Day: November 15, 2021

Why Does My Dough Shrink When I Roll It? ( Am I Doing It Wrong )

Elisha Morris


pizza dough shrink

If you’re into making homemade pizza then there are some things that can become a bit of a problem. One of the most common issues experienced by home pizza chefs is that their dough just won’t stretch out, no matter how hard they try. This can be incredibly frustrating when all you want is to tuck into your tasty pizza.

However, quite often, there is a simple fix to this problem and in this post, we are going to be giving you some top tips on what to do if your dough keeps shrinking back as you try to roll it out.

So, let’s get started!

What Causes Pizza Dough To Shrink?

Getting your dough rolled out is one of the most important parts of creating a thin crust pizza but you aren’t alone as a pizza lover. Pastry dough, bread dough, pie dough and various other types of doughs can all experience similar problems.

Where pizza dough is concerned, you should be considering the gluten network of the dough. To get a nice texture for your crust, you don’t want the gluten strands to be too tightly connected. In short, if the gluten network is too strong, your pizza won’t be easily rolled out to form a nice crust.

What’s The Deal With Gluten?

When you look at pizza recipes online, you will notice that one thing every recipe has in common is that it asks you to knead your dough and let it rise. This is all part of the process that gluten has to go through before the dough can be formed into a pizza base and crust.

Your pizza bread flour contains gluten in a dry form and when this is mixed with water, the gluten begins to stretch and become elastic. Kneading the dough helps this process and gives you a pizza dough that will easily form into a nice base.

On top of this, for a fluffier crust, you will need your pizza dough to rise. A key ingredient of any dough recipe is yeast. Yeast feeds on the gluten, altering its structure during the proofing process. Your pizza dough will rise and double in size. The point of this is that you will end up with a fluffier, thicker and more tasty crust.

How Do I Stop My Pizza Dough Shrinking?

Whether you are making apple pie, bread, pizza or anything else, many home chefs experiences problems when it comes to stretching their dough into the right shape. As we have discussed, the issue with pizza dough often lies in the gluten structure being too closely knit. But we have some great tips to improve its elasticity and help you to get something much easier to roll. Take a look at the steps below.

Follow The Recipe Closely

All pizza dough recipes contain similar ingredients; flour, yeast, water, salt, oil and sugar. There are many great ways to improve the stretch of your dough but you should start from the beginning and the first step is always to make sure that you use the correct amount for each ingredient.

Flour is a considerable issue here because a lot of the recipes you see online will tell you to add so many cups of flour. This is all well and good but depending on who is measuring the cup of flour, it may be more compressed than when someone else measures it.

For this reason, it is essential that you weight your flour and other ingredients in order that you get the mixture exactly as it should be from the get-go. Follow each step of your recipe and use weighing scales to get just the right measurements.

Consider The Protein In Your Flour

A lot of people think that you can use any old flour to make dough for a pizza pie crust but in truth, the type you use does make a difference. Most notably, you should consider the protein content of the flour.

There are different types of wheat flour, some contain more protein but these are typically bread flours and owing to the higher level of protein, they tend to have more gluten. Less gluten content flours work much better for pastries and lighter baked goods.

If you are looking for a deep pan, chewy crust pizza then using a lower protein flour is 1 of the first things you should think about. The protein should only be around 12%. Once you create your dough ball and let it rest, you will notice that it proofs much more nicely.

Increase The Proofing Time

It can be tempting to return to your batch of pizza dough and try to stretch it before it is ready. The whole point of the proofing process is that you give the dough time to rise; this is a very important step and should never be rushed.

During this time, the gluten will relax and this will make the dough much more stretchy. If this doesn’t happen for long enough, you will find that the pizza dough simply won’t stretch how you want it to.

If you are going to follow any of these tips, this should be at the top of your priority list. You will often see recipes online that give you advice on how to rush the proofing process and while you will end up with a half decent pizza dough at the end of it, you will also find that the crust is not quite what you expected; the texture and flavour will not be anywhere near as good as if you allowed your dough to proof for the full time.

As a rule of thumb, if you are proofing the dough at room temperature, you should allow it to proof for at least 90 minutes but for the best results you can keep it at room temperature for a few hours in a process known as slow proofing.

