Need Help With Pizza Dough!

[Laura B]

I am making pizza tonight for the first time. I just got a new pizza stone and peel (at Southern Season - they are having their annual HUGE sale http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif ).

However, I have very little experience with yeast. I am using the CL All Purpose Pizza Dough recipe. It says to dissolve the yeast in water and let stand for 5 minutes. Should it be foamy? Mine is NOT foamy. My yeast's expiry date is July 2002, so it should be OK. But I thought it was supposed to froth up if it is alive. Should I try a new bag of yeast?

Oh, and my water is the perfect temperature - I used a thermometer and it is 109 degrees (should be between 100 and 110). HELP!

[This message has been edited by Laura B (edited 06-08-2001).]

[SusanT]

If it's in plain water, it doesn't have any food to get it going. Feed it a little pinch of sugar. If it doesn't foam in about 1/2 hour your yeast is probably deceased.

Do you have coarse yellow cornmeal for your peel? I found out the hard way that this is essential to getting the pizza off the peel http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif.

[Laura B]

Thank you Susan! So, the recipe calls for putting it in plain water - therefore, I should not be worried that it isn't foaming? Good. I guess I will proceed with the recipe with my current yeast.

Thanks for the cornmeal tip. I think I have some on hand. I am so excited to try this!

[SusanT]

I wouldn't worry that it isn't foaming but I always like to feed it and make sure the yeast is ok. It doesn't happen often but it's very dissapointing to find out later in the process that the yeast has gone bad.

Enjoy your pizza!

[RunnerKim]

Laura,

the other tip I found helpful when first starting to make pizzas is to let the dough rest after you punch it down and before you shape it (or roll it out). By rest I mean just let it sit (covered so it doesn't dry out) for a good 10 minutes. It will be much much easier to shape. If it still seems hard (keeps shrinking) cover it again and let it rest another 5 minutes. I used to get soooooo frustrated before I knew this tip.

Have fun - there's nothing like homemade pizza. Friday's are pizza night in my house and tonight it's roasted veggie pizza (well we'll grill them instead) Yum!

Kim

[Laura B]

Thanks, Kim. My dough is now in its rising period. The recipe does say to let it rest for 5 minutes after punching it down. But I did not know why. Now I know that I can let it rest some more if it is not holding its shape when I try to roll it out!

I suspect that we may start a pizza night, too. We love pizza and should have bought a stone a long time ago. Especially with all of the raves the stones get on this board.

Oh, does any one know how thick of a crust the All Purpose Pizza Dough recipe makes? If I prefer thin crust, should I make two pizzas out of the dough?

[Laura B]

YUM! The pizza was a success. I put a little tomato sauce, a little mozarella, lots of parmesan, sauteed red onions, and pepperoni. It was delicious! I cut the dough recipe in half, but the crust was still not quite thin enough for me. Next time, I will use only a quarter of the dough.

Thanks for the help, you guys.

[ama47369]

Laura-

Glad your pizza turned out great! I think pizza making can be so much fun!

http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/smile.gif Amanda

[funnybone]

If you have a bread maker, make the dough in there. I find it much easier - and it's the only way I make dough.

[chefbec]

Originally posted by funnybone:
If you have a bread maker, make the dough in there. I find it much easier - and it's the only way I make dough.

Ditto. So much easier! It always turns out great with no effort.