oh wow!!! a pizza thread!
here is the pizza dough I worked on for almost 3yrs to get just right (for me) using online info gathered from Tom "The Dough Doctor" Lehmann, Alton Brown, Tony Gemignani, a trip to Italy, and many many batches of pizza dough. Embraer has a pretty good one which is fairly close to mine except I use a scale for measurment.
I use King Arthur Bread Flour...it comes in a Blue paper container and has a slightly higher protein content when compared to other flours. you can get it at just about any major supermarket. Here in Texas, we have the HEB (pronounced tha'-heeb). its good, cheap and available.
so here is the dough recipe:
16oz King Arthur Bread Flour
10oz Water
3 or 4 drops of honey, syrup, or agave nectar (dont use regular sugar)
1tblsp IDY Yeast
2teasp Mortons Table Salt (I could never get it right with Sea Salt for some reason)
Thats it...as far as ingredients go...here is how you prep it.
weigh out 10 oz of water, add the drops of honey, syrup or agave nectar, and stick in the microwave on high for 30 sec. This should get the water about 100-110 deg F. Measure the temp if you can...you dont want it too much hotter than 100. Add in the yeast packet, plus a teaspoon of flour, and whisk for about a minute and set aside. After extensive research, yeast feeds better on honey as its already been converted to a form the yeast can readily eat. simple sugar is more complex and takes a bit more work. (Alton Brown and Peter Reinhardt). I use just a small amount simply to wakeup the yeast. After about 5 min of sitting, you will know if the yeast is active. you will see the foam and smell the yeast. Time to mix it with the flour/salt.
put the flour and salt in the mixer, whisk the yeast/water mix one last time. Start the mixer and add in the water. I usually do this for a couple of minutes, the dough should self clean inside the bowl.
Remove and knead: I use the marble counter top to knead the dough for a good 5 to 8 minutes, it will get nice and smooth. Split the Dough into 2 equal sized portions ( i use the scale) and place in some tupperware and let it sit at least 24hrs in the fridge (2-3 days is the best).
Before cooking: Remove the dough from the fridge and let it come to room temperature before using.
Cooking: LWJ has the right idea...the hotter the oven the better off the pizza. if you are cooking in your oven, put it on the highest setting and let it sit for about an hour if you can. Make sure the pizza stone is in the oven BEFORE you turn on the heat. I would guess that most ovens dont get much hotter than 550 deg F.
At this temp, 10-12 minutes will cook your pizza. Once you get the pizza in the oven, dont open the door till its done!
My favorite recipie:
a take on Tony Giamangi's traditional Magarita
spread out the dough into a 12" circle
grind up a couple of really ripe tomatoes to use for sauce (or can San Marzano, Cento is good) and spread on the dough
sprinkle on a couple pinches of salt
sprinkle on about a tablespoon of dried parmesean cheese (optional)
break apart an 8oz ball of fresh mozzarella and distribute atop the sauce
add about 8 full sized Basil leaves distributed evenly (one for each slice)
drizzle the top of the pizza with EVOO and into the oven
let pizza "settle" about 3-4 minutes before eating.
Second Favorite Pizza Recipie: Gorgonzolla, Arugula, Procuitto (sp?)
sauce
salt
parmesean
dried basil
shredded Mozzarella
sprinkle with gorgonzola
into the oven
**While the pizza is cooking, mix up the following by hand in a big bowl:
Arugula, chopped up procuitto, drizzle olive oil, 1/2 of a lemon's juice
after your pizza is done, sprikle the above mixture on there and back in the oven for about 30 seconds or so to warm it up.
remove pizza, let it settle and enjoy!
if you get a chance...check my outdoor pizza oven build here:
Kemo's South Austin Pizza Oven - Forno Bravo Forum: The Wood-Fired Oven Community
I cook at 800 Deg F... as mentioned before, HEAT makes all the difference.
Pizza and Porsches, what a complementary pair of addicitons
P.S. The next time Red-Beard makes it to town, im going to personally make that man an authentic wood-fired neopolitan style Italian pizza