Basic Grilled Pizza Dough Recipe
By
Kate Ramos
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Difficulty: Medium |
Total Time:
1 hr 20 mins
|
Active Time:
|
Makes:
6 (10-inch) pizzas (about 2 pounds 8 ounces)
Grilling pizza has a lot going for it: It’s novel, it gives you even more reason to fire up the charcoal, and it’s as close as you’ll ever get at home to that chewy, slightly charred crust of Neapolitan pizzeria fame. Tested many times, this dough is hearty enough to stand up to a hot grill but tender enough to yield a crispy crust; all you need to figure out is how to top it.
Game plan: This dough is easy to work with and very forgiving. You can make it up to 2 days in advance and let it rise in the refrigerator instead of at room temperature. When you are ready to grill, take the dough out of the refrigerator and let it warm up for about 20 minutes before dividing and rolling.
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups warm water (110°F to 115°F)
- 1 (1/4-ounce) packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)
- 5 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for oiling the bowl
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place water in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a hook attachment, sprinkle yeast on top, and let rest until mixture is bubbling, about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, place flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl and whisk to combine. Oil a second large bowl and set aside.
- When yeast mixture is ready, add flour mixture and olive oil and mix on low until flour is moistened and dough starts to come together, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium low and mix until dough starts to get smooth, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium and mix until dough is smooth and stretches 3 to 4 inches without breaking, about 6 to 10 minutes more.
- Transfer dough to the oiled bowl, cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap, and set in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour. (The dough can also be covered and placed in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.)
- Once dough has risen, punch down, shape, and grill as desired.
Could you freeze this?
ps Pizza dough, like most rustic breads, actually requires little kneading, and should have a high moisture content- sort of the difference between French bread (as we call it) and sandwich bread. It's really easy- if it doesn't rise, probably your water was hot enough to kill the yeast; this stuff WANTS to grow.
Better than the other dough recipe in this article, but seriously, buy some bread flour. I do wish recipe writers would avoid unnecessarily calling for specific pieces of equipment; my personal bugaboo is food processors in pastry recipes, but there's virtually nothing you can't do without electricity.
No need for a mixer, hand kneading is fine, and for some a real pleasure. You have the sensory pleasure of feeling the dough become a living thing, and after about ten minutes or when you poke a finger in and it springs back it will feel like the fleshy part of a soft arm. Kneading is simple, a way to open out the dough and fold it over, incorporating air bubbles, and developing long stretchy gluten fibers. All purpose flour is fine, bread dough (King Arthur?) better. Whole grain doughs will have less elasticity and need longer to rise.
and if I don't have a stand mixer?
I have tried Trader Joe's pizza dough-personally I think it's horrible but I'm also a pizza snob. Regardless I wouldn't recommend it.
I have pizza dough issues as well...I'm lucky to live near Trader Joe's where I can buy dough instead of failing again. Anyone try the Trader Joe's (white and/or whole wheat) doughs on the grill?
Is gluten development affected by using a whole wheat or "white" whole wheat bread dough? I kneaded the dough by hand for well over 10 minutes and it doesn't seem to have enough elasticity?
Blork, The key to consistent results with hand kneading is LONG kneading. Unless you are working a recipe where you want minimal gluten development (not likely with yeast dough), knead at LEAST 10, preferably 15, minutes.
(OK, it's official. Chow's comment form stinks!)
Darn. Bad link. Let's try again. I wrote about it here: http://www.blork.org/blorkblog/2009/0...
I will try this recipe. The dough, for me, is always the hardest part. I don't have a mixer, so I knead it by hand and my results are never consistent.
I recently started grilling pizza (inspired by Craig Priebe's book "Grilled Pizzas and Piadinas). I used that book's recipe the first time I grilled, and it worked beautifully. Oddly, I used the same recipe for my second attempt a week or so later and it didn't work well at all (it lost all it's structure and became like biscuit dough). <a href="http://www.blork.org/blorkblog/2009/0... wrote about it here</a> (with pictures).
Looking forward to trying it again, but with your recipe!
I think the bread machine would be fine. Will your bread machine accommodate 5 cups of flour? If so, it should be fine, or adjust the flour and ingredients to 31/2 cups.
Do you think this dough would be all right made in the bread machine?