Basic Pizza Dough
September 18, 2008
Today I’ll give you the recipe for a basic pizza dough, and tomorrow, the best calzone you’ll ever eat.
For this pizza dough, you’ll need a teaspoon of rapid-rise yeast, three cups of all-purpose or bread flour, two teaspoons of coarse salt, 1 to 1 1/4 cups water, and two tablespoons of olive oil. I don’t have a mixer or food processor, so I kneaded by hand. But I have directions in the ‘Tips’ section if you want to use either of those.
Begin by mixing half the flour, the yeast, and salt in a bowl. Add a cup of water and the olive oil. Stir the mixture, adding the remaining flour slowly until the dough becomes thick. Pour your dough onto a floured counter and knead it for 10 minutes. You want the dough smooth, but moist. Add as little extra flour as possible when kneading.
When your dough is ready, form it into a ball. Then, add a tiny amount of oil to a new mixing bowl and spread it around the bottom and sides. Place your dough ball, seam down, in the bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let it rise for 1-2 hours.
That’s it. As long as you have the time to let it rise, it’s quite easy. And tomorrow…calzones!
Tips
- To make this dough in a food processor, combine all the flour, salt, and yeast in the processor. Turn it on, then slowly add the water and oil until it forms a ball. Remove the dough, form into a ball and proceed as above.
- To make this dough in a mixer, put in half the flour, the salt, yeast, water and oil. Turn it on to slow speed, then gradually add the rest of the flour until it forms a ball that pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Proceed as above.
- You can easily flavor the dough using herbs or spices.
Printable Recipe
Ingredients:
- 1 tsp. rapid-rise yeast
- 3 cups all-purpose or bread flour
- 2 tsp. coarse salt
- 1 cup warm water (a little more might be needed)
- 2 Tbsp. olive oil plus a little extra for the bowl
Recipe:
- Combine half the flour, the salt, and yeast in a bowl and stir. Pour in the water and 2 Tbsp. of olive oil. Mix, slowly adding the remaining flour until it become to thick to stir.
- Pour the dough onto a floured countertop and knead it for 10 minutes, or until smooth but moist. Rub a small amount of oil on the bottom and sides of a bowl, and place the dough in it. Cover with plastic wrap or a towel and let it rise for 1-2 hours.
Recipe adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything.
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September 18th, 2008 at 2:56 pm
I love making pizza dough in my electric bread maker. I throw it in a bag and cut off a hunk for pizza or breadsticks. I could live on this stuff!
September 18th, 2008 at 8:00 pm
I tried this not long ago and it was an epic fail. My second time failing, in fact. I haven’t given up yet, but it does bother me.
Being the scientist/pragmatist (I mean that with all fondness) that you are, maybe you can tell me why it was so elastic and wouldn’t stay together?
September 18th, 2008 at 10:11 pm
Hmmmm….what do you mean by elastic? Was it runny and just flattened out?
September 19th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
I can’t describe it a better way. Completely elastic. And pieces of it would come apart from the rest when I tried to stretch it. Too dry? But I didn’t know how to fix it. Oh well. I’ll try again.
September 19th, 2008 at 1:37 pm
I don’t know, maybe it’s too dry. I’m pretty new to this bread/dough thing too. I remember seeing on Alton Brown’s Good Eats that volume flour measurements can vary wildly in terms of the weight/amount of the actual flour.
I remember him showing two containers with 5 pounds of flour or so, and one container had twice the volume of flour compared to the other. I forget what causes flour to lose its volume like that, but it might be age, I’m not sure.
Anyway, I think you want your dough to be slightly moist and sticky. If it’s not sticky, add more water, if its too sticky and making a huge mess, add more flour. I am intrigued by this.
September 21st, 2008 at 8:34 pm
Yeah, me too.
Thanks for the info, I do appreciate it!
October 1st, 2008 at 1:04 pm
Dry ingredients above a few tablespoons should be weighed.
All-Purpose Flour: 1 cup = 4.5 oz
Bread Flour: 1 cup = 4.8 oz
Cake Flour: 1 cup = 3.9 oz
Pastry Flour: 1 cup = 4.25 oz
Whole Wheat Flour: 1 cup = 4.25
Cornmeal, coarse: 1 cup = 4.85 oz
Cornmeal, fine: 1 cup = 6.3 oz
If you are using dry yeast, give it a little love – a teaspoon of sugar in the warm water, let it foam. It usually takes 6 – 7 minutes. Be very careful with the water temperature – it needs to be between 105 and 120. Below 105 and the yeast won’t activate, above 120 and you’ll kill it. Work the dough by hand and you’ll have a much better idea of too dry or too wet. It is almost impossible to have too much flour on your hands, keep a small dish of it next to your work station. Also, buy a peel – it makes pizza making 1000 times easier and you can get one for about $15. It looks cool hanging in your kitchen too.