The dough
Making pizza dough from
scratch is certainly a daunting task but it’s really pretty straight
forward. Baking can be an intimidating
process in that it is so drawn out, failures can be very disappointing. You have to let yourself enjoy the process
and remember the successes more than the ones that don’t come out quite like
you want.
I make all of my dough with a
Kitchen Aid™ countertop mixer. My
experience is that it works the dough more thoroughly and extensively than
working it by hand. You should not,
however, think this means that you need to run out and spend $350 on a mixer in
order to get good pizza dough. You can
make your dough by hand and I think you will be happy with the results.
The dough making process does not
really change that much. What changes
from pizza to pizza are first ingredients and from there it’s mostly little
things. I’m going to walk you through
the process of basic pizza dough. This
formula will be modified throughout the recipes that follow this but the
essential technique stays basically the same.
Measure
out and set aside the following ingredients:
2
½ Cups High Gluten Flour
1
Tablespoon Sugar
1
Teaspoon Salt
½
Teaspoon Yeast
1
Tablespoon Olive Oil
¾
Cup Warm Water
Mix
the yeast with the water first and let it sit for a minute or two. This is called proofing the yeast and tests
whether or not the cells are still alive.
When the mixture starts to foam, you know that the yeast is healthy. Mix the sugar, salt and olive oil into the
yeast and water and stir thoroughly.
If you are using a mixer, you will
need the flat, paddle attachment. Pour
the water mixture into your flour and mix at the lowest speed. Gradually, the ingredients will start to come
together into a solid mass. If the
mixture is too dry and it doesn’t seem to be setting up, you may need to add
some more water. If it is too wet, you
will need to add more flour. Once the
dough is formed into a rough mass and is starting to clean the flour off the
sides of the bowl, it is ready.
Switch the mixer attachment to the
dough hook. Set the hook into the dough
and again set it to the lowest speed.
You should knead it for about five to seven minutes. The reason for kneading the dough is to
invigorate the yeast which will cause the dough to rise and ferment
properly. Some pizzas are kneaded more
than others. The most important thing to
remember is to not over-knead the dough.
If you do so, the gluten structure is going to break down and once that
happens there’s no coming back. There’s
little risk of over-kneading if you are doing it by hand. In the mixer, it is possible though so just
make sure you are watching the dough. If
you notice the structure starting to break down, you need to stop it before
it’s too far gone.
Kneading by hand is easy; it will
just take a little longer. Put the dough
out on a well floured surface. Ideally,
it should be about waist level to put less strain on your back. Kneading the dough is a basic three step
process. First, press down on the dough
with the heels of your hands. Second,
fold the dough over onto itself. Third,
rotate the dough one turn to the right or left.
Then repeat. Keep doing this over
and over, adding flour as the dough starts to get too sticky until it has been
sufficiently worked.
Before you knead the dough, it will
be very sticky and messy. When you are
finished kneading it, the dough will be smooth, tight and you should be able to
toss the dough from hand to hand without it sticking excessively to your
skin.
Now the dough has to rise. My recommendation is to let the dough sit at
room temperature for a few hours before putting it in the fridge
overnight. The colder environment will
slow the yeast development and the extra day will further develop the flavor of
the dough. Take the dough out of the
fridge in the morning and let it sit out until that night when you are ready to
bake.
You now have the basic information
needed to find your own pizza success.
The best way to learn something is to actually do it so the first recipe
is one using this dough described in this section. Following that are more recipes that are
slightly more involved and technical.
Just remember to relax and enjoy yourself.
