Pizza Ideas

[Chef21]

What kind of crust mix do you think is best when preparing a pizza from scratch?

[Mezzaluna]

I don't use a mix, I make my own or buy it at the store frozen (supplied by a bakery or pizzeria). I don't care for the additives in boxed dough mixes, and the one time I tried it, the texture wasn't pizza-like at all- too much like white bread.

[phatch]

I usually make a variety of crusts. Thin and crispy, standard, chicago deep dish. Each crust style can be good if made well and topped appropriately. In other words, don't load up on sauce, cheese or toppings on a thin crust pizza.

Phil

[LongIslandTommy]

Its the same as making italian bread, just add Vegtable or olive oil.

[KyleW]

Originally Posted by Chef21

What kind of crust mix do you think is best when preparing a pizza from scratch?

Crust Mix and From Scratch seem to me a bit oxymoronic Pizza dough isn't that difficult to prepare with flour, salt, water and yeast rather than a mix.

Here are a couple of recipes.

Pizza Dough # 1

Pizza Dough # 2

The second one is Peter Reinhart's from Bread Baker's Apprentice. He is a pizza fanatic. The book right after BBA was all pizza!

[Chef21]

Kyle & Tommy...thanks a ton....will definitely be trying these out. its funny, i used to hate the crust as a kid, but now, the edge crust is my favorite part, so now when i make my own pizza, the crust has to be absolutely perfect lol.. i really appreciate the suggestions and intend on incorporating them.

[OahuAmateurChef]

Originally Posted by KyleW

Crust Mix and From Scratch seem to me a bit oxymoronic Pizza dough isn't that difficult to prepare with flour, salt, water and yeast rather than a mix.

Here are a couple of recipes.

Pizza Dough # 1

Pizza Dough # 2

The second one is Peter Reinhart's from Bread Baker's Apprentice. He is a pizza fanatic. The book right after BBA was all pizza!

Recipe #2 looks interesting. 40 degree water? Makes me nervous about my KitchenAid mixer and it's plastic gearbox cover, working 50ish degree dough. In fact, I've even played with heating up the mixing bowl in the oven before. Maybe I was going the opposite direction.

Thank you for posting this though. The author's description read just like how I feel about my pizza doughs. I am going to try this recipe--and buy the book if it works.

[OahuAmateurChef]

Well, I just finished my last two rounds from the freezer of the pizza dough previously posted, Best Pizza Dough Ever Recipe.

I had made one batch and divided it into six rounds. Two went in the fridge, and the other four into the freezer.

I wasn't all that impressed with the fresh ones, but all four frozen rounds came out very delicious, and I took them out at different times over about a 2-month period.

Perhaps next time I'll let the fresh rounds sit in the refrigerator for three days instead of two.

I can't give this recipe two thumbs up yet. I want to see if I get two more consistent batches. So far so good though!

[shakeandbake]

Teh pizza crust from the Bread Bakers Apprentice is my current favorite. It's a thin crust and you need to make it a day in advance, but it's super easy and great. Here's a link to the recipe and another great recipe site, 101cookbooks

[tralfaz]

I owned a pizzaria for 10+ yrs, the #2 recipe (Best Pizza) is nearly identical to the dough we used, except we used sourdough starter and had a 12-15 hour room temp. rise. You can let doughs rise in a refrigerator, but the cold slows down the rise, and a long rise creates a lot of flavor. Instead of keeping the dough in the fridge for a third day, you might let it rise at room temp for longer than 2 hrs (punch it down and rise again). You might even cut down on the yeast if it rises too fast at room temp. 1/2 tsp of yeast might seem like too little, but the dough will rise perfectly fine, just slower.

[OregonYeti]

Here's a previous thread on Pizza dough

One good easy way to make a crust is use frozen "French bread" dough--roll it out when it's thawed but still cold, then top it and bake it right then.

[skaiwalker]

Originally Posted by tralfaz

I owned a pizzaria for 10+ yrs, the #2 recipe (Best Pizza) is nearly identical to the dough we used, except we used sourdough starter and had a 12-15 hour room temp. rise. You can let doughs rise in a refrigerator, but the cold slows down the rise, and a long rise creates a lot of flavor. Instead of keeping the dough in the fridge for a third day, you might let it rise at room temp for longer than 2 hrs (punch it down and rise again). You might even cut down on the yeast if it rises too fast at room temp. 1/2 tsp of yeast might seem like too little, but the dough will rise perfectly fine, just slower.

Yummy! Hope i can be there..

[Kirakun]

If you are dead set on using a mix use white bread mix for a bread machine. You just have to add water and yeast, don't worry if you don't have a bread machine. Just follow the instructions on the box and it will come out great.

This isn't in the instructions:

After mixing it let it set ateast an hour to rise then just roll it out put your toppings on and you'll have pizza.

I would suggest making the dough from scratch and depending on how you like your crust you can use a few different was of sweetening the mix to change the texture and flavor.

Use Honey to have a moist crust that will be a little crisp, Brown sugar that will give it a smokey maple flavor and make the dough slightly browner than usual and more dense, or just go with the standard granulated sugar.

One last tip, all purpose flour is ok to use but you'll get better results using bread flour.