Help With Homeade Pizza Crust

To say I love pizza would be a gross understatement. I have been known to consume an entire large pizza by myself in a two-day period - pizza for lunch, reheated for dinner, and cold for breakfast the following morning. Now my question:

I want to be able to make pizza for myself, but I am severely handicpped when making any kind of yeast dough. Can anybody give me a step-by-step method for making a foolproof pizza dough? Exactly how do I mix in the yeast? How hot should the water feel that I dissolve it in? How much should I knead the dough, and how should it feel when I've kneaded it enough? Any help you can give me would be appreciated.

P.S. I have read instructions on the internet, and they are not very informative - they seem to assume I already know more than I do about baking with yeast, if that makes sense. Thanks.

Try this recipe......my Italian Mother's one for pizza.

1/4 C warm water
1 envelope dry yeast
1 t sugar
4 cups bread flour
1/2 t salt
additional 1 1/2 C warm water
2 T olive oil

Dissolve the yeast in the 1/4 C warm water with the sugar. The water should be around 110 degrees. Any hotter and you will "kill" the yeast. Any colder and the yeast will not respond. Let this sit for about 10 minutes. Measure the flour into a bowl. It must be bread flour, not all-purpose. Bread flour has more gluten in it than regular flour. Make a well in the middle and pour all ingredients into it. Start working the flour in....when it's all incorporated start the kneeding process. The more kneeding (brings out the gluten) the better! At least 5-10 minutes. At the end, the dough should not be sticky, it should be smooth and elastic. Add more flour if it's sticking to your fingers. Let rise until doubled. Punch down and let rise another 30 minutes. Make pizza and enjoy!!

For the water temp I always just put my finger in the water and ask myself "would I put a baby in this?". If you want you can add a bit of sugar to activate the yeast, it will really start "puffing" up if you get it right. You can see what it should look like in my sixth picture from when I made rolls last week.

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=6635

Thanks guys, this helps a lot. ilee, should I used the rapid rise yeast, or just the regular active dry yeast?

Either one will do,However I buy my yeast at sams Club where its about four bucks for two pounds of instant yeast compared to those little packets at Two Dollars.

Skylar0ne: I know what your going through. and you most likely followed the recipe to a "T" right? The reality of making bread / pizza dough cannot be learned by reading out of a recipe book or here in this thread. The knowledge required to become accomplished at making dough whether it be by hand or by machine can only be obtained by working side by side with someone who really does know how to make dough. You have to learn what a bread dough is supposed to feel like. You have to learn the touch.

There has to be someone in your world that's a whizz at making bread dough, search him/her out and get them to actually show you and let you feel first hand what the dough is supposed to feel like.
Once you learn the feel of the dough you'll find that a recipe is only a guide line where you'll be adjusting it as you go along to obtain the right consistency.

All the info above is right on the money but you see , these folks already know what there looking for in the feel of the dough. They could probably through in the kitchen sink and still have a wonderful pizza "cuz they got the feel"
Mike, here is the recipe for dough that I learned when I was 14 years old working in the cities largest Italian bakery back in 1953
step 1. open a 100 lb. bag of flour
step 2. empty about half the flour into the mixing machine
step 3. add a hand full of yeast
step 4. add a hand full of salt
step 5. start the machine
step 6. open garden hose and add water till the dough feels right.
step 7. have Master Baker feel dough and make adjustments as required
step 8. let rise twice
Please note that there is no sugar or olive oil or anything else but plain old flour, water, yeast and salt. A proper dough can be best described as a very, very soft pillow that does not stick to your hands.

http://www.roadfood.com/Forums/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1052

quote:

Originally posted by fpczyz

Skylar0ne: I know what your going through. and you most likely followed the recipe to a "T" right? The reality of making bread / pizza dough cannot be learned by reading out of a recipe book or here in this thread. The knowledge required to become accomplished at making dough whether it be by hand or by machine can only be obtained by working side by side with someone who really does know how to make dough. You have to learn what a bread dough is supposed to feel like. Mike you have to learn the touch.

There has to be someone in your world that's a whizz at making bread dough, search him/her out and get them to actually show you and let you feel first hand what the dough is supposed to feel like.
Once you learn the feel of the dough you'll find that a recipe is only a guide line where you'll be adjusting it as you go along to obtain the right consistency.

