Pizza dough doesn't taste right.

[Lostvalleyguy]

When I make pizza dough, it works. It serves the purpose but no matter how many recipes I have tried, the taste and the texture aren't quite right. I have wondered if I need a brick oven to make the difference or if there is a different technique that I should be using.

I prefer to make my own pizza as I can load it with my own toppings. I like lots of veggies on it rather then the light dusting I get from the pizza places. Can you help with the crust so that my pizza ends up truly awesome?

 

[lizzief79]

Even though I have worked professionally in catering, pizza dough is one of the few things that I cannot master (bizarrely the other is toast- I have a tendency to wander off, leaving it under the grill until the smoke alarm goes off). I have been on the Internet And used the exact recipes and techniques of professional and celebrity chefs. Whatever I do the dough is still tasteless and has the texture of corrugated cardboard.

 

[Namischa]

I believe pizza dough has a life on its own. One day it is pretty perfect and the other day it just won't stop being sticky. Sometimes the yeast won't do its work and other times the dough remains this rubber-like block of flour. Whenever I try to save it, it becomes worse. The taste is not a problem but the texture truly is at times. If anybody has some good advice I would love to hear them as well ^_^

 

[SatNavSaysStraightOn]

I pretty much use this recipe of Jamie Oliver's but tend to use a 50:50 mixture of wholemeal and strong white flour.
I have also found with my 'oven'* that I need to precook the dough for about 15 mins prior to putting toppings on it and then cooking the pizza as normal.

*this has more to do with my combi-oven than anything else which is desperately underpowered and will only go to 200C and that is nowhere near anyone else's 200C either sadly.

 

[Jessi]

Care to share some of the recipes you've been using?

It's very possible that it comes down to the type of yeast you're using (such as outdated yeast) or the temperature you're baking at. Many people don't realize they should crank up their oven as high as it will go to get a better texture out of their pizzas.

 

[Meerkat80]

The key to having a thin and crispy crust is mostly up to your oven and ideally a wood-fired oven. If you use an electric oven turn the heat up as high as it will go. To simulate a brick oven to a certain extent you can preheat a pizza stone or even a terracotta tile in your oven.

 

[lizzief79]

I have exactly the same problem. I hate frozen pizzas and have tried to make my own on many occasions. I have tried several recipes used by celebrity chefs that I have looked up on the Internet. In spite of following measurements and directions carefully I always end up with a really thick, dense dough.

 

[OhioTom76]

I worked in a pizza joint making pizzas for several years, and believe it or not, I have this same problem when making pizzas at home too. I wasn't responsible for making the dough in the mornings though, and that's what I struggle with the most. I know that one of the keys is to get bread flour, and not use all purpose flour. AP flour doesn't have the same level of gluten in it to give you that stretchy chewy quality that pizza store dough has. Also, I see that often times people don't rise their dough long enough or properly at all. I've been told it's much better to use bottled water or distilled water in the recipes too, since the chlorine in tap water can kill the yeast. It would probably also be a good idea to invest in a thermometer too because if the water is too hot, that too will kill the yeast.

I know that they would initially raise the dough, then grease the pizza pans with shortening, and cut the dough into balls, stretching them into the pans. Then cover them with plastic wrap and let them raise a second time before refrigerating them. The dough should also be used that day, since the following day it won't rise nearly as much. As for baking, it should be at as high of a temperature as your oven can safely handle. You don't necessarily *need* something like a pizza stone, especially if you are making your pizza in greased pizza pans, imo.

 

[firelily99]

I have never been satisfied with my pizza dough either. I like to make calzones but find the taste of the dough flat and yet over powering to the materials that I use for the stuffing.