. Turn the processor off and add the oil. Pulse a few times to mix in the oil.

Divide the dough. Scrape the soft doughty out of the processor and onto a lightly floured surface. With lightly floured hands, quickly knead the doughty in a mass incorporating any bits of flour or doughty from the processor bowl that wasn't mixed in.

Cut dough into four equal pieces with a dough scrapper. Roll each piece into a tight smooth ball, kneading to push out all the air.

Proceed as usual.

Extra pieces of doughty will freeze very well. Cover with extra flour and seal and freeze in a quart zip lock bag for future use.

The Fine Art of Cooking involves personal choice. Many preferences, ingredients, and procedures may not be consistent with what you know to be true. As with any recipe, you may find your personal intervention will be necessary. Bon Appetit!

That is basically my recipe and technique. It works well.

Yeah, I'd cut way back on the oil and not worry about tossing. You don't need to toss to make good pizza. Stretch the dough gently and when it won't give any more without tearing, let it rest for 10 or 15. Then stretch some more.

A piece I wrote on pizza dough, with a recipe and shaping info is at:

Hmmnn.... Calculating your ingredient ratios....

Flour 100% Sugar 3% Water 69% Yeast 0.8% Salt 1.2 Oil 14%

Your recipe is wet...you should slightly increase your flour if that is easier for you to do.... Or reduce the water to make it easier to handle. Do not try to reduce the amount of oil as you are using a very strong flour and you had problems with excessive elasticity and shrinkage.And you had no problem with that.. To ,minimize elasticity and shrinkage: (1) that do not overmix the dough but just halfway and not more than two thirds developed and that;s it. Pizzas with really strong flour when overmixed tends to be too tough to handle and manipulate. (2) Do not add the oil immediately at the start of mixing rather As that will slow down the water absoprtion rate. But latter when it has attained integrity or start to develop then gradually add the oil. (3)When done take it out from the mixer and bulk ferment it then divide into requires sizes and round, (4) Rest for sufficient time or chill for several hours so that the dough will be really extensible. Be sure to watch dough temperature. If the dough comes out warm its tends to be tough to manipulate than when its cool. That is why its recommendable to chill the pizza dough before using it and it will come out fine. Roy

Thanks for your suggestions. As suggested I reduced the oil & water(little less); also I let the dough stand in the refrigerator for about 10 hours. Now I'm able to handle the dough very well.

Sridhar Sathya wrote:

Good to hear! Also, you may notice an improvment in the flavor and texture of the dough from retarding the fermentation. I think that letting the dough rise in the refrigerator allows you to make pizzas in a more impromptu manner. The dough will keep for a few days before becoming too sour, so you have flexibility to make the dough when you have a few minutes and then make up the pizza when you are ready to eat.

Hello

You have certainly been given a great deal of useful information already relative to the problem you posed. Should you want more information, try the pizza dough recipes on The Artisan.

These can be accessed from

Regards

Jerry @ The Artisan

I just wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed your site. It always has good recipes and great, in-depth information.

Vox

Thank you! We really enjoy the work, and wish we could do more. Now that we are making wine and olive oil, time is at a premium, and we cannot do as much as we once could.

Regards

Jerry @ the Artisan

WHAT!