NY Style Pizza Dough

[Bryan S]

This is for my NY style pies.
Here's my recipe for 2 - 20 oz balls for 2 - 16" pies or 4 10 oz balls for 4 - 12" pies.

Ceresota AP Flour (100%) 24.56 oz
Water (62%) 15.22 oz
IDY (0.33%) 0.76 tsp.
Salt (2%) 2.5 tsp.

For the AP flour look for Heckers/Ceresota, Robin Hood, or King Arthur AP flour. I use a Kitchenaid Pro 600 stand mixer for my pizza dough, here's the process.
Put the water in the bowl and add the salt, strir to dissolve. Add the yeast and the sifted flour and mix with the spiral dough hook on speed 2 just till it comes together, less than 2 min. I then let it sit for 15 min and then add oil (if using it) do a final knead on speed 2 for 4-5 min. I then weigh out the dough balls to 20 oz hand knead in to a smooth ball, oil and place in a gladeware round container and in to the beer fridge (34-36 degrees) it goes for the cold ferment. I get very little rise in the fridge with my dough. Let it cold ferment in the back of the fridge for 5-14 days. I cook on a pizza screen at 550 degrees (15 min preheat) on the middle rack for 8-9 minutes. I rotate the pie 180 after 5 1/2 min. Then just eyeball it for done. I go by color, I hate under cooked pizza's.

EDIT: If you want to go long on the cold ferment, 8-14 days cut the IDY yeast back to 1/2 tsp. With the AP flour and no oil this makes a nice chewy crust. You can add oil if you want just remove a TBS of water and replace with regular Olive oil, not extra virgin. I use Regular Bertolli Classico 100% Pure Olive Oil gold & red label, bought at BJ's for a good price. It's like $25.00 for a 5 liter jug. This is really good olive oil. For extra virgin I use Morea. But I don't use that in my pizza dough.

 

[Paul H]

Bryan, my first dough came out so so. Will try your recipe next time. For some reason the crust in the middle wouldn't slice with a pizza cutter. Had to go over it a number of times and finally a knife

 

[Gary Bramley]

Here is the recipe I have been using with good success for NY style pizza. It makes two sixteen inch pizza skins.


Flour (100%): 707.03 g | 24.94 oz (high protein flour)
Water (63%): 445.43 g | 15.71 oz
IDY (.4%): 2.83 g | 0.1 oz
Salt (2%): 14.14 g | 0.5 oz
Oil (2%): 14.14 g | 0.5 oz
Sugar (2%): 14.14 g | 0.5 oz
Total (169.4%):

Q'n, Golf'n & Grill'n....too many choices!
Gary

 

[r benash]

Hey Bryan - just on the screen, no stone?

 

[Bryan S]

Originally posted by r benash:
Hey Bryan - just on the screen, no stone?

Ray, Just the screen. I have a Fibrament stone but the whole preheat for a hr or more is just a waste IMO. I get fantastic results with just the screen.

 

[Gary Bramley]

Bryan,

Was that pizza as good as it looks?

Q'n, Golf'n & Grill'n....too many choices!
Gary

 

[Bryan S]

Originally posted by Gary Bramley:
Bryan,
Was that pizza as good as it looks?

Gary, I think it was. I've been using the recipe posted above for awhile now. I have tried oil and sugar but find I like to leave the oil out for a chewy crust. Oil makes the finished dough softer but I like mine more on the chewy side. One could add a TBS or 2 of oil to the above recipe if they wanted, no worries. Just take out a TBS of water. IMO there's no need for sugar in a long cold ferment dough (5-14 days), kind of defeats the purpose in my book. So after many trials with Bread flour and AP flour, with oil, and without, and with sugar, and without, I always come back to this Ceresota AP flour one for my NY style pies. It's my favorite. I haven't bought a pizza out in over 2 years.

 

[Paul H]

Bryan or Gary, Can you freeze the doughs after the ferment period is up??? Bryan, if you added a little more yeast like Gary can you cut down the cold ferment time? Made some pizza this weekend. My wife made the dough. Skin tore easily and center of pizza was almost non existent. When I stretched the dough I could almost see through the center.

 

[Jim Babek]

a great site for any and all of your pizza making need and / or questions is pizzamaking.com

Kinda like here with the nice, helpful folks but about pizza.

 

[Bryan S]

Originally posted by paul h:
Bryan or Gary, Can you freeze the doughs after the ferment period is up??? Bryan, if you added a little more yeast like Gary can you cut down the cold ferment time? Made some pizza this weekend. My wife made the dough. Skin tore easily and center of pizza was almost non existent. When I stretched the dough I could almost see through the center.

