Pizza Quest

Next, think about the flour. What kind are you going to use? I like one that is high in protein (13 to 14 pcl, organic, and grown and freshly milled as close to home as possible), because it gives the finished crust a good chew.

you’ve never made pizza dough before, I highly recommend starting with Bonci-style Al Taglio Dough (this page). I’ve fallen in love with this kind of dough recently, and the basic recipe in this book couldn’t be simpler. It calls for dry yeast and store-bought bread flour. You don’t need a mixer. Just stir everything together in a bowl with a spoon

HOW MANY DOUGH BALLS? The Neapolitan and New York–style pizza recipes in this book tell you to divide the dough into three equal pieces between 260 and 285 grams each. For Roman pizzas, you should divide the dough into five pieces of 150 grams each. If you don’t want that many dough balls, just cut the recipe in half. For bar pizzas, the Bar Pizza

It took a while to realize what was right in front of my eyes: think like a pizzaiolo, not like a bread baker. Pizza dough and bread dough have different needs. Bread wants to expand to its maximum volume; pizza does not. Pizza dough has structural needs—to stretch without breaking and without being too elastic.

The bread I like to make comes from wet doughs—made with a lot more water than you’re probably used to—but pizza doughs that are equally wet don’t work very well. And who knew that I should think about matching the hydration of the dough to the type of oven the pizza bakes in?