Doh

I tried to make my own pizza dough this week. I used a "cold rise" method, where you mix it all up then let it sit in the fridge overnight. Then you take it out and fuss with it, then let it rest and fuss with it some more. It came out pretty bad: tough but doughy, undercooked but rock hard in places. Blech.

So, I Googled "tough pizza dough" and came up with this... Wow, that's a lot of information about a lot of things that can go wrong. Maybe I'll just stick to store-bought dough from now on.

5 thoughts on “Doh”

  1. russell

    And, somewhat hilariously, they have no discussion for tough dough.

    The most common cause for pizza dough to be tough (or “leathery” or “too chewy”) is that it was worked too much. Over-kneaded before rising, or just worked too much after rising.

    Any kind of baking stuff is more like chemistry than cooking. It’s tricky.

  2. cleek

    given that it takes so long, and there are so many subtleties, i find it hard to imagine how anyone could learn how to do it right.

    chill, mix, chill, wait, knead, wait, shape, cook, test. 24 hours per trial ?

    gack!

  3. Cris

    Any kind of baking stuff is more like chemistry than cooking.

    I think it was Mollie Katzen who said “If cooking is an art, baking is a science.”

  4. Platosearwax

    Okay, this is a couple days old, but I worked in an Italian restaurant for 5 years. Pizza dough is easy! You don’t even need exact measurements.

    Take like half a cup of warmish water in a bowl. Bit of sugar and salt, a dash of olive oil and a packet of yeast. Let it get all bubbly. Measure out between 500ml and 1000ml of flour, depending how much dough you need (1-2 or 3-4 medium pizzas). Add the flour and mix with a fork until you can see you need more warm water. You want to get the dough so it is sticking into a ball but hard to move the fork. Too sticky, add more flour. Too dry a splash of water.

    Knead it for about 10-15 minutes, then let it rise for about an hour. Punch it down, stick it in a plastic bag in the fridge and you can use it tomorrow. It’s gonna expand again in the fridge so leave some room. Let it warm up to roomish temperature for about half an hour before rolling it out so it is easier. Be sure to spin-flip it over your head and make the girls go wild!

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