NY Style Pizza Dough


 
Originally posted by Jeff Smith:
A couple of questions, the crust did not turn out quite as brown as I thought it would. Does anyone brush the crust with olive oil before it goes in the oven.

Also, we are big fans of bread sticks. I tried to make bread sticks with the second ball of dough. They were more like mini loaves of bread. Thats not a complaint because they were still unreal but was going for more of a stick than a loaf. Suggestions?
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Jeff, not as brown as you would have liked. Top of pie or the bottom of the pie?

For Bread sticks, roll out ball of dough to about 1/4" thickness, then cut with a pizza cutter into about 1/2" wide strips. You can then just lay them out on parchment lined, or greased pan. If you want them smooth and round, instead of flat and rectangleur, just roll them before placing on the pan. Can brush with olive oil and sprinkle on Italian seasoning along with grated Asiago or parm cheese. Bake till golden brown. HTH
 
I gave this recipe a go for a couple of reasons. First there are very few places to get quality pizza in my area. The places that are decent I’m looking at $25+ for a decent pizza. I guess I hadn’t realized how the price of pizza has risen so much and the quality hasn’t kept up with it. Secondly, Bryan's contributions are always spot on. In particular the roadside chicken recipe, (which is now a go to recipe in my house). I've never made pizza at home before, but always wanted to try. We have a pizza stone we got as a wedding present 8 years ago and have never used it.

The first pie I made after only three days, mainly because I was impatient. Not having a clue what I was doing I made the mistake of kneading it again right before I tried to shape it. After researching more thoroughly on pizzamaking.com I now know that was a mistake as it was a huge pain trying to shape it. It kept contracting to its smaller size. Finally got it to a point where I thought it would work and I put an EVOO base, added caramelized onions, sautéed wild mushrooms, goat cheese, fresh thyme and oregano.
Conceding it was my first attempt, I was quite pleased. The crust was thicker than I would have normally liked, but it tasted really good. I told the Mrs. with a little more practice and research we may be on to something.

Second pie, I tried after 6 days. I did not do a second kneading and it formed really easily. I made the same pie as the first, but this time I added some prosciutto and some mozz. It turned out awesome. The wife says, “Ok, we’re not going out for pizza anymore.” I’m hooked, now it’s time to research different ingredient combinations.
 
Ok so I am going to get started with Bryan's dough recipe. I only have ADY on hand so will need to make an adjustment. My guess is that I will need twice as much ADY versus IDY and use some of the water in the recipe for proofing the yeast. If Bryan is not working perhaps he can verify, if others agree or disagree with that conversion let me know?

Dough, sauce, and cheese are all components of equal gravity IMHO, and that is why I've been pestering about sauce and especially cheese mix.

There is a local pizzeria (Marrone's in Ardmore, PA) that I am trying to emulate. I know that they use sliced provolone only for their cheese, and that is what I want to try. Their dough is unique too, but I will try Bryan's to see how it goes.

I plan to make Bryan's dough recipe and make 2 pizza's on the screen and then 2 on the screen over a cast iron grill (vintage Griswold). Maybe even one in a #14 skillet.

One of the other things I am going to try is no knead bread in a CI DO, but that will be another thread.
 
We'll see how it goes over the next 5 days or so. I came up with a ratio of IDY to ADY of 1:1.25 Balls are in the dough tins on the bottom shelf getting comfortable.
 
No worries. Great reference, thanks! Gotta run up to Bloomsburg this Saturday, so might have to change my plans for pork and kraut for the game Sunday. Might bring this dough out for some pizza and wings instead.

So far the dough tins are working great. Don't have any mositure building up. They don't have snap tight lids so I think they are working like they are supposed to (breathable).

Temperature on my bottom shelf is 42 degrees. Wondering if I should push them into the beer fridge in the basement. Think that's significant?
 
Originally posted by r benash:
Temperature on my bottom shelf is 42 degrees. Wondering if I should push them into the beer fridge in the basement. Think that's significant?
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Ray, you should be fine at that temp. Just keep an eye on it. If you start to get too much rise, then move them into the colder fridge.
 
