Pizza

Go to...

Go to...

Perfect Pizza CrustJune 14, 2006in Breads - Yeast Breads, Magazines& Cookbooks, Recipes, Savory MainDishes, Savory Snacks, Dips andSauces32 Comments

Normally, I dont cross-post thingsto both this site and Slashfood, butthis pizza crust warrants anexception.

This crust is a recipe from the mostrecent issue of Cooks Illustrated. Itcaught my eye because there was atagline that said great pizza withoutan 800-degree oven. I guess itdoesnt take much to convince me.

Ive made good pizzas at home, butnever a great pizza until now. Thecrust was incredibly easy to puttogether and baked up light, crispyand full of air pockets, which I loveto see in my crusts. The dough wasactually made in the food processor,so it took very little effort in terms ofmixing and kneading, and it wasalso very easy to handle.

The secret to the crust is the use ofcake flour. In a commercial pizzaoven, the dough cooks so quicklythat a high protein flour (like bread

Perfect Pizza Crust | Baking Bites 12/20/2013

http://bakingbites.com/2006/06/perfect-pizza-crust/ 1 / 14

flour) is needed to maintain thechewiness of the crust and keep thepizza from drying out. In a homeoven, the pizza spends more timecooking because it is done at alower temperature; the high-proteinflour doughs take too long to cook,resulting in a tough pizzza, while thedough made with the low-proteincake flour cooked faster anddelivered a crust with a tenderinterior and crisp crust. You canview a photo essay of the pizza-making process here.

The other key to this recipe is apizza stone. Pizza stones absorbthe heat of the oven and cook thedough from the bottom as well asfrom the top, producing a crisper,lighter crust. It is imperative that youuse a pizza stone to get the bestresults. I got mine for about $10 atTrader Joes. You dont need anexpensive one, any one will do.

Perfect Pizza Crust(from Cooks Illustrated)

1 1/4 tsp instant or active dry yeast1 cup water, slightly warm or room

temperature1 3/4 cups (8 3/4 oz) all-purposeflour, plus more for work surface

1 cup (4 oz) cake flour1 1/2 tsp salt2 tsp sugar

Preheat the oven to 500F with yourbaking stone on the oven rack.Combine yeast and water and stir todissolve.Combine flours, salt and sugar inthe bowl of a food processor andpulse to blend. With the motorrunning, stream in water/yeastmixture. Continue to process for 1-2minutes, until dough becomessmooth and satiny. Add an extratablespoon of flour if the doughbecomes too sticky (see photos).Divide dough into two and shapeeach piece into a tight ball. Place ona lightly floured surface and coverwith lightly oiled plastic wrap or aclean dish towel. Let rise for 1 hour,or until doubled in size.Working with one ball of dough at atime, place on a lightly flouredsurface. Flatten the dough into an 8-inch disk, then stretch the edges



gently until the dough is about 12-inches in diameter, rotating thedough by quarter turns as you work.You can also gently stretch thedough by placing it on the backs ofyour hands, letting the weight of thedough stretch it out.Transfer the stretched dough onto abaking sheet that has been coveredwith cornmeal (you can use a pizzapeel, if you have one). Spread it witha small amount of the sauce (seerecipe below), toppings of yourchoice and slide it quickly into theoven.Bake pizza at 500F for 5-10minutes, until well browned.Retrieve pizza with baking sheet orpizza peel.Serve immediately and repeatprocess with second piece ofdough.Makes 2, 12-inch pizzas

Note: You can also use theconvection bake setting, if youroven has one, and reduce thecooking time by 1-2 minutes. Thisallows for extra air circulation andcould result in a slightly crispercrust, as well as a quicker cookingtime.

Pizza Margherita Sauce

Cooks Illustrated offered a reallysimple sauce with the crust recipe.Its made from canned tomatoes, sotake care to use good ones. Ive had

better sauces, but Ive also hadworse. For a simple recipe, this one

isnt bad.

2 15-oz cans whole plum tomatoes(or diced tomatoes)

1/2 tsp sugar

1 clove garlic (optional I left it out),minced

1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped

salt, to taste

Whizz tomatoes and the rest of theingredients in a food processor untiltomatoes are broken up. Drain witha fine mesh strainer for at least 30



tweet

Related Articles

minutes to get rid of excessmoisture that could make the doughsoggy.