Any longer than this and your dough will need to be proofed in the fridge. You should place the dough into a mixing bowl, cover it over and pop it in the fridge for 24 hours.

Don’t Try To Stretch Cold Dough

Of all the ideas people have about how to make good pizza dough, stretching out cold dough is not a great idea.

When the dough is cold, it will snap back much more easily that when it is warm. You don’t need massive amounts of heat but if you take the dough out of the fridge, you will need to let the dough rest at room temperature first.

How long you do this will depend on the temperature of the air. If it is pretty warm and humid, you will need less time than if it is cool.

How To Stretch Your Dough

In order to get the best pizza pie crust, you will need to stretch the dough by hand. Many bakers will tell you to use a rolling pin, but typically, doing the stretching by hand will deliver better results. A pin will remove a much of the air inside the dough and this will result in a denser and less textured pizza pie crust. What’s more, it’s much more fun and a great way to get the kids involved in the cooking process.

Furthermore, when you do it by hand, you are able to hold the dough in position for a few seconds to give it chance to adhere to its new shape.

To get the best shape, put the dough onto your work surface. You should make an indent of about an inch around the edge of the dough; this will form the pie crust. Next, you just need to flatten the inner portion using your fingers.

The next step is to use the flat of your hand in an upwards motion to pull the dough and move it until you reach the desired size. Once it is at the right size, pop the dough over your knuckles and allow it to fall so that any thicker parts will even out.

Now put your base onto some parchment paper or a pie plate or pan lightly coated in fat or oil, cover it in toppings and pop it into the oven until it is cooked.

Conclusion

There is nothing quite like a hot homemade pizza, but getting from your raw ingredients to the finished product does take some hard work. The main issue for many home bakers is that their dough won’t stretch and keeps shrinking. This is typically because the gluten network is too tight.

There are several ways to rectify this issue and we have looked at some great tips to get you on your way to creating a wonderful pizza dough that will always deliver a delicious finished product! Bon appetit!

How To Cook Pizza Over A Campfire ( Pizza Stones & Equipment needed )

Elisha Morris


campfire pizza

The stars are out, the crickets are chirruping, you have set up your camping spot and now, you’re ready to eat. One of the best things about going on a camping trip is experiencing dining in the great outdoors but most of us still want a hearty and delicious meal.

When you are camping, you might want to try your hand at a campfire pizza recipe and then good news is that just because you are out in the wild, it doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy your favourite pizza recipe. In fact, pizza has quickly become a camping staple for many adventurers, you just need to make sure that you have the right equipment.

In this post, we are going to be showing you one of the easiest campfire pizza recipes that is easy to make and a great food option for camping meals.

How Do You Cook Pizza On A Fire Pit?

While pizza may not be a traditional camping meal, it is certainly becoming a staple for families who might have a picky kid or who want some home comforts while they enjoy their camping trip.

Even if you decide to go for an adult meal that follows more traditional campfire recipes, with this easy to make campfire pizza, you won’t need to put yourself out.

What Do I Need To Make Campfire Pizza?

The great thing about campfire pizza is that you don’t need a whole host of pizza ingredients and you are free to make the recipe as simple or indeed as complex as you would like.

Cast iron skillets or a cast iron pan are a great cookware option for camping recipes like the campfire pizza but if you don’t have one, you can use just as about pan you have to hand. Many people will use their Dutch oven which is typically also made from cast iron. That’s the beauty of being out in the wild, you make do with what you’ve got.

In a nutshell, you will need pizza tomato sauce, your favourite pizza topping such as cheese, red onion, ham; whatever you like and of course, pizza dough. This is often the most difficult thing to make on a camping trip but the good news is that you can make the dough from scratch at home and keep it chilled for up to three days.

That being said, if you want to , you can take your ingredients on the road and make your dough around the campfire. However, when doing this, we should point out that the prep time for pizza dough will include, mixing the flour, olive oil, water, yeast, salt and sugar before kneading the dough and then allowing it to rise for at least an hour. So, if you are going to make the dough when you go camping, be sure to give yourself plenty of prep time. Check out our quick pizza recipe:

2 cups flourRapid rise yeast (1 packet)2 tsp salt1 cup warm waterOliveoil (5 tablespoons)Your favorite toppings

Start by mixing the dry recipe ingredients in a bowl with a fork until they are blended. Next, add in the wet ingredients, retaining 3 tablespoons of the oil for later on (this will be used to coat your pan so that the pizza dough doesn’t stick while cooking . Mix thoroughly with your fork.

