Pizza Pizzas

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown

Show: Good EatsEpisode: Flat is Beautiful

Rated: 5 stars out of 5Rate itRead users' reviews (186)

RECIPE
COMMENTS & REVIEWS(186)

Cook Time:
45 min
Level:
Intermediate
Yield:
2 pizzas

Times:

Prep: 24 hr 0 min
Inactive Prep: --
Cook: 45 min
Total:: 24 hr 45 min

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Ingredients

2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt*
1 tablespoon pure olive oil
3/4 cup warm water
2 cups bread flour (for bread machines)
1 teaspoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons olive oil
Olive oil, for the pizza crust
Flour, for dusting the pizza peel

Toppings:

1 1/2 ounces pizza sauce
1/2 teaspoon each chopped fresh herbs such as thyme, oregano, red pepper flakes, for example
A combination of 3 grated cheeses such as mozzarella, Monterey Jack, and provolone

Directions

Place the sugar, salt, olive oil, water, 1 cup of flour, yeast, and remaining cup of flour into a standing mixer's work bowl. Using the paddle attachment, start the mixer on low and mix until the dough just comes together, forming a ball. Lube the hook attachment with cooking spray. Attach the hook to the mixer and knead for 15 minutes on medium speed.

Tear off a small piece of dough and flatten into a disc. Stretch the dough until thin. Hold it up to the light and look to see if the baker's windowpane, or taut membrane, has formed. If the dough tears before it forms, knead the dough for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.

Roll the pizza dough into a smooth ball on the countertop. Place into a stainless steel or glass bowl. Add 2 teaspoons of olive oil to the bowl and toss to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 18 to 24 hours.

Place the pizza stone or tile onto the bottom of a cold oven and turn the oven to its highest temperature, about 500 degrees F. If the oven has coils on the oven floor, place the tile onto the lowest rack of the oven. Split the pizza dough into 2 equal parts using a knife or a dough scraper. Flatten into a disk onto the countertop and then fold the dough into a ball.

Wet hands barely with water and rub them onto the countertop to dampen the surface. Roll the dough on the surface until it tightens. Cover one ball with a tea towel and rest for 30 minutes.

Repeat the steps with the other piece of dough. If not baking the remaining pizza immediately, spray the inside of a ziptop bag with cooking spray and place the dough ball into the bag. Refrigerate for up to 6 days.

Sprinkle the flour onto the peel and place the dough onto the peel. Using your hands, form a lip around the edges of the pizza. Stretch the dough into a round disc, rotating after each stretch. Toss the dough in the air if you dare. Shake the pizza on the peel to be sure that it will slide onto the pizza stone or tile. (Dress and bake the pizza immediately for a crisp crust or rest the dough for 30 minutes if you want a chewy texture.)

Brush the rim of the pizza with olive oil. Spread the pizza sauce evenly onto the pizza. Sprinkle the herbs onto the pizza and top with the cheese.

Slide the pizza onto the tile and bake for 7 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown. Rest for 3 minutes before slicing.

*This recipe's been on the web for some time now and although most of the reactions have been darned positive, some of you have commented that the dough was way too salty. At first we chalked this up to personal preference; some folks are just not as sensitive as others to this basic flavor. And of course salty toppings would definitley change the dynamic. Still, we didn't want to leave it at that. We went back to the lab and found that the flake size of kosher salt differs quite a bit from brand to brand. This could easily result in a too salty crust. So unless you've had success with the recipe in the past, we suggest you cut the salt by one teaspoon, from a tablespoon to two teaspoons. So that the yeast doesn't go crazy, you should also cut back on the sugar by half a teaspoon. Thanks, AB

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Comments & Reviews

recipe Pizza Pizzas
Marty Huber Heights, OH 11-18-2009
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ALTON THE KING
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

THIS IS THE BEST PIZZA CRUST I EVER MADE & EASY TOO . THANK YOU ALTON YOU SAVED ME , THANK YOU , THANK YOU
recipe Pizza Pizzas
Jenny Boston, MA 08-20-2009
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I "Knead" Help!!!
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

