kittywings
Well-Known Member
OK, I don't know if you guys are as mental about pizza as I am (it usually only takes people a short time of knowing me to realize that I would eat it every day all day if I could get away with it), but I have been searching for a restaurant quality pizza dough FOREVER and I believe I have finally found it!
(The flours are by weight, the recipe makes enough for about 4 x 12-14" thin crust pizzas)
18 oz. all-purpose flour
3.5 oz. semolina flour
1 tsp. salt
1.25 tsp wheat gluten (I've found adding the gluten to all-purpose flour works better than using bread flour) If you add too much gluten, the dough is too tough
1.5 c warm water
2 t. yeast
1 t. sugar
In a cup (or if you're making the dough in a bread machine make these your 1st ingredients) add the water, then sprinkle the yeast and the sugar over the top and let it sit about 5 minutes
In a separate bowl, combine the flours, salt and wheat gluten and mix to incorporate them evenly.
If you are mixing by hand, make a hole in the center of the flour mixture and add the yeast mixture. Knead by hand until it's fully incorporated, then let it rise for 45 minutes. (some people grease the outside of the dough with olive oil while it rises... I prefer not to add the extra fat).
If you are doing it in a bread maker, just add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture in the machine and turn it on to the dough cycle and let it go to town.
Now here's the part that makes it more authentic. I have lined one of my oven racks with fire bricks (I think they're about $2 or so at Home Depot). Preheat the oven as hot as it can go (mine is just over 500 degrees... it only goes up to 500, but I tweaked a setting on it to make it go about 10 degrees higher), for AT LEAST an hour... so basically, turn it on before you start making the dough.
When your dough is ready, break off a piece (around baseball-softball size) and make it into a ball. Squish the ball flat and pinch about 1/2" from the edges around the whole thing. From there (if you're better than I am) you can toss the dough... I use a rolling pin. Once I have it to the size/thickness that I want it. I add flour to the top until I feel it won't stick to the pan that I use as a pizza peel. I then peel it up from the countertop and place the floured side down on the BOTTOM of the pizza pan (so you don't have to deal with the lip of the pan) with a little bit of extra flour sprinkled flour in the middle of the pan (just in case). I usually lightly shake the pan a bit once the dough is on it to make sure it moves freely. From here, how you top it is up to you...
Once you have your toppings on the pizza, give it another shake to see if it moves, it probably won't. In this case, I use a thin metal spatula to make sure it lifts off the pan. Once it moves with a light shake, you're ready to put the pizza in the oven. Slide the pizza off the pan onto the bricks and quickly shut the door (this may take some practice to get good at it). Cook the pizza for 4-7 minutes... I usually do it for 4-5 minutes depending on how long the oven has been on.
I use thongs to remove it, just grab one edge and pull!
I made two pizzas today, one margherita and one bbq chicken. If you guys want specifics on how I made them, just let me know.
Here are some pix of the cooking process:
Woops! We were hungry
(DH got to the bbq chicken before I could take the pic!)
(The flours are by weight, the recipe makes enough for about 4 x 12-14" thin crust pizzas)
18 oz. all-purpose flour
3.5 oz. semolina flour
1 tsp. salt
1.25 tsp wheat gluten (I've found adding the gluten to all-purpose flour works better than using bread flour) If you add too much gluten, the dough is too tough
1.5 c warm water
2 t. yeast
1 t. sugar
In a cup (or if you're making the dough in a bread machine make these your 1st ingredients) add the water, then sprinkle the yeast and the sugar over the top and let it sit about 5 minutes
In a separate bowl, combine the flours, salt and wheat gluten and mix to incorporate them evenly.
If you are mixing by hand, make a hole in the center of the flour mixture and add the yeast mixture. Knead by hand until it's fully incorporated, then let it rise for 45 minutes. (some people grease the outside of the dough with olive oil while it rises... I prefer not to add the extra fat).
If you are doing it in a bread maker, just add the flour mixture to the yeast mixture in the machine and turn it on to the dough cycle and let it go to town.
Now here's the part that makes it more authentic. I have lined one of my oven racks with fire bricks (I think they're about $2 or so at Home Depot). Preheat the oven as hot as it can go (mine is just over 500 degrees... it only goes up to 500, but I tweaked a setting on it to make it go about 10 degrees higher), for AT LEAST an hour... so basically, turn it on before you start making the dough.
When your dough is ready, break off a piece (around baseball-softball size) and make it into a ball. Squish the ball flat and pinch about 1/2" from the edges around the whole thing. From there (if you're better than I am) you can toss the dough... I use a rolling pin. Once I have it to the size/thickness that I want it. I add flour to the top until I feel it won't stick to the pan that I use as a pizza peel. I then peel it up from the countertop and place the floured side down on the BOTTOM of the pizza pan (so you don't have to deal with the lip of the pan) with a little bit of extra flour sprinkled flour in the middle of the pan (just in case). I usually lightly shake the pan a bit once the dough is on it to make sure it moves freely. From here, how you top it is up to you...
Once you have your toppings on the pizza, give it another shake to see if it moves, it probably won't. In this case, I use a thin metal spatula to make sure it lifts off the pan. Once it moves with a light shake, you're ready to put the pizza in the oven. Slide the pizza off the pan onto the bricks and quickly shut the door (this may take some practice to get good at it). Cook the pizza for 4-7 minutes... I usually do it for 4-5 minutes depending on how long the oven has been on.
I use thongs to remove it, just grab one edge and pull!
I made two pizzas today, one margherita and one bbq chicken. If you guys want specifics on how I made them, just let me know.
Here are some pix of the cooking process:
Woops! We were hungry
(DH got to the bbq chicken before I could take the pic!)
