Expert: Ralph Onesti - 10/3/2011

Question
Okay, Ralph....I give up!  I need your advice on pizza dough.  I want a soft, chewy pizza dough (like Papa John's#, and over the past two years, I have tried a dozen different recipes for pizza dough and not one has come out the way I want.  Recently, I read that to have a soft, chewy dough, I should add gluten.  I did, and the crust turned out so crunchy and hard.  I've used metal pans and stones; I've used warm water and ice cold water; I've even used milk.  I've tried really high temps and lower temps. I've used regular flour and bread flour. I don't know what to do. The only thing I haven't tried is adding extra yeast...would that work?  I usually knead 10-15 minutes; should I knead more?  Or, should I just give up?  :#  Help!

Thanks for any advice!

Answer
Hi Rhonda:

Well...it sounds like you've tried everything!

First of all, no added gluten and no high gluten doughs for pizza and white bread in general.

Regular all purpose flour, and I'm partial to King Arthur's all purpose is fine!

Second...never give up!

Would you like a yummy recipe for outstanding pizza dough?

Do you have Microsoft excel???

If so, send me a note on adagiobakery@gmail.com and I'll be happy to send you something that will work for you...no kidding!!!

If not, let me know and I'll do my best to do it right here. Here, it's just a bit inefficient, but I'll be happy to do it!

But...you have to promise you'll be patient and expect to go through the process a couple of times and agree to fail with me to get to success. Once you get some simple concepts down, you'll be on your way to great bread baking in general, not just pizza!