In the previous post we talked about how to make dough and to finish up the dough it is necessary to knead the dough. Although I can talk about what kneaded dough looks like there is nothing like pictures to get the idea. So here is a movie I uploaded that will show you how to knead and what "kneaded enough" looks like.
Enjoy!
How to Make Pizza - The Dough
There are lots of ways to go about learning how to make pizza, but it seems to me the most important piece is the dough. All of the other parts of a pizza go on top of the dough and the dough supports all of them.
That said, there are many variations in how to make dough. Neapolitan pizza has crispy thin dough while New York Pizzas tend to have thicker and softer dough. And then there are all the personal variations such as putting herbs in the dough, and the like. The list could go on.
What I thought I would start with is a basic simple pizza dough recipe with pointers on how to make it. In future posts I'll bring up variations on dough and recipes to make different styles of crusts, but for now we'll do a basic dough.
Now pizza dough is what is known as a short dough. Short doughs are doughs that are oily. The quintessential short dough is a pie crust which is almost entirely flour and oil, with only enough water to make it stick. Pizza dough isn't quite that heavy in the oil, but it does have more oil (about twice as a very loose rule of thumb) than say, a usual bread dough recipe.
To start with make a sponge.
1 cup warm water (about body temperature)
2 Tbsp yeast (packets)
2 Tbsp sugar (or honey)
Whisk the yeast and sugar together in the water and wait a few minutes until the mixture starts to foam. This lets you know that the yeast is active.
Now add 1 cup of flour and whisk it in until the batter is smooth - sort of pudding like in consistency. This is called the sponge.
Let the dough sit for ~30 minutes. You can go prep the rest of the ingredients while you are letting the dough rise.
add
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
add in a cup of flour and stir with a spoon. Keep adding flour until it starts to be difficult to stir with the spoon. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and start kneading the dough.
Kneading the dough develops the gluten which is what makes the dough stretchy.
As the flour gets taken into the dough add flour to the board so the dough doesn't stick.
Keep kneading until the dough begins to look smooth and when you poke your fingers in the dough the dough springs back quickly. Fold the dough into a ball and place the dough in an oiled bowl. Roll the dough in the oil to coat and then cover the bowl with a damp cloth.
Set the dough someplace warm and wait until the dough has doubled, about 40-60 minutes.
Now you are ready to roll the dough out and build your pizza. And next post we will continue our sojurn in talking about how to make pizza.
That said, there are many variations in how to make dough. Neapolitan pizza has crispy thin dough while New York Pizzas tend to have thicker and softer dough. And then there are all the personal variations such as putting herbs in the dough, and the like. The list could go on.
What I thought I would start with is a basic simple pizza dough recipe with pointers on how to make it. In future posts I'll bring up variations on dough and recipes to make different styles of crusts, but for now we'll do a basic dough.
Now pizza dough is what is known as a short dough. Short doughs are doughs that are oily. The quintessential short dough is a pie crust which is almost entirely flour and oil, with only enough water to make it stick. Pizza dough isn't quite that heavy in the oil, but it does have more oil (about twice as a very loose rule of thumb) than say, a usual bread dough recipe.
To start with make a sponge.
1 cup warm water (about body temperature)
2 Tbsp yeast (packets)
2 Tbsp sugar (or honey)
Whisk the yeast and sugar together in the water and wait a few minutes until the mixture starts to foam. This lets you know that the yeast is active.
Now add 1 cup of flour and whisk it in until the batter is smooth - sort of pudding like in consistency. This is called the sponge.
Let the dough sit for ~30 minutes. You can go prep the rest of the ingredients while you are letting the dough rise.
add
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
add in a cup of flour and stir with a spoon. Keep adding flour until it starts to be difficult to stir with the spoon. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and start kneading the dough.
Kneading the dough develops the gluten which is what makes the dough stretchy.
As the flour gets taken into the dough add flour to the board so the dough doesn't stick.
Keep kneading until the dough begins to look smooth and when you poke your fingers in the dough the dough springs back quickly. Fold the dough into a ball and place the dough in an oiled bowl. Roll the dough in the oil to coat and then cover the bowl with a damp cloth.
Set the dough someplace warm and wait until the dough has doubled, about 40-60 minutes.
Now you are ready to roll the dough out and build your pizza. And next post we will continue our sojurn in talking about how to make pizza.
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