Knead your pizza dough well; this is one of the most important parts of the recipe. In a home kitchen, we would suggest kneading for a total time of 20 minutes but around teh campfire you could reduce this to 5 minutes if you are very pushed for time.

Now allow the dough to rise. Again, at home the total time for proofing would be 90 minutes at room temperature, but for campfire pizza, you could cut this to half an hour.

Cooking Pizza On A Campfire

One of the great things about being at home is that you can make your pizza dough, load on the pizza sauce and toppings and pop it in the pizza oven for a total time of around 2 minutes or around 20 minutes total time for pizza made in a kitchen oven.

However, when you go camping, you don’t have your oven so you need to alter the way you cook these camping recipes. For us, that’s all part of the excitement.

There have been many people who have experimented with cooking pizza on a grill but in order to do this over your campfire, you would need to have a proper grate which isn’t always possible. So, this is why we suggest using a cast iron pan. Using a cast iron skillet or cast iron pan allows you to cook in various ways which is ideal for when you want to make pizza in nature.

To begin with you will need to shape the dough in your cast iron skillet. You may have kneaded the dough on a cutting board but it is easier to shape it in the pan. Start by pushing it out to form the crust and forming the entire shape of the pizza around the pan.

Now you are ready to start cooking. How you do this will depend on the type of heat you are using. A lot of people will make campfire pizza on a traditional campfire, however, some people like to use a propane stove. Either way is fine but if you are opting for the propane stove, you will need to keep moving the cast iron pan around so that the heat cooks the pizza dough evenly.

For a fire, you won’t need to worry about this as the fire will typically envelop the pan and distribute heat evenly. You should also keep in mind that cast iron will hold heat for a long time even after you remove from the fire. For this reason, we would always urge you to be careful when handling the campfire pizza cooking equipment.

The dough will cook from the bottom and as such, you want to make sure that you remove from the fire once the base is cooked underneath. It doesn’t matter if the top part of the dough is not yet cooked as you will be giving it some more cooking time on the fire once the toppings have been added. If you leave it any longer at this point, there is a chance that the recipe will burn and you will have to start from scratch.

Once it is off the fire, you can flip the pizza base over and add your pizza sauce and your favorite toppings; meats, veggie toppings; anything you like. Most people will use tomato sauce but you can make pizzas with BBQ sauce or any other flavour.

Now you can return the food to the fire but this time, make sure that you cover the pizza with either a cast iron lid or some aluminum foil. This will keep the heat inside and allow the cheese to melt. Once the cheese has melted, you can remove the foil. This will prevent the pizzas form becoming too moist and ultimately soggy.

The cook time, 15 minutes, is usually enough to have another pizza base prepped and ready to go since you will need to cook each of your pizzas separately.

Once it is ready, transfer the campfire pizza to a cutting board and cut it into pieces.

Can You Use A Pizza Stone On A Campfire?

If you love to cook pizzas then you will know that a pizza stone is a great way to make pizza that is evenly cooked and delicious. Not only this but the residual heat of the stone could reduce the total time you need to cook. For example, in a pizza oven, pizza only requires around 2 minutes cook time.

You can use a pizza stone to make pizza on a campfire. Just keep in mind that this will be another piece of equipment that you need to take camping. These items can be quite heavy and may weigh you down if you are hiking from campsite to campsite. However, on the plus side, they do offer the best way to create an authentic and well-cooked pizza.

To use your pizza stone for campfire pizza, you will replace the cast iron pan that we discussed earlier on and use the stone instead. You will need a grate or rack to place this on. With this in mind, let’s take a look at how you can make campfire pizza recipes using a pizza stone.