Been having good luck with a white flour/whole wheat mix in my dough. Had some people over the other night and they raved about the pizza.My wife hates the end crust. She'd always give it to me. Now, I hardly get any(end crusts that is
icon_wink.gif
) Moved into a new house just before Christmas. It has really high ceilings as compared to my old house. Man, you should see how high I can toss that dough now. Still have to watch out for ceiling fans though
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Originally posted by r benash:
Thanks - actually it's running around 38-42 depending. Rise looks fine.
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Here's the pics. Thanks for the recipe and tips Bryan. Totally enjoyed these. All kind of ideas now of course in terms of what to try next. Have the other tin of dough yet and it will be fun to see how those two turn out in the next few days.

Made my own sauce with roasted grape tomatoes and can of whole marzanos. Did not cook the sauce, took small amount in a pan and heated to add/taste spices and to let the spices release oils/flavor - then back into the larger quantity. First pizza was sliced provolone with sweet peppers. Second was cheese mix of moz, parm, and Romano with onion, mushroom, and olives.

Pizza Pics
 
Ok I have been following this thread for quite some time and made a batch of the OP's dough. Let it be in the fridge for 6 and 8 days respectively for the 2 balls...

I made some errors that I'll share, any advice is welcome.

I found out you cannot put the sauce and toppings on the skin while it is on the screen no matter how gingerly you spread it....the 1st one stuck badly. The taste however was great, it was an error in my method, lesson learned

The next skin I put the toppings on while it was on a peel then gently slid it off onto the screen, then into the oven. No sticking!! Again great crust.

An Issue I have is my oven maxes out at 550. When I put the cold pizza dough in it dips down to 475ish. Not sure how to cope with that.

Another anomaly I get are gigantic bubbles in the crust(not cheese). I have to open the oven door and pop them with a fork or else they get out of control. Not sure how to minimize the crust bubbles. Any Ideas?

Lastly, the bottom of the pizza is not as dark as I'd like before the toppings are getting near burned. Is this a function of moving the rack lower nearer the heating elements (electric oven)?

Again, thanks for the recipe and methods...I am really close to getting this nailed so any help with the above would be great...thanks!
 
I found out you cannot put the sauce and toppings on the skin while it is on the screen no matter how gingerly you spread it....the 1st one stuck badly. The taste however was great, it was an error in my method, lesson learned

The next skin I put the toppings on while it was on a peel then gently slid it off onto the screen, then into the oven. No sticking!! Again great crust.

An Issue I have is my oven maxes out at 550. When I put the cold pizza dough in it dips down to 475ish. Not sure how to cope with that.

Another anomaly I get are gigantic bubbles in the crust(not cheese). I have to open the oven door and pop them with a fork or else they get out of control. Not sure how to minimize the crust bubbles. Any Ideas?

Lastly, the bottom of the pizza is not as dark as I'd like before the toppings are getting near burned. Is this a function of moving the rack lower nearer the heating elements (electric oven)?
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I do up my pizzas on my 'screen' but mine are metal with punched holes (you can see pictures of my screens a page or two up ... I also use parchment between the screen and the crust ... I don't have to move mine, you could try shaping and cooking your pie on parchment on the screen (just remember to trim any extra off around the outside)

temp dip is to be expected from opening the door, not much to do about it but try to be quick when the door is open

about the bubbles you can get a wheel having many short 'pins' (about the diameter of turkey skewers) that you roll over the dough that perforates it a few times per sq inch (don't know what these are called) ... I don't use one but I'd do it on the counter once my dough was mostly stretched and before putting it on the screen

yeah, from the sound of it try moving the rack down one to even out the cooking
 
I use the screen shown HERE. So it's a little different than yours.

And...I would think that using parchment paper would inhibit a crispy, brown bottom...No?

The bubble thing is more of an annoyance than anything, but left unchecked, it will wreck your pizza, or at least a part of it.

I was thinking of doing this, any thoughts?

Sauuce the skin, put it on the screen and put it in a 550 oven without toppings. Wait until you spin it (5 mins) then put your cheese on. That would allow additional time to bake without burning the cheese for those of us with ovens that top out at 550 and dip down considerably when you put the pizza in. Any obvious downside to this?