I don't freeze. Over on the Pizza forum it's hit or miss. Some say yes it works fine while others say no. With what you are decribing about the dough, are you sure she put the salt in? If not it will tear very easy. How did you knead it, and for how long? Also was the dough cold or room temp. I hate working with room temp dough, like liquid dough.

I use mine straight from the fridge. That dough recipe above is very durable, something was a skew with your dough.

 

[Jim Babek]

In my opinion if you plan on freezing dough I would say mix it up, spray the inside of a ziplock bag and put the dough ball in and freeze before ferment. Take it out and then ferment.

If youre not getting the elasticity from the dough that you want then I would get some vital wheat gluten, you can get it at health food stores or in some supermarkets. There is a calculator in the link of my previous post. It does make a difference. With dough protein content makes all the difference.

Dough tearing could mean over fermentation or not enough protein, or that the dough is too warm.

Seriously, at that site, post your recipe and ask questions. They are great there. Chances are a guy named "Petezza" will answer...he's pretty much the guru and the nicest person you will find.

 

[Gary Bramley]

Paul,

What was the consistency of the dough?

When I first started making pizza dough my results were all over the map. The biggest help to me was getting the ratios of flour to water accurate. When the moisture was too high the dough was difficult to work with. IF I could get the dough on to a pizza screen there would be thin spots, tears, the center strethed to nonexistents, and sometimes not even possible to work with. The hydration was around 65% maybe more, backing off to 63% helped a lot.

Figuring out how much to knead help as well. I will use the mixer until all the flour is well incorporated. The dough will still be a little tacky and I will finish off by hand. The dough will come to a point that it stretches over itself and the outer skin of the dough ball will be very smooth. When I hit that spot it goes into the fridge.

I backed off the yeast just a bit for the latest pizzas, in the fridge for three day and they came out very good.

Good luck with your next try.

Q'n, Golf'n & Grill'n.... too many choices!
Gary

 

[Paul H]

Thanks for the advice guys. I didn't see her make the dough and yes, the dough had been sitting out at least a couple of hours before I put it on the screen.

 

[Paul K]

Bryan,

Let it cold ferment in the back of the fridge for 5-14 days.

What does the cold ferment do compared to a normal proof, add flavor? I've been experimenting the last few months with different doughs but haven't tried a cold ferment yet.

 

[Bryan S]

Originally posted by Paul K:
Bryan,

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content"> Let it cold ferment in the back of the fridge for 5-14 days.

What does the cold ferment do compared to a normal proof, add flavor? </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Paul, Yes it adds a ton of flavor to the dough. When you cold ferment the pizza dough it takes away that floury taste you can get in a normal proof dough. I've done normal proofs when I have to but I'm always dissatisfied with the flavor or lack there of in the dough. Think of it as Lagering your dough.

 

[Paul K]

Excellent! I'll give that a try this week. I too went to screens; just got tired of messing with my tiles (too cheap to buy a real stone).

 

[Steve Petrone]

Paul, the one recommendation that P. Reinhart makes that he says will improve any pizza dough is to delay or retard fermentation by storing overnight in the frig and baking on day two. Short of that start the dough early in the am and go to frig for a few hours.

I have not tried the more extended fermentation that many seem to prefer. Most of my dough is used in 3 or 4 days. It does obviously work for many to go longer.

I like using a stone.

 

[Bryan S]

Steve, I have American Pie and while it's a good read............... It's not written in stone. Yes Peter is a Godsend for the Home pizza maker, but..............

I like to make things my own.

Just because Peter likes it doesn't mean I'm going to like it. And just because I like it doesn't mean you're going to like it. Make it the way YOU want it and all is right in the world.

 

[Steve Petrone]

Bryan, I agree with your comments. I also defer, to those with more experience, such as you.

For someone who has not tried a retarded fermentation, I thought it would be helpful to acknowledge that the benefits will begin to show up in an overnight. I do like your passion for pizza, keep it up.

 

[Bryan S]

Originally posted by Steve Petrone:
Bryan, I agree with your comments. I also defer, to those with more experience, such as you.

For someone who has not tried a retarded fermentation, I thought it would be helpful to acknowledge that the benefits will begin to show up in an overnight. I do like your passion for pizza, keep it up.

Steve, I do have a passion for good pizza. My post about Peter might have come across the wrong way, if it did I'm sorry. He is the man when it comes pizza. I know very little compared to him. But through my trials of homemade pizza, and having worked in a very good pizza shop many, many years ago, I have found that 2-3 days is just not enough for my tastes, (we did 7 days min at the shop). Yes it's good at 2-3 days, but if you extend that fermentation, you'll get some killer flavor in your dough. Will you like it, not sure. I know I do but that doesn't mean everybody will, or you will. What I'm trying to say is, give it a try and see if it's your cup of tea. Pizza is as varried as BBQ sauce. What one likes the other doesn't.