Begin by placing the pizza stone onto the grate, above the fire. You will need to give the pizza stone time to heat up so while this is happening, you can get to work on other aspects of your campfire pizza.Take your pizza dough on a lightly floured surface and roll it out into your desired shape and thickness (it may shrink in size a little when you stop shaping it) (it may shrink in size a little when you stop shaping it). You can do this following the same process we discussed when you make pizza directly in the pan.Now, place the dough onto the stone and leave it to cook for around ten minutes. This, of course, may vary so you should keep an eye on the food during the cooking process and remove it sooner if you need to.When you’re ready, take the pizza off the fire and begin spreading on your pizza sauce and toppings. Just like before, spread the food onto the cooked side of the base.Now return it to the fire and give the food another ten minutes, covered in foil. As we mentioned earlier, once the cheese melts, fell free to remove the foil for the rest of the cooking time to allow any excess moisture to be released.When you remove the campfire pizza, you can now leave it to cool for a few minutes before cutting it into pieces and enjoying it around your campfire.

Can You Cook Frozen Pizza On A Campfire?

There are some of us that do not want to make recipes from scratch and so taking a frozen pizza on your camping adventure is a great alternative. But one of the main problems with this compared to a ‘homemade’ recipe is that if you try to cook your pizza over the campfire, the base will burn before the toppings have cooked through.

But this is a problem that can be solved by cutting the frozen pizza into smaller pieces and placing it inside a pie iron. You can then hold this over the fire until the pizza is cooked. You are not running the risk of your food burning and it almost always turns out great.

While you can get pie irons made from other metals, we would always suggest using one that is made from cast iron. Not only do they retain the heat and offer a more even cooking result but they often make the food taste a lot nicer, regardless of what you are cooking.

Conclusion

Camping is one of life’s little pleasures; getting out into the open, enjoying the fresh air and taking the time to prepare a meal to enjoy with the family. But pizza isn’t typically something you would see on the menu. Until recently, when more and more people are taking their homemade recipes and bringing them out into the wild. This tells us that it is perfectly viable to make pizza on a campfire.

This is most easily done using a cast iron pan or skillet and cooking the dough from the bottom up before turning it over, popping on your toppings and continuing to grill until the cheese melts and you have a delicious camping pizza fit for even the most demanding adventurers. What’s even better is that if you don’t have your own fresh recipe, you can just as easily heat up a frozen pizza while you are camping.

So, light that campfire and enjoy a pizza style menu on your next camping trip.

What Is A Pizza Peel?

Elisha Morris


what is a pizza peel

So, you’ve got your pizza oven built, cured and ready to cook. You’ve loaded your favourie pizza toppings onto your fresh pizza dough and now it is time to put the pizza into the oven. But wait! How are you going to do this without burning yourself?

A pizza oven is an amazing invention but one thing is for sure; they get very hot. One surefire way to prevent any nasty accidents and safe pizza cooking is to use a pizza peel. These cooking accessories were designed to be used with pizza ovens and can come in extremely handy when making pizza at home. That being said, you will often see pizza peels being used in a professional capacity.

Pizza peels are one of the things that a lot of people don’t think to buy for their homemade pizza but in this article, we are going to be explaining what pizza peels are used for and why you should never use your pizza oven without one.

What Is A Pizza Peel Used For?

A pizza peel is a device used to put pizza into the oven without burning yourselfThey are also used to turn the pizza during cooking to make sure that everything cooks evenly.

Pizza peels are typically made from either wood or metal and each of these have their pros and cons, which we will look at in a little more detail later on. The metal peels come made from either aluminum or steel but there are iron ones available, although these are less common.

Whether they are made from steel, aluminum, wood or any other material, pizza peels generally have a long handle so that you can place your pizza in the oven without having to get too close to the heat.

One of the great things about pizza peels is that you can choose the size and shape. While a typical pizza peel will be around 15 inches in diameter, there are those that are larger and some with a smaller size. Furthermore, you can get both round and square pizza peels and depending on how you will be using them, each shape has its own purpose.

A square pizza peel is normally used for serving pizza and are often left in the oven during the baking process. They are usually seen to be more easy for the beginner pizza cook and allow you to remove the pizza and turn it.

A lot of people will use a square peel to construct their pizza before cooking it and this eliminates any problems with having to transport the food from one surface to another.

Conversely, a round pizza peel is typically used by a more experienced cook, you will normally see these being used in pizza restaurants. One of the biggest advantages is that while using this type of peel may not be as easy, once you have it down to a T, they are more versatile.

A round peel can be used to turn pizzas in the oven without taking them off the pizza stone. The pizza stone is extremely hot and will cook the pizza from the base upwards. When you place pizzas on a stone, you will typically get a much nicer crust and more crispy base. However, removing the pizzas from the stone during baking will halt the cooking process when what you really want is consistent heat. A round pizza peel helps massively with this.