Toppings

Cooks Illustrated recommendsusing fresh mozzarella, cut into 1/4-1/2 inch pieces or a simple sprinkle

of parmesan if youre not a bigcheese eater. The crust is also

excellent with just the toppings andsauce, if you dont want any cheese.

Other options include:

Diced artichoke hearts (picturedabove) are delicious, as are other

veggies

Thinnly sliced red onion goes withjust about everything

Pepperoni or thinnly slicedham/sausage is always an option

for meat eaters

The crust is light, so very wetingredients, like fresh tomatoes,

may not be a good choice.

Emile Henri Mini PizzaStonesJune 13, 2013

What is a doughdocker?April 16, 2013



Pizzacraft Dough RollingMatApril 9, 2013

Goat Cheese,Caramelized Onion andPancetta PizzaJune 27, 2011

Emile Henry Flame TopPizza StoneMay 19, 2011

How do I use a bakingstone?September 7, 2010

32 comments

June 14, 2006 at 5:31 pmAnonymous

Thanks for posting this! I too havebeen searching for a way to makemy homemade pizzas better.Cooks usually does a very good jobwith basics like this.One thing about baking stones: Ivefound that many of the cheaper onesdont last as long (Ive had 3 crackon me within 6 months of owningthem). The rectangular oneproduced by an upscale chain ofcooking stores (the one that doesnthave a French word in the name)has a long warranty, so just keep thereceipt, and if it cracks, theyllreplace it for free. Its a bit moreexpensive ($30), but not outrageous.Just my two cents on the matter.

June 14, 2006 at 5:39 pmTokyoastrogirl



Thank you so much for this post.Your pizza (and sauce) look perfect.

June 14, 2006 at 7:05 pmNic

Thanks for the tip, Anonymous. Iwould say that I rarely use a pizzastone, so perhaps the lack of use iswhat makes it last. It sounds like, aswith most things, its good to go withquality if youre going to get a lot ofuse out of it!

June 14, 2006 at 11:30 pmRosa's Yummy Yums

A very beautiful pizza!

June 15, 2006 at 5:20 amAlanna

I love Cooks Illustrated but this onetakes them way beyond valuable!

June 15, 2006 at 5:28 amKrithika

This is a must try. I have Cake Flourat home and am gonna try thisweekend.

June 15, 2006 at 6:33 amAnonymous

My mother loves to do parties whereeveryone makes pizzas together. Isaw this recipe in CI and now I willdefinitely try it with the group thisweekend. I wanted to let you know I made yourraspberry tofu mousse a part of myMothers Day brunch and it was atotal hit. My husband loved it andwants more! Thanks for the greatwork!

June 15, 2006 at 6:58 amcatalepticat

Im looking forward to trying thisrecipe. Ive used Cooks older pizzacrust recipe, the one with breadflour, for a few years, and it worksand tastes great, but is difficult to getthin. I imagine that this recipe, usinglower protein flour and this havingmuch less gluten, will be mucheasier to get thin.




I have seen a similar recipe aroundfor some time. I have been using itfor a few years. It works very well and the addition ofcake flour is a marvel if you like thinpizza crust as we do. As for the baking stones -I have afew different ones and the best is togo to a tile store and buyinexpensive unglazed quarry tiles. Ihave had mine for years. I boughtenough to fit on the baking rack orthey can be placed on a bakingsheet. They can be removed easilyand rearranged if need be. I alwayssoak them in cold water and preheatthe oven with them until very hot. Ifthey crack, they are veryinexpensive to replace.

June 16, 2006 at 6:28 amJeph

I made this last nite after droolingover your pictures yesterday. WOW turned out great!! I found thedough was really tacky, even afteradding the extra two tablespoons offlour, but I was still able to work withit. I cut out the step where you pull itBACK out of the oven to top it, andjust baked it straight through,toppings and all, for 9 minutes.I topped it with a thin layer of Midspizza sauce, some sliced/torn freshmozzarella, torn homegrownoregano, sliced pepperoni(distributed easier, used less, andno greasy puddles), and thenbecause I had it, some shreddedmozzarella. Slid it on the cookingstone from the back of acornmealed pan, and then when itcame out I topped it with tornhomegrown basil. YUM!!!And the funny thing is Id picked upthe Cooks Illustrated the nite beforeseeing your blog entry, but didnthave time to look through it!

