Try this Awesome Pizza Dough recipe, or contribute your own.
- Carbohydrate 206.771073889232 g
- Cholesterol 0 mg
- Fat 6.44926778846154 g
- Fiber 7.509626226753 g
- Protein 34.2873702884615 g
- Saturated Fat 0.938694125 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (317g)
- Sodium 9.0855 mg
- Sugar 199.261447662479 g
- Trans Fat 1.60531522596154 g
- Calories 1042 calories
Step-by-step
- Enter ingredients into bread machine in the order listed.
- Put bread machine on dough cycle for large white loaf.
- When dough enters Rise cycle, take out, flour lightly, place in large bowl and cover with very warm, damp cloth.
- Set in warm place to rise.
- Let rise for about 1 1/2 hours.
- Spread out, brush with olive oil, add toppings as desired.
- (Final sprinkle of Parmesan Cheese adds a great touch no matter what toppings you use.)
- Bake for 10-12 minutes on pizza stone pre-heated for 20 minutes in 475 degree oven.
Behind the basic measurements of flour and water lies a precise biochemical transformation that determines whether your crust turns out chewy or dense. When bread flour combines with water at eighty to eighty-five degrees, gliadin and glutenin proteins hydrate and align to form gluten strands, creating the elastic network essential for trapping carbon dioxide gas produced during yeast fermentation. Sugar acts as a direct fuel source for the yeast cells, accelerating initial activity while the olive oil coats the protein strands to slightly shorten them, yielding a tender crumb that still maintains structural integrity under heavy toppings. Achieving the proper balance of hydration is critical because water temperature that exceeds one hundred degrees will kill the active dry yeast outright, ruining the rise before it even begins. Dough preparation relies heavily on controlling temperature and timing, allowing ambient warmth to drive the metabolic processes that develop complex aromatic compounds within the gluten matrix. After the initial machine mixing cycle finishes, transferring the dough to a warm environment under a damp cloth prevents surface desiccation while carbon dioxide accumulates inside the micro-structures. Freezing unbaked dough portions directly after the initial scaling and rounding phase halts yeast activity entirely, though successful thawing requires moving the mass to the refrigerator twenty-four hours in advance to gently reactivate the cellular respiration without shocking the remaining yeast population. Baking on a preheated pizza stone at four hundred seventy-fiver degrees Fahrenheit for ten to twelve minutes transfers thermal energy rapidly into the dough base, vaporizing internal moisture instantly to create large, desirable gas pockets while caramelizing the exterior starches.