Finally, we should talk about the perforated pizza peel. Once again, you can choose which size or shape you have but these ones are normally made from metal. The great thing about this sort of peel is that they will let any excess flour fall through the holes so that this doesn’t interfere with the cooking of the food.

They are often much easier to use and you will typically find that the pizza will slide straight off into the oven, ready to cook. This is because this type of peel reduces how much the pizza will stick and is often favoured by those working in a professional setting.

Is A Wooden Or Metal Pizza Peel Better?

We have mentioned that you can get pizza peels made from either wood or metal and in order to know which is best for you, it is important to understand the pros and cons of each type.

One of the best things about wooden peels is that they tend to look a lot nicer. If you are at all concerned about the aesthetics of your outdoor pizza kitchen then you might want to use a wooden peel. However, you should also keep in mind that your pizza is much more likely to stick to a wooden peel. However, this problem can be eliminated by using some sort of flour, such as rice flour to coat the surface before laying your pizza down. You can also use parchment paper to do this. Although this isn’t essential.

That being said, a wooden pizza peel is excellent for soaking up grease so when you use a pizza peel like this, the base of your pizza won’t be at all oily. Conversely, a metal pizza peel does not have the ability to soak up oil so it is vital that you use some sort of parchment paper or flour to prevent the raw dough from sticking. If you do not use parchment paper or flour, you may find that the pizza dough will not slide right off the peel into the oven and this can make using a pizza peel far less easy than it should be.

Another thing to consider is that wooden peels tend to be much heaver than a metal peel. This means that if you have to use one for long periods of time, you may find that you get worn out pretty quickly. A metal pizza peel is typically made from either steel or aluminium and these are both very lightweight, making it a lot less bulky and easier to handle.

But the best way to determine whether wooden peels or metal peels will suit your needs it to look at how easy they are to use. A wooden pizza peel is normally much thicker and this can make them a little tricky when used with certain types of pizza. You may also find that they do not reach the back of the oven as easily since they do not have a long stick-like handle like a metal peel.

Metal peels also tend to come in a variety of sizes; you can get short handled metal peels and those that have very long handles that are almost like a stick. These are great for reaching right to the back of the pizza oven. Furthermore, the steel and aluminum used to make these peels is always much thinner so they are easier to slide the pizza off the pizza stone or other baking surface.

That being said, a metal pizza peel is typically a lot less durable than wooden peels and you often find that the handle will weaken over time. The slippery aluminum or steel is also difficult to grip when compared to the excellent grip you get on a wood peel.

It is also important to look at whether or not the peel is easy to clean. As a general rule, metal is always going to be easier to clean than wood. But provided that you dust the peel with flour, cornmeal or something else to stop the dough from sticking, the clean-up shouldn’t be too much of an issue.

There are hybrid pizza peels which normally come with a metal surface and a wooden handle. These give you the benefit of a strong wooden grip as well as having the metal that allows the food to slide off much more easily.

In truth, there is not one type of pizza peel that is better than the other but you should consider which will be best for your needs. Weighing up the pros and cons is undoubtedly the best way to do this. You will need to think about the type of pizzas you will be making, the size of your pizza oven, your own strength and ability as well as whether you want something that won’t stick to the dough.

Is A Pizza Peel Necessary?

When it comes to making pizza at home, there are a lot of things you will need. Pizza ovens are becoming more popular and this leads many a home pizza cook to raise the question of whether they need everything that they are told they do.

In just the same way that a pizza stone isn’t necessary to make pizza at home, it does give you a much more authentic pizza. Your pizza peel is also not something that you need but it is certainly an item that will help in making authentic pizza.

Many people like to use these tools as they recreate the feel of a traditional pizza kitchen but you may also find that your peel, along with a pizza stone and authentic pizza oven will give you an overall better flavor and texture.

Furthermore, if you want to experience safer baking then using a pizza peel to put the pizza in the oven, turn it and take it back out will help you to achieve this.

You will likely find that baking pizza is far easier with a peel since you can make the pizza on the peel and put it onto the pizza stone without your toppings falling off the dough.

In short, while you might not need one, if you use a pizza peel, you’ll like have a much better time making pizza.

