Need pizza advice

[smokyYank]

Hello all,

I tried making pizza a couple of times. I bought the dough from a pizza store, let it rise. Punched it down, let it rise again.

Floured the counter, rolled it until thin. Grilled it with various toppings on a stone at about 600F.

Edible, but a bit tough and also, the dough didn't have any flavor.

Any suggestions (other than going to a pizzeria!)?

[pkadare]

Yup, ditch the store bought dough and make your own.
If you're using a home oven - (1) How to Make Perfect Pizza Dough - For the House⎮NEW 2021 - YouTube
If you're using a pizza oven - HOW TO MAKE NEXT LEVEL PIZZA DOUGH | DOUBLE FERMENTED + POOLISH - YouTube

[gcdmd]

smokyYank
Listen to this guy. He knows what he's talking about.

[Sweaty Paul]

Concur with gcdmd! Listen to pkadare!

[Sid P]

Vito is a madman 😎. I’m gonna try make his dough in the next few days.

[DTro]

Don't roll the dough. Shape and stretch with your hands. When you roll it you are pushing all of the air out of it.

[pkadare]

DTro I do. Vito has a video on NY style pizza and I tend to follow his advice.

[DTro]

pkadare Thanks, I will check it out.

[shify]

pkadare - never heard or seen NY style doughs rolled out. They are always stretched by hand in pizzerias. I’ll have to check out the video to see why he does it cause it would be extremely rare

[RonB]

The dough you bought was probably ready to use and didn't need any additional work before making the pizza.

Here's an easy but nice recipe:

https://www.seriouseats.com/basic-new-york-style-pizza-dough

[gcdmd]

smokyYank
It's hard to go wrong with anything from Serious Eats.

[Skip]

I agree. This is a good recipe to use and just keep on practicing. Technique has a lot to do with it...hence the practicing.

[rickgregory]

The only thing I'll say is that dough is a Naples style and meant to be baked at a high temp for a short time. The recipe should link back to Kenji's overview of dough styles and, if you're baking in an oven I'd look at the NY style dough which is meant to bake longer and at a lower temp. The key issue is hydration. You want a bit more water in a dough that will be bakes for, say, 500F for 10 mins vs 1-2 minutes at 750F.

[gcdmd]

Check this out:
PizzaMaking.com - Pizza Making, Pizza Recipes, and More!

[shify]

Agree on making your own dough. ESP if you think the store bought dough was flavorless. it’s pretty easy to make and easy to tweak.

If it was tough, you either over cooked it or maybe used too much flour to stretch it or over worked it using the rolling pin. Shouldn’t use a rolling pin unless you need a super thin crust like bar pizza or grilled pizza (on the grates)

Personally I’m not sold on making pizza on a grill using a stone. If I’m using my grill, I’m making grilled pizza directly on the grate. Otherwise I’ll use my Ooni or the oven/broiler for a "regular" pizza.

[Richard Chrz]

Keep making pizzas, and just see where it takes you. It will take you into making your own, pretty certain of it, especially since y0u are a member here, dough can be humbling in the early experiments and years. But once y0u get it, it is fantastic to work with and make,

[smokyYank]

Thank you all so much! So much to learn!

[fkrall]

What everyone's said. Lots of options and fun learning the ropes. I'm going to check out those in this thread. I'm a big fan of retarding the dough; here's the recipe I use: https://stellaculinary.com/cooking-v...-pizza-at-home. Vito Iacopelli is an option--and he's fun to watch as well: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nXO2T9rXGEI

[smokyYank]

Thanks, fkrall !