Pizza dough

[Outoutoutshout]

Where did I go wrong on my first attempt at pizza dough? It ended up really heavy and stodgy and didn't prove/rise in any way at all.

What I did:

1. Boiled water and let it cool to a warm temperature.
2. Added yeast to the water and left to activate for 5 minutes.
3. Added a pinch of salt and the water/yeast to 00 flour.
4. Kneaded for just over 5 minutes.
5. Left to prove for nearly 2 hours in a warm room (no rise AT ALL).

I used the dough even though it hadn't risen as I didn't have time to re do it but it was really heavy and stodgy.

Where did I go wrong?

As above - you need to put sugar in with the yeast to help activate it.

My failsafe recipe is 1 cup warm water, with 1 tbsp sugar and 2 tsp yeast. Mix and let activate for 10 mins.
Then 2 3/4 cup strong flour, 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp olive oil. Knead all together until smooth - at least 15 mins in a mixer with a dough hook.

Another tip, I learned at a baking demonstration many years ago was to put yeast one side of the flour and salt the other.

Hot water and salt both kill the yeast so you keep the salt away until it's all mixed.

The recipe I've followed ever since was

2% yeast and 2% salt to flour then around 65% tepid water. If in doubt, or using a bread maker it's fine to use cold water it just takes a little longer.

So for 500 g flour, you add 10g yeast and 10 g salt and 300-350 mls water.

Personal taste, but I never add sugar as I think it tastes too home made.

I usually keep it super simple - all dry ingredients into a bowl, mix well. Make a well in the middle, pour water no hotter than body temperature into it. Mix that up slowly, bringing flour in from the edges a bit at a time and keep going til you have a dought. Knead. Rise. Shape. Bake.

500g flour to 300g water to 7g easy bake yeast, and then I usually use 5g of lo salt.

Yeast has proteins in it, and most proteins in organisms with eukaryotic cells (i.e. the same type as ours) denature at about 40 degrees c. But the proteins will work faster (so your bread will rise faster) up to about 35 degrees c. So there's a sharp curve getting better, better, better...dead.

I've been buying the dough balls at an Italian supermarket. I may have to try making my own.

Your water is too hot. We cook pizzas 3 times a week never had a problem.

Fresh yeast, the stuff that is bought from a bakery, should be blended with the warm water with a little sugar, and left to start to bubble in a warm place. Dried yeast that looks like little balls should be sprinkled onto the warm water with a little sugar added and left in a warm place to dissolve and start to bubble. The yeast feeds on the sugar and is then ‘activated’ and starts to produce carbon dioxide gas. This is what makes the bread rise.

The ideal temp for the water and the place for the yeast to start to bubble is blood temp, ie 37centigrade. Too cold, it will take longer to work, too hot and the yeast will be killed and no carbon dioxide gas produced.

The fast action yeast/easy blend yeast HAS to be added to the flour and other dry ingredients, NOT to the water. I think this was probably your mistake.

When the bread is left to rise in a warm place, the yeast continues to feed on the natural sugars in the flour and produces more carbon dioxide. This makes the dough rise. It is possible to let the dough overprove/over rise in which case the dough will collapse, rather like a burst balloon. You can just leave the dough to rise in the kitchen, covered in cling film, it just takes a little longer.

Once the dough is put in a hot oven it will rise a little more until the yeast is killed. The dough will then stop rising and start to brown.

I hope this helps. ( Guess what subject I used to teach in school?!)

Just to add, once you have opened the little packet of fast action yeast, it will deteriorate so best to use an unopened packet next time you try. God luck.

Tepid water, olive oil and bread yeast well mixed. Gradually add to 00 flour. Never goes wrong.

The only thing that kills yeast is excess heat. Salt will slow it down, but heat is the only thing that kills it.

Sounds like you've used too hot water. If it's very slow to move, taste it and see if it's salty.

Long time cookery teacher here. Seen it all...!

You need sugar and the water sounds like it was too hot.

If you're keen on making dough regularly, it's worth investing in a bread machine. I use the dough setting on mine for pizza dough quite frequently. It just takes a couple of minutes to whack in the ingredients and then the machine does the rest. Also great for cinnamon scrolls!

Thanks everyone. I'll have another go in a few days.

With quick action yeast you don't need to do the "puff up in water" thing, but it probably didn't hurt.

But you don't need to start with boiling water, I just mix hot and cold water until it feels the same temperature as my fingers (!). And not sure about using 00 flour, isn't that for pasta? Just use bread flour. And yes to keeping salt and yeast separate.

Another thing with pizza dough is that we made it last weekend in the heatwave and it didn't work. It proved very well but the dough couldn't handle the heat and ripped or would thin in the middle but had huge crusts. It was so disappointing especially since we had guests!

I made it again yesterday and it worked brilliantly. I added the yeast to the flour instead of the water. Made sure the water was cooler, added a little sugar and kneaded for a little longer. Spot on! Thank you everyone.