What Is A Pizza Peel Substitute?

If you don’t have a pizza peel, you might be wondering what you could use to peel pizza in its place. Furthermore, you should always make sure that you have an emergency utensil on hand should your favourite pizza peel break or malfunction in some way.

There are some great ideas for alternative pizza peels; take a look at the following;

Double a cutting board up as a pizza peelSimply use a piece of parchment paper to transfer the pizza into the oven and onto the pizza stone. What’s great about this is that you can leave the paper on the pizza stone but do remember that this won’t give you as crisp a base as the pizza stone won’t be able to transfer heat directly to the pizza.You could wrap a stiff sheet of cardboard in tin foil and use this to peel pizza into the oven. However, it is imperative than once the pizza is in the pizza oven and on the pizza stone, you remove the makeshift peel from the oven. These ovens get incredibly hot and regardless of how stiff it is, cardboard should never be allowed to get this hot.A baking sheet or cookie tray without a rim would work well as a pizza peel.

How To Stop Dough From Sticking To The Surface Of The Peel

A big gripe for people who make pizza in their pizza ovens is that they find the dough keeps sticking to the surface of the peel; this can be incredibly frustrating. However, you can prevent this by using something on the surface.

Pizza peels come in either a metal or wood design and you can have problems with pizzas sticking on both. You will want to use a natural ingredient that won’t affect the taste of your pizza but that will also be easy to clean.

For these reasons, a lot of people opt for cornmeal. Cornmeal is much more dense than flour and when you place it on the surface of the peel it will almost allow the dough to roll off onto the pizza stone.

However, it is also important to make sure that your dough is just right and not too wet, as sticky dough can pose more of a problem with sticking to the surface of the peel.

Conclusion

Many people love to make pizzas at home; there is something incredibly satisfying about making fresh dough and watching it sizzle and crisp in the oven, covered in your favourite toppings.

However, there is the issue of getting the pizza into your oven and onto the stone without burning yourself. After you make the pizza, you can use a pizza peel to place the food into the oven. Using this handy accessory will give you a more authentic experience and will often improve the taste and texture of the pizza after you cook it.

There are different types of peel, this includes the size, shape and material from which they are made and which you end up using will depend on several factors.

While a pizza peel or turning peel isn’t necessary, it can be extremely useful and will serve you well as you place your food into such a hot oven and when you need to take it back out.

Why Is My Pizza Dough Sticky | How To Fix It

Elisha Morris


You have followed your pizza dough recipe to the letter, you thought that everything had gone to plan. But then, as your start kneading the dough, you notice how sticky it is. Surely that isn’t right?

It can take some practice to be able to make the perfect pizza and one of the things that most home pizza chefs find challenging is getting the dough to the right consistency. However, many of them often find that they end up with sticky dough and this can be frustrating, to say the least.

Sticky pizza dough is going to cause problems but more often than not, it is easily solved. Typically, pizza dough becomes sticky when the flour to water ratio is not right. While dough does need a good amount of hydration, there is an important balance that you must stick to.

In this article, we are going to be exploring why you might end up with sticky pizza dough and giving you some tips to avoid this in the future.

Is Pizza Dough Meant To Be Sticky?

It can be a little tricky to get things just right when following a recipe for pizza dough. All pizza dough recipes will include water and this is vital for the hydration of the dough. If the dough does not receive enough hydration, this can result in a product that is far too dry.

But you need to get the dough to just the right consistency. Your dough should be slightly sticky however, you don’t want the dough to be so sticky that it sticks to your preparation surface or the pizza stone or pizza peel.

What Does It Mean When Dough Is Sticky?

Quite simple, if dough is too sticky, it means that there is too much water in the recipe. Now of course, water is one of the main ingredients in dough and it is imperative for its hydration. However, too much water can result in sticky pizza dough.

The problem is that a lot of people see that the dough is too sticky and will start adding lots more flour. While this can be a solution. It can also take away from the hydration and turn your problem into something completely opposite; dough that is too dry and crumbly.

That being said, while too much water is the main culprit, you might also find that the wrong type of flour can also make dough sticky. This is because different types of flour will create different levels of dough absorption where water is concerned.

You might think that using a traditional, finely milled Italian 00 flour will help you to make pizza dough that never goes wrong. But this isn’t necessarily the case.