June 16, 2006 at 11:31 amNic

Hi Jeph Im glad that the pizza wasa hit. I skipped that second stepfrom the magazine, too. Who onlywants their cheese half-melted?Weird instruction on the part of CI, Iagree.


I just made this again and found thatthe original method of prebaking the



dough, then topping it, made a muchcrisper crust( try saying that 3 timesfast!) Essentionally the top andbottom of the dough are cookedbefore the topping goes on. We hada taste test with some friends.Everyone like the double baked onebetter. The pizza that had the fillingplaced directly on raw dough wasgood, had crunch too, but not thesame. The double baked one got A+for visuals too.x feed me pizza

June 19, 2006 at 6:22 amThe Cookbook Junkie

I made this dough in my breadmachine. It was great. I wonder if Icould work some whole wheat flourinto this recipe. I have regular wholewheat flour and whole wheat pastryflour. Any thoughts on that?

June 19, 2006 at 6:52 amNic

Cookbook Junkie I would say thatthe whole wheat pastry flour wouldbe a better choice than the regularwhole wheat. I would try substitutinga small amount of that for some ofthe all-purpose flour and see whathappens. Maybe 2 ounces (1/2 cup)to start out with, then, assuming thatworks out, increasing the amount.My suspicion is that with only 1/2cup, you might get a slightly nuttiertaste, but not a lot of texture change.As you increase the ratio, the crustmight get a tiny bit chewier. I think that it sounds like a greatexperiment to do. I might have to tryit myself, when I have the chance. Let me know how it goes.

June 19, 2006 at 8:44 amThe Cookbook Junkie

Thanks. Thats what I was thinking(1/2 cup ww pastry flour subbed forthe AP) but that was just a guess. Imake pizza every Friday so Ill trythat this week.

June 26, 2006 at 2:20 pmGfive

Thanks for the recipe Nic. Very goodcrust. I pre-heated the gas grill to600+ degrees with the bakingstones on the rack. I then prebakedthe crust for about 2 minutes, flippedit over and cooked the other side. (itwas a little hard to get the dough tokeep its shape when placed on thehot stones and I would make 4



smaller shells out of the recipe nexttime), added toppings and bakedagain. Nice crisp crust. I have agreat no cook pizza sauce that Ihave been using for years.Drain 28 oz tin of diced tomatoes ina sieve. Press out excess moisture.In food processor, add drainedtomatoes, 3 4 TBSP tomato paste,1 TBSP olive oil, 1 clove garlic, 1 tspsugar, 1 tsp sea salt, freshly groundpepper, 10 fresh basil leaves or 1 2 tsp. dried basil, 2 dried red chilis.Process until smooth. Freezewhatever you cant use in zip lockfreezer bags. If you freeze flat, youcan break off chunks of sauce forfuture projects. You may need todrain excess juice from frozensauce as it thaws.

July 1, 2006 at 11:41 amJCB3

About this cornmeal thingIve found that in order to guaranteeadequate slippery-ness, I have touse so much cornmeal that theresulting pizza has an undesirablegrittiness. I know some like it, but Idont.Ive had much better luck withsemolina, which seems to resistsmoisture as well as cornmeal butwithout the grittiness.But both make a big mess on thecountertops and in the oven and onthe floor (OK, maybe Im just aklutz). And if just one little corner ofthe pizza doesnt have enough mealunder it, a major diasater can occurduring the critical peel-to-stonetransfer.So, Ive been using parchment. Itmakes life so much simpler. Itypically yank it out from between thepizza and stone before it gets achance to brown much, generally atabout the 6 minute mark when I domy first doneness peek. Although Isuspect the paper does act as aninsulating layer (and perhapsmoisture barrier), in practice I find nodifference in taste or texture whenusing parchment.Any opinions on this?

