What is the secret to making a pizza dough that is airy and light or slightly chewy? Every single time I try it is dense like cement or hard clay when I'm mixing it and when baked it's just crispy like a hard cracker. I'm getting pissed.
>inb4 too much water
I don't know if that's the problem but if I don't add enough it's too dry and just flakes apart.
>>7438764
how about telling us what you do now so that we have something to build on
>>7438768
2 cups bread flour
1 cup warm water with 2 teaspoons yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
I also put in some oregano and pepper but it ends up completely flavorless.
Why even pizza?
>>7438787
How much are you kneading it and how long are you letting it proof?
Do you make regular bread ever and have the same problem?
>>7438795
I don't make bread ever, just cakes and stuff. I knead it maybe 5 minutes, let it sit 30, come back and do another 5 of kneading, let it sit 30 more, and then maybe one more cycle before putting it together. Each time it puffs a little, but as soon as I even breathe on it it just deflates back into clay.
I've worked at a pizza place and with 80' F dough, we let it proof for a minimum of 3 hours max of 6. Temp your dough as you form it into balls to rise. There are likely charts online.
It is quite possible you are adding too much flour during the kneading process.
Make a pre-dough. Almost like pancake dough and let it rest a few hours. Then add more flour to get the usual consistency. Let it rest again.
Usually people add too much flour. Go easy on it.
Shit needs to be sticky and you have to constantly add flour to keep it from sticking.
>>7438795
In what nation is that atrocity considered pizza?
high gluten flour
kneed the fuck out of it to develop more gluten.
let it rise.
>>7438842
It transcends silly constructs such as, "nationality".
>>7438833
Well that's what I don't get. How do you keep it sticky but keep adding flour to make it not stick? It sounds like a paradox. Also if it's too sticky when it's built I can't slide it off the counter onto my peel without it falling apart.
>>7438801
Try turning that five minutes into an hour. If you're only kneading for five minutes you might as well not do it at all.
>>7438851
when you add flour to make it not stick you are only adding flour to the outside part of the dough, you don't mix it into the interior.
>>7438869
I mean I can reduce the flour a little to make it wetter, but by how much?
>>7438869
This isn't chemistry class or pastry anon. Add water until it looks like pizza dough. If you don't know what pizza dough looks like, consider that google might be able to help you better than 4chan.
>>7438764
sempai do it like this
On a big tupperware or bowl
put two glasses of water
then the yeast - get fresh yeast or active
If its fresh yeast dissolve it with a fork
put olive oil and salt
OK now its the real process
put some flour just enough to make a liquid dough and remove it just using a fork
when its equally distributed repeat this until you can touch it without it being sticky
Now you can just let it rest 24 hours closed in the refrigerator and it will be ready
or knock it up with one hand adding flour
>>7438851
Olive oil on your counter instead of flout, helps prevent sticking during the early stage of kneading. Your dough should be smooth to the touch and no longer sticky after say 20 minutes of hand kneading or 10 in a machine. The excess flour will make your dough tight and tough,where as olive oil prevents sticking and adds flavour whilst keeping it a nice soft dough