As a rule, you need to use a stronger flour to make the dough for pizza as this will create a higher hydration pizza dough owing to its ability to absorb water a little bit better than other types.

Unfortunately, it can be difficult to determine the strength of the flour as many flour manufacturers do not include this information on their packaging. Fortunately, there are many online guides that home bakers can follow to get things just like, like this one.

How Do You Fix Sticky Dough?

Before we start looking at all you will need to know to fix sticky dough, it is important to make you aware that there is a certain degree of stickiness where dough is concerned. This is as a result of the ingredients combining together and is important, to an extent.

As you are kneading the dough you are encouraging gluten development. Both yeast and flour contain gluten and when pizza doughs are kneaded, this gluten develops and makes the dough much stretchier, which is an important thing. However, it can also cause it to become sticky, and if you find yourself in a situation where your dough is sticking to your pizza stone, pan, pizza peel and anything else it touches, there is a way or two you can do to rescue it.

The Need To Knead

Many people find that the reason their pizza dough is too sticky is that they do not knead it for long enough. Once the dough is one your work surface and read to be kneaded, you must be prepared to spend some time on this part of the process.

You might be keen to get out the pizza stones and start cooking but it is vital that you don’t rush through everything when making pizza.

Most people knead by hand and this can take time. There are people who like to use a dough scraper to manipulate their dough but using your hands is more alike the traditional method.

Kneading by hand should be done for at least 15 minutes, but at times, it can take as long as half an hour. The best way to fix sticky dough is to knead it more. As you do this, the gluten will develop more and give you a much more elastic dough.

You can add flour to your kneading surface and this can help to make the dough less sticky.

Not only is this important for stopping the dough from sticking to your pizza stone, pizza peel or any other surface it touches, but it will also give you a much nicer pizza crust.

Humidity

For those who are in a particularly humid location, this moisture in the air can penetrate the dough making it stickier than if you were making it in a drier environment. This along with the liquid components of the dough like oil and water can cause the dough to be incredibly sticky.

While you may not be able to change the environment, you can try adding less liquid to the dough. Furthermore, always make sure to store your dough properly if you aren’t ready to use it. It is best to store the dough somewhere that is not humid like the fridge, allowing it to come back to room temperature when you are ready to cook.

dd More Flour

Out of all the reasons that dough becomes sticky, the biggest reason is that there is too much water. The dry ingredients like yeast and flour cannot absorb this and you may need to add more.

As a rule, the dough should have a hydration of about 60%, this means that if you are using 1000g of flour, you would need 600g of water.

Water Temparature

Before you can shape you pizza and put it onto the pizza stone for baking in the oven, you will need to have made sure that you have followed the recipe precisely. You will notice that all pizza recipes contain flour, water, oil, salt, yeast and sugar.

A lot of people make the mistake of adding cold water. Cold water is not great for pizza dough and you should always make sure that you use warm water. Warm water is much better for hydrating the yeast, cold water simply cannot manage this.

If you haven’t used warm water, this may be the one thing that means you have to start making the dough over again.

Pizza Is Sticking To The Pizza Stone

You’ve spent ages with your hands in the dough to make sure it is properly kneaded, you have adjusted the level of liquid in the pizza dough and now, as you come to put the pizza into the oven, you find it is sticking to the pizza stone.

Whether you use a fan oven or a traditional brick pizza oven, pizza stones are a great way to ensure even cooking and get that beautiful fluffy crust, However, all of us know the pain of lovingly crafting a pizza only to find that said pizza is stuck to the stone when it comes out of the oven.

You can use parchment paper on your stone but one of the best methods is to use cornmeal; something that a lot of home bakers have in their food store. This will stop the pizza from sticking but will not burn, which can be a problem when using flour on the stone.

Conclusion

Pizza is a hugely popular dish but making pizza dough is something of an art. But we all have to start somewhere and getting your pizza dough just right doesn’t have to be a chore.

Whether you find the pizza dough is sticking to the stone during cooking or isn’t stretching enough, there are some easy ways to solve this issue.

Pizza dough contains water but if you add too much, this can make the pizza dough sticky. Furthermore, using the wrong kind of pizza flour can affect how the dough absorbs the water. Your water should always be warm as pizza dough cannot develop gluten as well with cold water.