The best pizza dough I have ever used is the simplest, it's based on a dough
made for baguettes but it also works incredibly well for pizza. It is called
'PAIN a l'ANCIENNE' and I orignally found it in a book called "the bread
Bakers Apprentice"...a great book BTW. It's a very simple flour, water, salt
and yeast dough but with a twist, it's mixed cold and fermented cold first
to let some enzyme magic take place first. The flavor is much improved by
this method. King Arthur Bread flour works best but plain old Pillsbury All
Purpose isn't bad either and when I bake 6 pizzas for a bunch of my kid's
friends they get the .89 cents a bag pillsbury stuff and love it.
I found a copy of this recipe online with google so here is a link
http://www.shaboomskitchen.com/archi...lancienne.html
I make my pizza 15 inches round and as thin as I can make it, by hand, no
rolling pin.
I heat the oven with a stone or tiles to 550 for about 45 minutes, then
build the pizza on parchment paper, peel it onto the stone, after 5 minutes
I take it out with the peel, turn it 180 degrees and remove the parchment
and slide it right onto the stone, and it's done in 7 more minutes, for a
total of 12 minutes. Using the parchment lets me skip throwing semolina or
cornmeal all over the oven.This gives a nice dark, crispy crust, if you want
it lighter and chewier try 10-11 minutes, my wife prefers it that way.
Let the stone reheat 10 minutes at least between pies.
--
Mike S.
"Mike H" > wrote in message
9.130...
> Alan wrote in
> :
>
>> As anyone who cooks much knows, making pizza is very easy!
>
> But making a GOOD one isn't always so. Gotta do it right 
>
>> I've used a Betty Crocker recipe for years, and don't worry
>> about brand-name tomatoes, etc. etc. etc.
>
> Brand names can make a difference tho, for example, the use of King
> Arthur AP Flour makes a difference in the final texture of the dough due
> to the higher than normal AP protien levels.
>
> THat said, I'm lazy, I just keep pouches of either Wal-Mart brand or
> Martha White brand dough mix on hand, and put it together when I need it.
> Tho now that I thursdays off, and friday is our Pizza day, I"ll likely
> move to scratch dough.