How to make Pizza Dough by DK on May 9, 2010
The above picture looks like fresh homemade Mozzarella cheese, doesn't it? Yummy though it sounds (Love that stuff!), its sadly not. But what I have is something which when baked with assorted topping can make everyone's taste buds go into excited frenzy! Yup - Its Pizza dough. Easy, homemade, Italian Yeast Pizza dough. Crafted and molded right by your hands. Its not only satisfactory but something about making stuff on your own for your family adds a special touch to the pizza - and guess what? Its tastes additionally delicious. If you said - Yeah! Right, trust me - make it and tell me :) There are zillion versions of making pizza dough, but for today lets go into making this easy to follow recipe for “Pizza Dough" taken from Peter Reinhart's famous cookbook It yields a beautifully tasty, thin, crispy, delicate yet chewy pizza crust matching the ones which your local pizzaioli makes and rotates so flamboyantly in the air. Will post the more easier ones later. Lets go into this recipe now shall we?
- Prep time:
- Yields: 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter)
Ingredients
- 4 1/2 Cups (20 1/4 ounces/607.5 g) Unbleached high-gluten (%14) bread flour or all purpose flour, chilled
- 1 3/4 Tsp Salt
- 1 Tsp Instant yeast (fast rising/Rapid rise yeast)
- 1/4 Cup (2 ounces/60g) Olive oil or vegetable oil (both optional, but it’s better with)
- 1 3/4 Cups (14 ounces/420g or 420ml) Water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
- 1 Tb sugar
- Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting
Method
1.
Method - DAY ONE
Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).
2.
Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed)
3.
in order to form a sticky ball of dough.
4.
On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.
5.
NOTE: If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for the same amount of time.The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour, so that it clears the sides. If, on the contrary, it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water.
The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C.
Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas). I cut it into 4 equal sizes.
NOTE: To avoid the dough from sticking to the scraper, dip the scraper into water between cuts.
6.
Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.
NOTE: If the dough sticks to your hands, then dip your hands into the flour again.
7.
Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil.
8.
Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days.
NOTE: You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil (a few tablespooons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.
Day 2 - On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.
Filed Under these categories
- 44 How to's
- 44 Italian
- 499 Vegan Recipes
- 28 Yeast Breads
Recipe Reference
recipe courtesy “the bread baker's apprentice”
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5 Member Reviews
By vineeta on Jun 1, 2013
waiting for the end result :)
By Sarika on Sep 7, 2012
Thank you! Thank you! For the best pizza base recipe! I had people over for dinner so was kinda worried but it turned out crunchy and delicious!!
41 Comments
By Kelly on Sep 10, 2016
Hi, my favorite pizza comes from a little organic restaurant. They tell me it is a 'live' pizza and that they use no packaged/instant yeast but rather let the dough ferment overnight, and they add lemon, not sure if that is just for flavor or part of what is needed. I am wondering if you know anything about this kind of dough. I'm wondering if I didn't add the instant yeast would the dough ferment/create it's own yeast on it's own? Please forgive my knowledge base, I am not a gourmet, I am just an everyday cook!
Thanks so much!
By Akshata on Sep 2, 2016
Hi instead of ice cold water can i use warm water? N i want to prepare today and i am hvg 6 -7 hours.. so plz tell me if i used warm water how much time it will take to 1st rise and how much time for 2nd? Plz reply me thanks in advance. :)
Yes, you can try using warm/lukewarm water (make sure to keep it lukewarm as not to kill the yeast) and let it rise as you would normally do. The amount of hours depends on the weather in your area. Let it double, knead it and repeat.--DK
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By urooj on Jul 24, 2015
Hello every body, I just what to ask a quick question that is i have purchased yeast extract instead of yeast to make dough. Can i use it in large amount to make a dough...
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By norma on May 2, 2015
What if I want to use one ball of dough immediately? . Does it have to be refrigerated before forming and then letting it rest two hours or can I just make a pizza and cook it. Thank you
By Vithra on Sep 28, 2014
:-D :-D the most awesome pizza dough recipe. The pizza bread was so flattened and nice. I refrigerated it for a few hours before using it. And it did rise well and very smooth and elastic. Thanks for this recipe.
By vikas on Jun 20, 2014
I eat lot of pizzas and I am learning to make pizzas and your recipe is very simple and useful.
By Are How To Make Homemade Pizza Dough Like Pizza Hut | Pizza Cooking on May 10, 2014
[...] for example – if you take a drink in a coffee chain, save it 300 per month, minimum at the end of Bailey brothers) from. Ron also played the top of the product should be as naturally, add crab meat [...]
By Chef Steven on Dec 7, 2013
I made this recipe only using half the ingrediants except I added 1/8 tsp more of yeast. I refrigerated it for 8 hr. I took it out and I let it set for 1 hr. I put olive ouil on the pizza sheet and sprinkled bread crumbs I rolled out the dough thin and punctured holes with a fork all over. I then baked it with no toppings for 5 minutes. Then I put the sauce and ingrediants on and allways use aregano last. I then baked it at the same temp of 450 degrees. It was the best pizza I ever had. The dough recipe is great Ty Chef Steven
By COOKIECOOKER on Sep 10, 2012
thanks hopefullyt his will work ! ill comment again and tell you if it did ! follow me on instagram to see pics of it imma_ninja_so_i_just_
By liam on May 18, 2012
damp cloth/tea towel will be better than plastic when letting it to femrate
By Jessica Walker on Apr 18, 2012
Ok whats the temp for the oven and how long do you bake it. :?:
By joaquin antonio cancila on Jan 18, 2012
I will like to know how much dried or regular yeast,I sould use to make (20 )twenty 12" inches pizzas for a school party. thanks for your help. jacancila
By Tomato basil arugula stuffed crust pizza « Baker Chef on Nov 4, 2011
[...] Pizza crust - make your own or get a ready made store bought [...]
