[*Last time on Omnivorous Fish*](http://omnivorousfish.com/node/334)
Crust is a tough thing to pin down because different people want different things from it. Some want a splintering black crust, some want a chewy morsel. Some want to taste the crust prominently; some want it to hide in the background while they relish the sauce, cheese and toppings. I’ll tell you what I want from it: I want it to be pliable, not splintery, but I still want some break-through when I bite into it, something to chew. I want it to have a very light salt and yeast flavor, maybe not as sour as a baguette, but noticeable. The edges may be blackened slightly, but the whole bottom of the pie should be a deep golden brown, mottled here and there with chestnut. Likewise, the top of the pie should take on a little golden edge.
What goes into pizza dough? Well, if your pizza dough is good, you don’t need anything in it other than flour, water, salt and yeast. Someone recently told me that “what you should do in cooking is to take the original and improve upon it.” What a load of bullshit that is. If you’re cooking really well, you won’t be able to improve on it.
The dough for a pizza is a little drier than what you might be used to for bread. I start making pizza at about 32% water by weight. That means 3-1/2 cups of flour to a cup of water. For that much flour, I would use a teaspoon of yeast, either active dry or a scant teaspoon instant (this just means a little less than a teaspoon, I leave a visible ring of metal in my measuring spoon when I want to do this). I don’t recommend using fresh cake yeast unless you make it yourself or you buy it in a place that you know has very high turnover. This may come as a shock to you, but I don’t believe that the kind of yeast you use has an appreciable effect on flavor *if you are using commercial yeast*. If you’re harvesting grapes and dusting them with flour to grow your starter, that’s obviously a whole other ballgame.
The flavor of yeast doughs comes mainly from time, especially in a small batch like this. With 50 lbs of flour, 20 oz of yeast will have a much bigger impact on flavor, but even then, premium instant yeast is not only usually a better performer as a leavener, but it has a clean flavor that never goes sour. I use SAF-instant yeast for everything I bake. Red for most things, and gold for high-sugar doughs (you can use Red, but use somewhat less, instant yeast is like a pot-smoking teenager: if there’s food around, it’ll go nuts).
Of course, like any dough, the amount of water and flour will vary with your water, flour, area of the country, temperature, humidity and mood. [You have to get a feel for it](http://omnivorousfish.com/node/211).
So let’s write out a recipe, for those of you who must have it:
**Pizza Dough**
15 oz (3 cups) (plus more) AP Flour (unbleached king arthur, gold medal or heckers, in descending order of preference)
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1 scant teaspoon SAF-instant RED dry yeast (or one teaspoon active dry, preferably Red Star or Fleischman’s)
8 oz (1 cup) water (room temperature if using instant yeast, 115 degrees if using active dry)
**If using active dry yeast**
Stir a teaspoon of flour into the water and sprinkle the yeast over the top, cover loosely with plastic and allow it to proof, or soften and get a little foamy. It will get to be a kind of sludge in ten minutes or so. Proceed as below. **DO NOT DO THIS WITH INSTANT YEAST**
**If using an electric mixer**
Stir together the flour and salt until well combined. Stir in the yeast. You don’t want the yeast and salt to come into direct contact because salt will inhibit its growth. Make a little well in the center. Set the bowl on the stand, pour all the water into the well and mix with the dough hook until the dough just comes together. It will not be a cohesive mass, that’s ok.
Dough just coming together
Take the shaggy mass out of the mixer bowl and knead it on a floured surface enough to make it into a coherent dough, adding flour to keep the surface of the dough dry, perhaps another ½ cup. When the dough is mixed, put it back in the mixer and knead it at low speed for another 5-10 minutes, until it’s homogenous and fairly smooth. If the dough doesn’t seem to be mixing properly, or if it’s “scarring”, let it rest for 5 minutes, then knead it by hand until it seems it’s in the mood. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes, covered with plastic, before dividing.
Scarring dough
**If mixing by hand**
Stir together the flour and salt until well combined. Stir in the yeast. You don’t want the yeast and salt to come into direct contact because salt will inhibit its growth.
Pour the water into a mixing bowl. Stir the flour mixture into it slowly with a wooden spoon or your fingers, a little at a time, until a dough forms and it’s too thick to stir. Scrape it out of the bowl and knead it on a floured surface enough to make it into a coherent dough, adding flour to keep the surface of the dough dry, perhaps another ½ cup. Continue to knead for another 5-10 minutes, until it’s homogenous and fairly smooth. If the dough doesn’t seem to be mixing properly, or if it’s “scarring”, let it rest for 5 minutes, then continue to knead until it seems it’s in the mood. Let the dough rest for 10 minutes, covered with plastic, before dividing.
**Divide the dough**
This dough will weigh about 26 ounces. A 16” pie- a large in an American Pizzeria- is made with 24 ounces of dough. A 14”- a medium- is made with a pound. A calzone is made with half a pound (8 ounces). If you have a little home-cook pizza stone, you’ll want to make a 10-12” pie, with about 6-7 ounces of dough. For sicilian pizza, just divide the dough in half for an 8 or 9 inch pie.
The best thing to do, if you have a decent scale, is to weigh your whole dough, then divide that number by four and cut your dough to that size. If you don’t, eyeball it as best you can.
Let the cut pieces rest, covered with plastic, for about 10 minutes, then roll them into balls by pinching the corners continuously towards the center. When it’s become a sort of mushroom of dough, pinch the stem of the mushroom into a point while twisting its cap. Does that make any sense? It doesn’t to me, exactly, but I know how to do it… here’s a photo.
Dough balls for neapolitan pizza
**Retard the dough**
Retarding the dough simply means- most of the time- to refrigerate it. You’re retarding the growth of yeast, or slowing the rise. You’re also developing flavor.
Space the pieces out in something you can seal up, like a big tupperware lunchmeat keeper or a roasting pan you can tightly cover with plastic wrap. In a pizzeria they have plastic or fiberglass dough boxes which interlock, keeping the air out and keeping the dough moist all over. However you package it, put it in the refrigerator for about 24 hours.
For a sicilian pizza, put the balls into well-oiled 8 or 9 inch square or round pans of cast iron, thick aluminum, or even a cast iron skillet. They should rise for about 20 hours before being pressed into the whole width of the pan, then let to rise for another four hours or so, again in the refrigerator.
Listening: Tortoise TNT “The Suspension Bridge at San Iguazu Falls”
