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Pizza Dough by Hand

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Reclaim the lost art of making bread dough by hand! No electric mixer or bread machine is needed to make this delicious pizza dough.

Pizza Dough by Hand by @TheRedheadBaker

Have you ever seen a yeast bread recipe that mixes in either a mixer or a bread machine, and skipped over it because you don’t have that appliance? After this post, you’ll never have to do that again.

Yeast breads have been baked long before the invention of mixers or bread machines. It’s time to reclaim the lost art of baking bread by hand.

When I was in culinary school, “bread station” was one of my favorites. I didn’t always understand what I was doing or why I was doing it. But there are so many different things to make with only a few simple ingredients.

I decided to demonstrate this process with you by using my favorite homemade pizza dough recipe from Annie’s Eats. In all of the pizza recipes you’ll find on my blog, that’s the crust I use.

Pizza Dough by Hand by @TheRedheadBaker

Unkneaded dough

All that the dough hook on a stand mixer or a bread machine basically does is mix and knead the dough for you. Kneading is a process of working the dough to create chains of gluten. These chains are what create the structure of bread. If you didn’t knead the bread, your dough would not rise.

How do you knead? Well, you pull fold the back of the dough up over the front, and push it away from you with the heel of your hand, give it a quarter turn, and repeat. Sound a little confusing? Here, I made a video:

How do you know when you’re done kneading? What does “smooth and elastic” mean? Under-kneaded dough is flopping, tears easily, and looks ragged. Well-kneaded dough holds its shape, bounces back quickly when poked, and if you stretch out a portion of the dough, it becomes almost see-through.

On the other hand, what about over-kneading? Good news — it’s almost impossible to over-knead dough. Why? You’ll probably get tired before the dough gets to that point. If you’re kneading dough in a machine, over-kneading can happen, and the dough will feel dense and won’t fold. If that happens, let the dough rise a little longer than called for by the recipe, to let the dough relax.

There is no “magic number” for knowing when enough kneading is enough. Though yeast dough is finicky, it’s surprisingly forgiving when it comes to kneading. Your dough can be a little under- or over-kneaded and still come out well.

And best of all, homemade pizza dough is (A) inexpensive to make and (B) keeps well in the freezer, so go ahead and practice all you want!

Pizza Dough by Hand by @TheRedheadBaker

 

Pizza Dough by Hand

Pizza Dough by Hand

Yield: 4

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup warm water, 95 to 105 degrees
  • 2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
  • 4 cups bread flour, plus 1/4 cup more if needed, 22 oz
  • 1 1/2 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 1/4 cup room temperature water
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

Instructions

  1. Sprinkle the instant yeast over the warm water, stir, then set aside to dissolve for 5 minutes.
  2. In a mixing bowl, combine the 4 cups of bread flour, kosher salt, room temperature water and olive oil. Add the dissolved yeast, and mix well.
  3. Dust a clean work surface with bread flour. Scrape the dough onto the floured surface, and knead in a rhythmic manner for 8 to 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Shape dough into a ball, and place in a well-oiled mixing bowl. Spray the top of the dough with cooking spray, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, then with a kitchen towel. Set aside in a warm, dark area to rise for 90 minutes to two hours, until the dough doubles in size.
  4. Once risen, punch the dough down to remove as much air as possible. Divide the dough into two equal pieces.
  5. If not using immediately, roll each portion of dough into a tight ball. Wrap each in plastic wrap. Place both dough balls inside a gallon-sized zip-top freezer bag, and place in the freezer.
  6. On the day you plan to make pizza for dinner, preheat then oven (and your pizza stone!) to 500 degrees an hour before you plan to bake. Remove the plastic-wrapped dough ball from the freezer bag and place in the refrigerator first thing in the morning (if making pizza for lunch, put dough ball in the fridge the night before). Remove from the refrigerator and unwrap the plastic. Let sit at room temperature for 20 to 30 minutes. Then pat into a disk and stretch into a 12-inch circle.
  7. Top your pizza as desired, reduce the oven temperature to 450 degrees, and bake pizza for 12 to 18 minutes, until crust is golden brown. Cut into 8 slices.
© Coleen