Thanks again...
 
Originally posted by r benash:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by r benash:
Thanks - actually it's running around 38-42 depending. Rise looks fine.
Click to expand...

Here's the pics. Thanks for the recipe and tips Bryan. Totally enjoyed these. All kind of ideas now of course in terms of what to try next. Have the other tin of dough yet and it will be fun to see how those two turn out in the next few days.

Made my own sauce with roasted grape tomatoes and can of whole marzanos. Did not cook the sauce, took small amount in a pan and heated to add/taste spices and to let the spices release oils/flavor - then back into the larger quantity. First pizza was sliced provolone with sweet peppers. Second was cheese mix of moz, parm, and Romano with onion, mushroom, and olives.

Pizza Pics </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

So the 2 above were made after 5 days of cold ferment, going to try the other two today after 12 days of cold ferment. Will update/edit with pics after the bake. Also going to set the screen on top of a round cast iron griddle to see if it helps brown the crust a bit more than the first round. Top was great on them IMHO and the crust really was good also, but want to see if I can brown the bottom just a little bit more in the same time frame without over cooking the top. Trying to tune the process to my oven.

Here's the pics:

Pies 3 and 4

I would say there was some benefit from using the cast iron underneath the screens, but it was negligible. I will probably continue to use it since I did get the crust a little more brown underneath and the cook time for both pies was 10 minutes.

On the 4th pie I tried cheese on top of the "toppings" I like them better on top better. Cheese got a nice finish though. My wife actually like this way better but I like it when the toppings brown off.

Sweet pepper pizza was made the same. Came out great.

The dough was better than the first two (which were good in themselves). These two though, the dough raised a bit more and I got a better corona. The smell was incredible and very different from the first two at 5 days. Better overall bite and "chew" to the crust with the longer ferment.

Thanks Bryan!!
 
Wow I though I was the stuff because I was getting dough from publix the local grocery and the pizza was kicking can't wait to go here I am a simple mae and like simple stuff this will be fun
 
Originally posted by joe cav:
I made some errors that I'll share, any advice is welcome.

I found out you cannot put the sauce and toppings on the skin while it is on the screen no matter how gingerly you spread it....the 1st one stuck badly. The taste however was great, it was an error in my method, lesson learned

The next skin I put the toppings on while it was on a peel then gently slid it off onto the screen, then into the oven. No sticking!! Again great crust.

An Issue I have is my oven maxes out at 550. When I put the cold pizza dough in it dips down to 475ish. Not sure how to cope with that.

Another anomaly I get are gigantic bubbles in the crust(not cheese). I have to open the oven door and pop them with a fork or else they get out of control. Not sure how to minimize the crust bubbles. Any Ideas?

Lastly, the bottom of the pizza is not as dark as I'd like before the toppings are getting near burned. Is this a function of moving the rack lower nearer the heating elements (electric oven)?

Again, thanks for the recipe and methods...I am really close to getting this nailed so any help with the above would be great...thanks!
Click to expand...
Joe, I use the same screen and don't have any issues with sticking. Clean your screen really good and dry it completely. Oil it down and then bake the screen at 350º for an hr, turn off oven and let the screen in there till cooled. That should stop the sticking problem. Also never wash the screen after the seasoning with the oil, unless you really have too. I did this to the screen I use, and have zero sticking issues.

All ovens, cookers, grills, smokers, etc. will drop in temp when opened, just the nature of the beast and really is a non issue IMO. Try opening the oven door slowly to avoid less heat loss. The faster you open the door, the more heat heat will be sucked out.

As far as the big bubbles go, your not getting all the gas pockets out of the dough when working/strtching it. I like to have some bubbles in the pie, but the ones you describe, sound way too large. Don't kneed the dough prior to working it, but you need to get more of the gass out of the dough, that'll eliminate those super large bubbles. HTH
 
So I have a newbie pizza problem. I bought a digital scale, and weighed all of Brian's measurements out, but when done noticed the salt and IDY measurements were not in oz's. I put in .76 oz's of IDY, and 2.5 oz's of salt. Is my dough wrecked? Am I way off? how do I weigh these measurements out on my scale?
 
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