SWMBO asked me to make pizza

[jpc]

Maybe. Yes, I use a huge heavy-duty rolling pin. But I use very little water in my crust... I don't think you could hand-toss it. This is meant to be a crackery crust.

Ah, OK...

I use about a 62% hydration for my NY-style crust... Here's the weights (ok, techincally masses) for the ingredients:

Flour (100%): 775.76 g
Water (62%): 480.97 g
ADY (0.5%): 3.88 g
Salt (1.5%): 11.64 g
Oil (1%): 7.76 g
Total (165%): 1280 g
Single Ball: 320 g

I do a quick mix, a 20 minute rest (to allow the flour to hydrate), followed by a 15 minute knead with the KitchenAid. After an overnight rise in the 'fridge, I have a dough that hand-stretches very easily-- so much so that I can't spin it in the air (which is only good for impressing SWMBO once, unless you drop it on the cat, in which case she goes ballistic. Ask me how I know ).

 

[android]

what speed do you mix on with your kitchenaid? i utilized your suggestions last weekend and made by far the best pizzas i've done. next step is using my sourdough culture (as suggested by jeff varasano's site), find some proper tomatoes, and find a way to get my oven hotter. thanks everyone for all the help, it's grand making good pizza.

 

[jpc]

what speed do you mix on with your kitchenaid? i utilized your suggestions last weekend and made by far the best pizzas i've done. next step is using my sourdough culture (as suggested by jeff varasano's site), find some proper tomatoes, and find a way to get my oven hotter. thanks everyone for all the help, it's grand making good pizza.

IIRC, I read somewhere that the proper speed to knead dough with a KitchenAid mixer is the first "click"; I think that's "2" on the scale, but I have a bugger of a time trying to figure out how to read that damn scale.

Either that, or I dreamed it, but in any case, the idea behind kneading is to develop gluten; the "standard" way is to knead by hand. In other words, there is no need to beat the living snot out of the dough. The low setting plus the action of the dough hook for 15 minutes or so should be more than sufficient.

 

[nealf]

My wife and kid love the pizza I make, but the crust is always either soggy or burned.

I worked in a pizza place for a few years and the crusts would come out soggy a lot of the time when the pizza had a LOT of vegetables (particularly mushrooms)... So, I would say if you were going heavy on the vegetables then cut back just a bit because they will let off a lot of water as they cook.

Just a guess!