I gave AB the benifit of a doubt and gave him the full five star rating even though I'm not officially done making this... recipe. I can't find my attachments to my KitchenAide stand mixer so I decided to knead my dough by hand yesterday. I kneaded it for about twenty minutes and was able to spread the dough without it tearing. I thought I did a pretty good job, but this morning when I checked the dough it hasn't seemed to have risen very much. I still have a few hours left before the "18-24 hour rising time", but I was wondering if I should have kneaded the dough a little longer. I figured this would be a good question for the many people out there who want awesome home made pizza but don't have all the proper equipment. Any help???Read more
recipe Pizza Pizzas
David Abington, PA 08-12-2009
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would give 5 stars, but...
Rated: 3 stars out of 5

Mr. Brown, who I think is terrific, assumes too much tacit knowledge about bread-making in this recipe. A novice who tackles... this one, as I was when I first tried it, will likely be frustrated. Once you learn a bit about making bread and can anticipate outcomes and tweak your procedure this turns out to be a truly fantastic recipe. The tips I received that made it work for me (finally): add half the flour, mix it together and then let it sit for 20 minutes before adding the rest of the flour; to be extra careful not to add too much flour - it should be sticky and wet if you want to get the baker's window; you almost can't knead it too long - for me, using a Kitchenaid mixer it took 40 minutes of kneading. BTW, go ahead and use active dry yeast if you want to - it really doesn't make a difference. I let the yeast bloom in the water and sugar for 10 minutes before adding half the flour, the oil and the salt. Good luck, when you pull this one off you will feel king daddio.Read more
recipe Pizza Pizzas
Andrew Washington, DC 06-01-2009
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Good Stuff
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

Like most of Mr. Brown's recipes this one took well to some tweaking. Personal taste kinda dictates how sweet, salty, thin,... thick, crispy, chewy etc... you want your pizza. As long as you don't monkey around too much with the basic proportions of flour to water, you should be ok to play around a little. I'll add a couple tips I discovered. We don't have a stand mixer, and kneading by hand is a LONG, LABORIOUS process. Pizza dough takes a LOT of kneading to build the gluten to the right level. So, I pulled out our electric pasta machine, You know, the ones that really suck at making pasta. They are, however, excellent for kneading dough, 20 minutes on the mix setting and I could pull the dough out to a nice translucent membrane. As for shaping the dough, I wanted a microscopically thin dough, so I rolled it with a rolling pin. I know, purists are rolling their eyes as they read this, but for first timers, its a lot easier and yields predictable results without tearing the dough. For the baking, I wanted the nice crisp almost charred crust, but like many of you don't own a pizza stone. Here is where I tried to channel Alton's sense of improvisation and mutlitasking. I took my trusty 12" iron skillet, put it upside down on the bottom rack and cranked the heat to 500*. Here;s the beauty part, before I started, I coated it with shortening. This way, I season my skillet and have a kickass pizza stone without having to store a ceramic tile or a pizza stone. As our oven is getting rather old and feeble, I preheated it for about 45 minutes. 7 minutes, and my thin crust pizza came out perfectly crisped, with the edges just turning that mahogany brown that screams "BRICK OVEN". Read more
recipe Pizza Pizzas
Suzy Albertson, NY 05-15-2009
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Great!
Rated: 4 stars out of 5

I loved this crust, very chewy & awesome. It was actually a little too sweet for me, not salty by any means. I kneaded it... by hand, which I do not recommend - it took an hour w/ breaks, oi! Will make again (w/ a touch less sugar & w/ a mixer).Read more
recipe Pizza Pizzas
John pp, PA 05-03-2009
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This pizza dough was great
Rated: 5 stars out of 5

I struggled for quite a while to create a pizza dough that would rise in the oven and not turn out like cardboad. After... watching this show I've made this recipe at least once every other week just to have something I can through together for dinner. As always this episode was really informative. Two thumbs up Alton,, thanksRead more