By Clemmy on Oct 22, 2011
I Did not see any instruction after covering the dough with plastic wrap and alowing it to restt for 2 hours.
What must we do after that... ??
Use it for making Pizza. This is just the making of the dough...Use this dough to flatten it and top it with whatever you like and bake in the oven.
By Deepali Jain on Sep 5, 2011
Hi DK, I've been going over & over this recipe for last 6 months & haven't been able to make as I haven't found instant yeast yet. Active dry yeast is more readily available around these parts. I tried substituting using your chart instant yeast to active yeast, but the quantity is coming negligible. can you plz suggest the right qty & also if any step needs to be altered if i'm using active yeast
By sunita sil on Apr 21, 2011
hi dk
do i need to keep the dough covered for three days coz its written thee days. can you tell me pls
By Vardhini on Oct 26, 2010
Hi DK, What changes need to be made if I am going to make it without the overnight resting part. Say I want to make it in the next 5-6 hours. Will using warm water for the yeast and not putting in the fridge alone work?
I usually follow this recipe only but I have another recipe for a quick version..will post it soon :)
By mai on Sep 2, 2010
helloo..
i've making pizza using eggs.. y didnt u??
at times my pizza was nice at times it was hardened. ive many times to make it soft..
By pragya on Aug 29, 2010
pls reply me can this be ade in m/v mode cos i don't have convention mode
If you want to bake using Microwave pls refer to these articles 1) How to Bake in Microwave 2) How to Bake in Microwave Convection Oven
By pragya on Aug 29, 2010
can this be made in m/v mode
By PizzaHomeChef on Aug 27, 2010
I've used cool water to make pizza dough , but never really went for ice-cold. I can see an advantage in helping the dough freeze faster, creating less air in its ziplock in the freezer, and so lessening the chance of dry spots forming. Thanks!
By deepa on Aug 8, 2010
:) hi...as am a beginer..i wanted to ask...(1)if yeasts contains sodium? (2) can baking powder b substituted by anything else in cakes n muffins? (3) where does one buy yeast powder ? (4) how do i use a microwave...tips regarding best use of microwave...as i hav a microwave oven which doesnt display the temperature in degrees/fahrenheit...it uses low, medium, high modes....clueless how to operate
(1)Yeast is an organism...I am assuming it does not have sodium (I may be wrong). (2)Refer this for BP substitutes : http://chefinyou.com/2009/07/substitutes-in-baking-101/ (3) Depends on where you are located! In the US its available even in the local groceries (4) I do not own/use M/W for my baking hence I dont have an idea. But hopefully this post might be able to give you an idea http://chefinyou.com/2010/05/baking-in-microwave-convection-oven/ (Doesn't ur m/w come with a manual?)
By Aswathy on Jul 13, 2010
i made this using half wholewheat and half all-purpose..tasted real good..bt it took longer to rise and had to use a little more liquid than otherwise..i love homemade pizza!
By sana on Jul 1, 2010
:wink: can i make this whole wheat?
half whole wheat and half all purpose flour? :-?
You can of course try...I havent personally tried it out yet :)
By Renuka on Jun 10, 2010
so some places I have read abt warm water to be used, can you please tell me why is cold water used here?
thanks in advance
Renuka
If you working on developing the yeast immediately you have to use warm water. In this case, we are letting it rest overnight and letting the yeast take a slow action on the dough. Hence the cold water :)
By Heather Loves Healthy Vegan Recipes on May 31, 2010
Very detailed explanation. Thanks so much for that. I use whole grain spelt flour, so it doesn't rise as much, but it makes for a very healthy crust.
By Paramita Brahmachari on May 13, 2010
Thnx Dear Chef ,
I was finding the recipe of how to make pizza base . Now I can make it in mah kitchen . Thnx a lot ... :-D
By Veggie Belly on May 12, 2010
Bread bakers apprentice is an awesome book! Love this dough!
By PJ on May 12, 2010
Dk Dear,I hope you will invite me when the pizza is ready.Looking forward to the virtual treat ;)
By Telugumom on May 10, 2010
We had home made pizza last week and it was yum. The recipe I followed is a little different. I will try this recipe too!
By pixen on May 10, 2010
Love it and thank you for sharing the recipe and informations. You're tops! Btw, can you teach me how to fling the pizza dough like they did in a pizzeria or tossing pharatha? :oops:
By snacksgiving on May 10, 2010
That looks good for a party - a bit of pre-planning and some kneading. That is a nice recipe.
By chitra on May 10, 2010
wowoow.. thnx a lot.have bookmarked..
By jay on May 10, 2010
thanks a lot nice :-o
By Asha on May 10, 2010
Nothing tastes like homemade Pizza dough, great post. I was baking too last weekend. Pizza dough looks yum.
By Elaine from Cookware Help on May 9, 2010
Thanks for this. I haven't made pizza in a long while and your post is inspiring me to give it a whirl for the next weekend. I'll definitely try your dough recipe.
By Sharmilee on May 9, 2010
Sounds easy!
By Trendsetters on May 9, 2010
very useful recipe...thank u
By Silvia Apilinario on Jul 1, 2019