July 5, 2006 at 4:44 amKrithika

I tried this last night and I can saythat is the best pizza crust I havetasted for a pizza made at home.Thank you so much

July 27, 2007 at 10:37 pmshen



1]Hellofor the Perfect PizzaCrust recipe u need cake flour, n ihave checked many supermarkets nbakeries, wasnt able 2 find cakeflour..What if cake flour & pizzastone is excluded ,will da pizzacome out well?2]As im veggi, what will b da goodreplacement 4 egg ? Have triedmany alternatives n the end-result isheavy, dull, hard cake.

Best Wishes n keep it up

September 1, 2008 at 10:58 pmjelena,serbia

i made it,even without baking it on aspecial stone, and the crust wentout sooooo good! i guess this cakeflour really does a thing! thank youso much for the recipe,nic!kisses

May 16, 2010 at 2:28 pmKatherine

cake flour.how interesting!!Is this similar at all to traditionalpizza dough from italy?

January 4, 2011 at 5:48 amTom

I use Bobs Red Mill whole wheatpastry flour for any recipe that callsfor cake flour and the stuff isabsolutely awesome. I made someTexas bran muffins the other dayand I forgot to put the oil in them.They came out just as tenderwithout the oil. I froze them andreheated them in the microwave.They were as good as the day Ibaked them. I attribute thetenderness to the whole wheatpastrly flour as they were fat free. Iused Eggbeaters instead of eggswhich kept them fat free. They had12g of fiber in each muffin. Ofcourse my wife wont sleep with meanymore but choices have to bemade.

June 15, 2011 at 11:29 pmVictoria

Would it be possible to make thiswithout a food processor?

June 28, 2011 at 2:55 pmDonna

I would also like to know if this can



be made w/out a food processor, asthe one I own is small and I dontthink I will be buying a larger oneanytime soon. Thanks

June 28, 2011 at 10:21 pmNicole

This dough can be made without afood processor, mixing by hand orwith a stand mixers dough hook.Work the dough vigorously, as afood processor would.This basic pizza dough (which Iused for grilled pizza) is also easy tomake and can be made by hand:http://bakingbites.com/2005/07/cooking-school-grilled-pizza/

December 15, 2011 at 10:11 amBarbarainnc

You can find cake flour in the bakingaisle of the store. It is in a box andthe brand name is Swansdown.

May 8, 2013 at 8:27 amNatalie

Why only use 1-1/4 tsps. of yeastand not one package (2-1/4 tsps.)?

Pingback: Weekend Herb Blogging:Whole Wheat Rosemary Pizza Dough Pinch My Salt

Pingback: Pizza Recipe: Secrets FromInside The Pizzeria. | 7Wins.eu

Pingback: Potato Rosemary Pizza |Cooking Pretty

Pingback: Skillet Pizza | Bev Cooks

Pingback: Skillet Pizza | food | KansasCity Homes & Gardens Blog

Leave a ReplyYour email address will not be published.Required fields are marked *Name *

Email *

Website



AdChoices | Advertise | Privacy

Spiced Cranberry SangriaDecember 19, 2013

Trader Joes Speculoos

Post CommentPost Comment

RecentRecent PopularPopular CommentsComments



Food Advertising by

Find us on Facebook

Trader Joes SpeculoosCookie & Cocoa Swirl,reviewedDecember 19, 2013

Gingerbread Cookie GarlandDecember 18, 2013

Bites from other BlogsDecember 18, 2013

How To Make A ChristmasLights CakeDecember 17, 2013



Join our monthly newsletter!Join our monthly newsletter!Name:Name:

Email:Email:

Archives by DateArchives by DateSelect Month

CategoriesCategoriesSelect Category

Privacy PolicyPrivacy Policy

Archive by DateArchive by Date

Recipe IndexRecipe Index

SubscribeSubscribe



Perfect Pizza CrustRelated ArticlesEmile Henri Mini Pizza StonesWhat is a dough docker?Pizzacraft Dough Rolling MatGoat Cheese, Caramelized Onion and Pancetta PizzaEmile Henry Flame Top Pizza StoneHow do I use a baking stone?32 commentsLeave a ReplySpiced Cranberry SangriaTrader Joes Speculoos Cookie & Cocoa Swirl, reviewedGingerbread Cookie GarlandBites from other BlogsHow To Make A Christmas Lights CakeFind us on FacebookJoin our monthly newsletter!Archives by DateCategories

Pizza

Documents

Transcript of Pizza