Passionate About Pizza: Making Great Homemade Pizza (26 page)

Potato Pizza Dough

This rich, soft dough is a winner for deep-dish pizza. It rises while cooking and envelops the toppings for a stick-to-your-ribs meal. Try using creative sauce and topping combinations with this dough.

Use Potato Pizza Dough for thick-style pizza baked in a pan. Makes one fourteen inch pizza.

1 1/2 cups lukewarm tap water (105 – 115 degrees F)
1 teaspoon sugar
1 package (about 3/4 Tablespoon) active dry yeast (regular or quick-rise)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 1/2 to 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/3 cup instant mashed potato flakes
1 teaspoon salt
unbleached all-purpose flour (for kneading and shaping)

Mixing
– Pour the water in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle in the sugar and the yeast. Stir gently for a few seconds (do not worry if the yeast is not completely dissolved). Let stand until the yeast begins to get foamy. You should begin to see the yeast multiply; it will produce bubbles and clumps that rise to the surface of the water.

Pour the olive oil into the yeast mixture. Add one cup of the flour, the mashed potato flakes, and the salt. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon or wire whisk. Add two and a half more cups of flour and mix well. The dough should come together and be fairly dry; you may need to add up to an additional half-cup or so of flour if the dough is very wet or sticky.

Kneading
–
Knead the dough until the dough is smooth and elastic and no bits of flour show. It should no longer feel too sticky. Rather, it should be somewhat elastic and should spring back when pressed. Shape the dough into a ball for rising.

Shaping
–
This dough performs best when it rests in an oiled pizza pan and you press it into shape. Let it rise in the pan after shaping for up to ten minutes before assembling the pizza.

Baking
–
Bake this dough at 500 degrees Fahrenheit in a pan.

Slow-Rise Pizza Dough

The long rise time gives Slow-Rise Pizza Dough maximum flavor.
Use Slow-Rise Dough for thin-style pizza baked on a stone, pan, or screen. Makes one fourteen to sixteen inch pizza.

1 cup lukewarm tap water (105 – 115 degrees F)
1 teaspoon active dry yeast (regular, not quick-rise)
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
unbleached all-purpose flour (for kneading and shaping)

Mixing
– Pour the water in a large mixing bowl and sprinkle in the yeast; stir gently for a few seconds. Let stand a few minutes to let the yeast dissolve and become active. Since there is no sugar for the yeast to feed on yet, the bubbles may not be very noticeable.

Add the oil, one cup of the flour, and the salt. Mix thoroughly until the mixture is smooth. Add one and a half cups of flour and mix well. The dough should come together and will be somewhat sticky with lines of flour noticeable. You may need to add up to an additional half-cup or so of flour if the dough is too wet or sticky.

You may want to add a little more flour than you normally would in order to make firmer dough. Slow-Rise Pizza Dough will become slacker during the long rise and the extra flour will counteract this tendency. It is your choice because it is your dough!

Kneading
–
Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic and no bits of raw white flour show. The dough should no longer feel sticky. Rather, it should be somewhat elastic and should spring back when pressed. Shape the dough into a ball for rising.

Rising
– Spray olive oil or non-stick cooking spray on the inside of a gallon-sized zip-seal storage bag. Make a thin covering of oil, not too much or too little. Place the dough in the bag, push the air out of the bag, and seal it. Place the bag in the refrigerator and let the dough rise overnight. You can let this dough rise for up to 36 hours.

Because this dough has less yeast and no sugar, it will rise more slowly than other dough. It also may rise less than other dough. Do not be concerned if it does not double in size.

Resting
– Two hours before you intend to use this dough, take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it come up to room temperature. After two hours (or just before you intend to use the dough), knead the dough a little and make a dough ball. Place the dough ball between two layers of plastic wrap and let it rest for a few minutes.

Shaping
–
Roll, stretch, or hand-toss this dough into shape.

Handling
– Slow-Rise Pizza Dough will be a little slacker than similarly mixed dough that has risen for a shorter length of time.

Baking
–
You will typically bake this dough at 500˚ on a stone, in a pan, or on a pizza screen unless directed otherwise by a specific recipe.

