A question from Andy in L.A.: I want to make pizza at home, but no matter how hard I try I can’t get my dough to stretch thin enough. I’m trying to use gluten-free flour as well. Any advice?
I used to teach pizzamaking at the Cambridge Center for Adult Ed and have very strong opinions, of course, but wanted to get some more pro thoughts. So I phoned a friend. And he, Rob, told me this.
The technique for making it thin matters. Certainly helps for the dough to be well proofed [a term for the process of letting yeast rise] and room temperature to stretch it right. I make balls and let them proof. Then stretch and bake right away. Never let the formed pizza proof after rolling.
To Rob, the secret to success is to give it time: You can’t rush perfection.
I also think it is important to include oil in the dough, which does not always appear in recipes. (It definitely makes it crispier. Rob agrees.) And don’t overload a pizza with toppings, especially wet ones such as sauces. Yeah, they are yummy, but you will struggle to get a crispy crust if the toppings are thick and wet.
And I know semolina is the Italian way, but I use “AP,” which means All Purpose, or average white flour. So does Rob.
When you stretch the dough you can use a rolling pin or your hands. I use my hands. I also use a standard baking sheet, and I start by flouring my hands and sprinkling some on the surface of the pan, then flattening the ball and working from the middle out, flattening it with my palm and fingers. I do not know how to throw it, but I do pick it up and turn it, balancing it on my knuckles, and let gravity help as I move it around in a “circle.” You might put a finger through it accidentally doing this; fix the hole with some water, as if you are gluing it back together.
If there is one thing I never mastered it was a perfectly round crust. And who cares? It tastes the same round, square or wonky-shaped.
How I do it: Pizza with dough from scratch
Making the actual pizza dough is wicked simple. One of the easiest breads, it is a “lean, yeasted dough” – which means it contains no eggs, butter or other dairy. In fact, it has only five ingredients plus water.
Here is a bog standard pizza dough recipe. You can find many that are basically the same with a quick Internet search.
Add 1T of sugar and 1 standard packet of yeast (2¼ t) to 1⅓ c warm water. It is important that your water is warm, but not hot, or your yeast, which is a living organism, will die.
Mix the yeast and water and allow the mixture to sit until the yeast has had time to “eat” the sugar and you see a frothy or bubbly layer forming on the top. You can actually see these yeast burps rising. This takes about 5 minutes.
Add 2T of olive oil and 1t salt along with 3½ c of flour and mix well. If the dough is very wet, add a little more flour, then tip out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until you have a soft, not dry, silky dough, adding flour by sprinkling it onto the table and working it in as needed. This should also take about 5 minutes.
Here is a how-to video on kneading. If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, feel free to use it. I do not; I do it by hand.
Next, oil a mixing bowl lightly – I use olive oil – and roll the dough around in the bowl until coated, then cover with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rest and rise for 60 to 90 minutes or until doubled in size. Proofing depends on warmth to work. If it is a very cold day in your kitchen, consider setting everything near a warm oven, air vent or radiator.
Remove the dough and form it into two balls to stretch into two pies.
These balls freeze really well, by the way. Make the balls before proofing them, wrap them, or put them in a plastic bag, seal them and freeze them. When you’re ready to use them, simply put them in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight, to defrost. They will rise some more as they thaw. Then put them on the counter to come to room temperature, as Rob advises.
Shape the dough, place your favorite toppings and bake it for 12 to 15 minutes in the oven until the crust is golden brown and crisp and the cheese is bubbly, if you used cheese.
You bake pizza in a very hot oven. Five hundred degrees. (Do not underestimate the difference between 350 and 500 degrees when it comes to burns. Respect the heat. Use a good hot pad or mitt, not a towel – especially a wet one – and avoid touching the oven rack or pan. Touch at your peril.)
Some people use a pizza stone, which you put in an oven to heat before you bake. It will make the bottom of the pizza crisper, I hear. Rob uses one. He says you must form the pie on a cold pan, remove the hot stone from the oven (carefully) and slide the crust onto it. Put the toppings on after the dough is on the stone; get the pizza into the oven, pronto.
Let the pizza rest for a few minutes before you cut it, so the ingredients don’t all slide off.
Now, onto gluten free
When I started cooking gluten free for clients, about 20 years ago, the options were limited. You had to go out to the burbs to the one gluten-free store and buy a variety of “flours,” such as amaranth and potato, for the few suggested recipes you could find, when you could find them. We are in a much better place now for GF cooking, yay.
Cooking for celiac disease, unlike a gluten intolerance, requires careful attention to cross contamination. You have to avoid gluten or wash it away by hand with a dedicated sponge; you cannot kill it with heat or sanitizer. If you put a gluten-covered plate in a dishwasher, no matter how hot it is you risk a fine layer of gluten all over everything. Appliances and pans should not be shared, and a dedicated toaster oven or air fryer is invaluable in this situation.
Big flour companies now make products you can use 1:1 – meaning in the same measurements – as the regular flour in a recipe. You can find them from King Arthur and Bob’s Red Mill in most markets. To use these, follow a regular pizza recipe such as the one above and use a rolling pin to shape it: Gluten-free flour is less stretchy, and you need to handle it more carefully. It will also make a crunchier crust.
In addition to a gluten-free flour stand-in, cauliflower makes an excellent crust substitute. Here is a simple recipe:
1 head of cauliflower, cut into “florets,” aka smaller pieces.
1 egg
½ c shredded mozzarella cheese
¼ c shredded Parmesan cheese
1 t “Italian herbs” such as oregano or marjoram. (Feel free to get creative. Use finely chopped rosemary! Go crazy!)
Optional: Potato or other GF flour to thicken if the cauliflower seems too wet when forming
Preset your oven to 425 degrees.
Cook the cauliflower completely by first pulsing it, uncooked, in a food processor, then steaming or roasting the resulting “rice.” Drain and squeeze the liquid out of the cauliflower by pressing it in a towel or cheesecloth. It is critical to squeeze all of the water out.
Combine the cooked and dried cauliflower, the egg, shredded mozzarella and shredded parmesan. Season with the herbs and garlic powder.
Press the cauliflower mixture into a round shape on a well-oiled baking sheet and bake for 15 to 25 minutes, checking regularly, until the crust is golden and firm. Top with sauce, cheese or whatever you like and continue to bake for 5 to 10 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. Allow a couple of minutes before slicing to allow your pizza to set up a bit.
Send cooking questions to JJ Gonson, a personal chef at Cuisine en Locale, at jjgonson@csindie.com.
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