Pizza Dough Recipe Help

[58limited]

I just threw together a batch of Baking Steel's 72 hour cold ferment dough. I'll form dough balls out of the bulk on Tuesday and let ferment another day. I'll find out Wednesday how it turns out. I also bought a 3/8" thick Baking Steel today since my stone broke the last time I made pizza on the kamado.

[RichardCullip]

I use their recipe and technique for making dough balls. Just have to plan ahead a few days for my pizza cooks.

[Attjack]

https://www.amazon.com/Elements-Pizza-Unlocking-Secrets-World-Class/dp/160774838X

[rickgregory]

Here is my set up. I use the BGE Pizza Stone on top of the Ceramic Grill Store's Adjustable rig with their plate setter below. That gives me indirect heat and raises the height of the pizza stone to the middle top zone in the dome. Cooking temp is approximately 600*. We use parchment paper to help slide the dough on and off the stone. Next time I will remove the parchment paper after the dough cooks a few minutes.

The pizza was good but not great. Better than some I have had locally but the texture was off. The crust was dense and hard to chew. Will try some of these recipes. I think because I have that 00 flour I will try Serious Eats version. I have had good luck with his stuff.

Thanks for all the suggestions and help!

Kenji's NY dough recipe is linked above but read this and the comments: https://slice.seriouseats.com/2012/0...-anchor-165873

It's a discussion of 3 variations, Neapolitan, NY and Sicilian, with links the recipes. NY dough really wants to be baked around 450-500 so 600 might be too high. Might want to look at the Neapolitan dough and perhaps steal some of that technique.

[RonB]

I think a long ferment in the fridge will help because it sounds like your dough had not risen enough. Or maybe your yeast was getting a bit too old? A long ferment should also make it easier to stretch the dough

And another thought - how long are you preheating the kamado with the stone in place? It lakes a long time for the stone temp to reach the ambient air temp. Is the bottom browning slower or faster than the top? Slower obviously means the stone is not hot enough.

[Thunder77]

I would definitely remove the parchment paper as a soon as you can. The bottom will cook better.

Also, you DO NOT want to over handle the dough. When you are shaping it, if you feel it pulling back against you, leave it for a few minutes to relax.

[Mr. Bones]

Old Glory
I use parchment paper extensively, fer various things; saves a lotta cleanup. Never woulda thought to try it under a pizza. Probly not a productive plan...

[Timbo54]

I use Alton Brown's The Last Pizza Dough I'll Ever Need. I have a 3/16" pizza steel and set my oven to 550*. Leave it on pre-heat as both the top and lower coils come on for approx. 6 min. Comes out great. Still trying to figure out in my Weber Genesis with no luck.

[Old Glory]

We tried the Serious Eats recipe. Was a disaster. Never came together and did not rise. Could it be bad yeast?

Stayed grainy and lumpy.

[Skip]

Maybe try once more? It's worked ok for me and I'm no expert.

[Old Glory]

Going to try again when we get better yeast

[Old Glory]

Better success with the Serious Eats Basic Neapolitan Recipe. The crust was good, softer than the other attempts. The edge could be puffier, but we had fun making them and they were tasty! Thanks for all your suggestions. I have a lot to learn.

[shify]

I don’t have a BGE but make a lot of pizzas and it looks to me like you are losing all the heat when you launch the pies and it takes too long to heat back up. That’s why you don’t have the spring or browning on the top crust. I’ve seen people using two stones separated by some firebricks and cook the pizza on the middle like a mini pizza oven to remedy that but I don’t have any personal experience

[Dfusco]

So, I am working my way through a book called The Pizza Bible. It is by Tony Gemignani (12 time world pizza champion) What a great book to learn the art and science behind making pizza. He has a "Master Class" chapter that walks you through a 3 day dough/pizza making process. I found that it takes 3 days to make a pizza crust that you are talking about. I have done it twice, and the second was definitely better than the first. He discusses poolish, flour types, yeast....everything. One other key thing I learned is that different types of pizza get made "better" with different types of flour. I will say, having that book is a lot like coming to this pit....he not only explains how to do it, but the science behind the why.

I plan on making pizza again this weekend, so I will try to remember to post some pictures.

[ribeyeguy]

My favorite crust is Pizza Huts.