California-style Sourdough Dough

This is the traditional base for a California-style pizza. This variety does not require a real sourdough starter, but does require a little advance planning to create a starter sponge to give the dough a slight tang.

Sourdough is the traditional base for a California-style pizza. Real sourdough requires that you obtain and maintain a sourdough starter. This variety does not require a real sourdough starter, but does require a little advance planning to create a starter sponge to give the dough a slight tang. If you have or can obtain a sourdough starter, then go ahead and use it. If not, go ahead and try this sourdough starter sponge.

Start by making the Sourdough Starter Sponge first. Then proceed to prepare the California-style Sourdough (shown below) one, two, or three days later.

Sourdough Starter Sponge

Make the sponge between one and three days before you intend to make the finished dough. If you have a real sourdough starter, you can use a generous cup of your sourdough starter in place of the starter sponge listed in the California-style Sourdough recipe.

1 cup lukewarm tap water (105 – 115 degrees F)
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast (not quick-rise)
1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Mixing
– Pour the water in a large mixing bowl. Make sure to use a bowl that is five to six times the size of the starter or it may overflow the top (you can use the same bowl that you will use to mix the dough). Sprinkle in the yeast and stir gently for a few seconds (do not worry if the yeast does not dissolve completely). Let stand a few minutes. Since there is no sugar for the yeast to feed on yet, the yeast activity may not be very noticeable. Add the flour and mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon or wire whisk.

Rising
– Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and place it in a draft-free place until you are ready to mix the pizza dough. You can leave it for between one and three days. The starter sponge will smell very yeasty and maybe a little sour as the days go by. Uncover and stir the starter sponge once a day with a wooden spoon or wire whisk.

The starter sponge will rise and fall several times in the day(s) it is developing its flavor. What is happening is that the yeast you added and some wild yeast are working together to reproduce continually.

California-style Sourdough

Use California-style Sourdough for thin-style pizza baked on stones.
Makes four pizzas eight to ten inches in size.

1 teaspoon active dry yeast (not quick-rise)
1/4 cup lukewarm tap water (105 – 115 degrees F)
Sourdough Starter Sponge (made 1 – 3 days in advance)
1 Tablespoon honey
2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
2 to 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
unbleached all-purpose flour (for kneading and shaping)

Mixing
– Dissolve the yeast in the quarter cup water in a small bowl or cup. Stir gently for a few seconds (do not worry if the yeast is not completely dissolved). Let stand a few minutes. Since there is no sugar for the yeast to feed on yet, the bubbles may not be very noticeable.

Pour the water and dissolved yeast into a large mixing bowl with the starter sponge, the honey, the oil, and the salt. Mix thoroughly with a wooden spoon. Add two cups of the flour and mix well. The dough should come together but will still be a little sticky. You may need to add up to an additional half-cup or so of flour if the dough is very wet or very sticky. If your dough is not sticky or is too dry, add water one Tablespoon at a time until sticky.

Note that this dough has higher water content than other types of dough; resist the temptation to add too much flour. The dough will stick to your hands (and everything) a little, but be patient. Although sticky when being handled, the dough will be quite light and airy when baked.

Kneading
–
Knead the dough until the dough is smooth and elastic and no bits of raw white flour show. It should no longer feel quite as sticky as it started out. Rather, it should feel somewhat elastic and should spring back when pressed. Shape the dough into a ball for rising.

Rising
–
Spray olive oil or non-stick cooking spray on the inside of a gallon-sized zip-seal storage bag. Make a thin covering of oil, not too much or too little. Place the dough in the bag, push the air out of the bag, and seal it. For a normal rise, set the dough aside for approximately one hour. This dough may not double in size, so do not be alarmed.

For a slow rise, place the bag in the refrigerator and let the dough rise overnight. You can let this dough rise for up to 36 hours. Two hours before you intend to use this dough, take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it come up to room temperature.

Shaping and Assembly
–
You will generally hand-stretch this dough into four individual sized pizzas. You can hand-stretch or roll it into a single, large pizza, as well. You can assemble a pizza using this dough on a pizza peel, pizza screen, or pizza pan.