All the info above is right on the money but you see , these folks already know what there looking for in the feel of the dough. They could probably through in the kitchen sink and still have a wonderful pizza "cuz they got the feel"
Mike, here is the recipe for dough that I learned when I was 14 years old working in the cities largest Italian bakery back in 1953
step 1. open a 100 lb. bag of flour
step 2. empty about half the flour into the mixing machine
step 3. add a hand full of yeast
step 4. add a hand full of salt
step 5. start the machine
step 6. open garden hose and add water till the dough feels right.
step 7. have Master Baker feel dough and make adjustments as required
step 8. let rise twice
Please note that there is no sugar or olive oil or anything else but plain old flour, water, yeast and salt. A proper dough can be best described as a very, very soft pillow that does not stick to your hands.

Did ya use the standard weights when dividing this dough? 14oz dough ball for 14 inch pizza, 20oz. dough ball for 20" pizza?

I used to make my dough in a bread machine, let it do most of the work then form the pizza crust, but I've not done that in a few years. I like Lisa's recipe above.

Thanks to everybody who replied - we made pizza yesterday, but used one of those crusts that you buy in the dairy case that's packaged in a can like biscuits. They are better than the Boboli things, but I still want to try my own. I think I'm gonna take fp's advice and watch somebody who can do it from start to finish. A picture is worth a thousand words.

quote:

Originally posted by skylar0ne

Thanks to everybody who replied - we made pizza yesterday, but used one of those crusts that you buy in the dairy case that's packaged in a can like biscuits. They are better than the Boboli things, but I still want to try my own. I think I'm gonna take fp's advice and watch somebody who can do it from start to finish. A picture is worth a thousand words.

Good Heavens, do NOT be afraid to make pizza dough! It's one of the simplest things on the planet!! Just smoosh everything all together, kneed it until it's elastic and doesn't stick to your fingers (in which cast you sprinkle more flour onto it until it stops sticking). Let it rise, pat it out into a pan or pizza stone, put your toppings on and throw it into the oven. Simple and delicious!!!!

I also just use my bread machine. It is quick and easy for me, just put everything in and forget it until it is ready. We have pizza about once a week this way.

quote:

Originally posted by lleechef

Try this recipe......my Italian Mother's one for pizza.

1/4 C warm water
1 envelope dry yeast
1 t sugar
4 cups bread flour
1/2 t salt
additional 1 1/2 C warm water
2 T olive oil

Dissolve the yeast in the 1/4 C warm water with the sugar. The water should be around 110 degrees. Any hotter and you will "kill" the yeast. Any colder and the yeast will not respond. Let this sit for about 10 minutes. Measure the flour into a bowl. It must be bread flour, not all-purpose. Bread flour has more gluten in it than regular flour. Make a well in the middle and pour all ingredients into it. Start working the flour in....when it's all incorporated start the kneeding process. The more kneeding (brings out the gluten) the better! At least 5-10 minutes. At the end, the dough should not be sticky, it should be smooth and elastic. Add more flour if it's sticking to your fingers. Let rise until doubled. Punch down and let rise another 30 minutes. Make pizza and enjoy!!

Lisa,

could I make enough dough for 3 - 5 pizzas and save them say in the fridge as balls of dough for a period of time?

Anyone have a recipe for a buttery, flakey deep dish dough?

Cosmos,That recipe will yield four individual pizzas about 14 inches,thay you can put in the freezer and have ready.I use it all the time.

Pizza Dough (make this dough the day before you need it)

In a bowl place: 1 C Bread Flour
1 t yeast
2 T sugar
1 t salt

Mix with a spoon. Add 3/4 c warm water, 1 T oil
then add 1 more cup of bread flour.

Mix with a spoon to make a dough, Knead on a floured
counter until soft and smooth.
Place in a oiled plastic bag in the
refrigerator overnight. Put in a pizza pan. Top with
1 cup pizza sauce, 2 cups mozzarella cheese
and pepperoni. Bake at 450 until golden brown.

I put my cheese on first, then use a squeeze bottle
to put on the sauce, then the pepperoni. The cheese
holds the sauce and meat on the pizza. I also microwave
the pepperoni on paper towels to get rid of some of the
grease.

Read in a thread above that no sugar was needed. I think it is imperitive unless your starting the dough in advance and creating a biga. I thought yeast needs sugar to feed on, also some yeast's are rapid rise while others take time to mature. In any event don't give up trying and have fun with it. Chow Jim