Recipe from Annie’s Eats

And in case you’re wondering, the topped pizza is Cooking Light’s Summer Veggie Pizza.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  9. I love to see people making homemade dough…yay! Your pizza dough looks fantastic! You should join our #TwelveLoaves baking group;)

    Reply

  15. This post is awesome. I for one, do not have any of those mixing appliances because my kitchen is so small. I love how you went back to the basics. I think many people forget that back in the day, you’re right, there was no machine so they get discouraged. Kudos for this post. Love it!

    Reply

  18. For me there is something comforting; almost spiritual about making dough with yeast and flour. The texture and aroma is soothing. I used to make homemade fresh dough with my children. The kitchen is a santuary like no other, and the bread is the star of the show. Whether making rolls with Sunday gravy and meatballs; or pizza the meal was communion for the family.
    Pizza was of course pizza; simple and delicious, but the pasta and meatball meal evolved into a ritual of service- fresh rolls from the oven, served on a plate with simply made tomato sauce and warm lushious bread. Simple and perfect.
    Thank you for the recipe. It has been a long time since I have made it.

    Reply

  19. Just checking… when you say heat the oven and pizza stone an hour before baking the pizza at 500 degrees, do you keep the stone in the oven for an hour at 500 degrees? Or do you put the stone in the oven, heat to 500 degrees and turn off the oven until you’re ready to cook? I tend to think the latter since it would be really hard to roll out the crust on a 500 degree stone.

    Reply

    • Cherry, heat the pizza stone in the oven for an hour — doing otherwise defeats the purpose of the stone. I stretch my pizza dough out on a pizza peel (available at most kitchen supply stores) sprinkled with cornmeal, which I then use to transfer the pizza onto the stone in the oven.

      Reply

  20. What diameter of pizza does this recipe make? I’m using a 10″ cast iron pan for banking and am wondering if this recipe would be enough for four 10″ pizzas…

    Reply

    • Hi Heather, I can get two 14-inch thin-but-not-crispy pizza crusts from this recipe. You’d need to multiply the recipe by at least 1.5 times to get 3 ten-inch crusts, depending on how thick you like your crust.

      Reply

  21. I have two questions. If I want to make the dough in the morning and use it at night, I would just put it in the refrigerator, right? Sorry, I’ve never made pizza dough before, only those loaves of bread that take 18 hours to rise on my counter! Second, my husband and I want to make a deep dish pizza for the adults and a regular 14-inch pizza for the kids, do you have any recommendations on the measurements for the recipe? Thank you! Looking forward to this recipe!!

    Reply

    • Hi Terina,
      To answer your first question, yes, if you make the dough in the morning, you can put it in the refrigerator. About 30 minutes ahead of when you plan to bake it, take it out of the refrigerator to warm up — cold dough won’t stretch out.

      To answer your second question, it depends on the size of the deep-dish pizza. If it’s smaller than 14 inches, you can make the recipe exactly as written. One half of this recipe will make a thin-but-not-crispy crust 14-inch pizza, like you want to make for the kids. If your deep dish pizza will be 10 or even 12 inches, you can just use the other half of the dough.

      Hope that helps!
      – Coleen

      Reply

  22. I really want to try this recipe tonight, I only have active dry yeast and I am ignorant to the difference between this and instant yeast. Can I substitute and what modifications? Thank you for posting and taking the time to answer questions.

    Reply

    • Hi Keri,

      In this recipe, you can substitute the same amount of active dry yeast for the instant yeast, and proceed with the recipe exactly as written. Instant yeast can be added to the flour without proofing in warm liquid (though this particular recipe isn’t made that way) while active dry yeast won’t work unless it’s proofed in warm liquid.

      Reply

  23. When making the pizza dough can I substitute AP flour for bread flour or will that make a big difference

    Reply

  24. What if you don’t have a mixer can you mix by hand.?
    I haven’t made homemade dough since i was a kid.

    Reply

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