My sister makes pizza almost every Friday. She uses a bread machine... just dumps all ingredients into machine and sets so it'll do everything but bake. Thinking she bought one of those 2 lb bags of yeast... at Costco. Last time she came up, I got a pint jar of the stuff. It is WAY less expensive than those little packets. I keep the jar in freezer... it stays granular and the cold temps add a lot to its life span.

I use AP flour for pizza dough... and dough hook on KA stand mixer. Remember looking up the equivalent of one of thos little packets... something a little less than 4 T, if I remember correctly. Thought baking is often pretty precise, I start with 2 T of yeast in maybe 3/4 to 1 c warm water (110-115 degrees max). Add a little nice olive oil, maybe some herbs, and then flour till it's "done". Then just let KA do the kneading for ??? a few minutes. While that's going on, I preheat oven to LOWEST setting... think my oven goes down to 150-175. Put liberal glug of olive oil in BIG bowl, flip-flop dough till well covered, cover with towel and into oven (turned OFF) till double. Once risen, you're ready for pizza or foccaccia, pizza bread... whatever you like.

Don't know a lot about different flours, but pretty sure you can't just swap out ALL whole wheat for AP... too dense??

A little OT, but saw this on PBS... Marianne Esposito... Ciao Italia. She formed and topped pizza on paddle (sprinkled with corn meal). Then just slid it off onto a hunka parchment paper and right on rack in oven.

Pizza Dough
Giada De Laurentiis

Total Time:
3 hr 15 min
Prep
15 min
Inactive
3 hr 0 min

Yield:
3 (13-ounce) balls of dough

Level:
Intermediate
Ingredients

1 1/2 cups warm water, 100 to 110 degrees F, plus extra as needed
1 (1/4-ounce) packet active dry yeast
5 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra as needed
1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt
Olive oil, for drizzling

Directions

Put the water in a small bowl. Add the yeast and stir until dissolved.

In a large bowl, whisk the flour and salt together. Add the yeast mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. If the dough is too dry, add a little extra water, 1 tablespoon at a time. If the dough is too sticky, add extra flour, 1 tablespoon at a time. Transfer the dough to a floured work surface. With floured hands, knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic, about 10 to 12 minutes. Drizzle the inside of a clean bowl with olive oil. Put the dough in the bowl and cover loosely with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel. Set the bowl in a warm, draft-free place, until the dough has doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Using a fist, deflate the dough in the center and cut it into 3 equal-sized pieces. Form the dough pieces into 3 balls and put into 3 oiled bowls. At this point I put 2 balls in the freeze for later use. Cover each bowl loosely with plastic wrap or a damp kitchen towel and let rest for 1 hour. Remove the dough and wrap in plastic. Refrigerate for up to 1 day.

I make this recipe all the time and freeze the two extra balls of dough. That way I always have pizza dough ready when I want a pizza. Just defrost and let rise..

Linda

The argument will probably go on forever, but this is my favorite. I never have Semolina so I use a small amount of freshly ground whole wheat instead of Semolina. I have used bread flour and AP and it's all good. I love the make ahead feature.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cheri's Favorite Pizza Dough

I just use AP flour....whatever I have and I always use Fleischman's instant Yeast....I buy it in 2 pound lots.
My usual recipe...
1 1/3 cups body temperature water
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
3 3/4 cups flour.
Mix yeast sugar and water.....and beat in flour until it makes a very stiff batter....add the salt, and continue adding flour until it's very stiff dough....knead 8 to 10 minutes.
Cover and let rest 1/2 an hour and roll out....makes 2 12 to 14 inch crusts.
If you chill the dough over night and roll it out cold it will be easier to roll and to get thin.
Often I add 1/2 tsp garlic powder, and 1 tsp each dry oregano and parsley....and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil as I am mixing.
Linda C

Thank you for your comments and recipes.

Is active dry yeast slower to rise than instant dry yeast? I read the following blog posting about the new Fleischmann's Pizza Crust Yeast and it seems like there is a debate on whether a "quick" yeast ruins the taste of pizza.

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/18223/test-driving-new-pizza-crust-yeast

Remember looking up the equivalent of one of thos little packets... something a little less than 4 T, if I remember correctly.

No, no...one packet of yeast contains around 2 1/4-2 1/2 teaspoons of yeast!

Just wanted to clear this up before someone had a Lucy & Ethel moment!!

Active dry yeast is slower than instant....but it may delay the doubling of 3 pounds of dough by 10 minutes or less.....trust me....you won't knotice the difference.
Linda C

Happs:
Like someone said before, " do not get too tech, just do it ".

In my Pizza place I bought Bread flour and one pound packs of Yeast.

Now I use a different recipe, AP flour and some WW Flour,
with Active Dry Yeast

The difference in time is negligible ( for me ).

I make Prebaked Dough and freeze or use it fresh.

You can Google : " Lou-s Pizza Dough " and go down to the, Garden Web Post, To get more info.

************************************
Here is my recipe.

An alterative to baking on a stone is to use pans.

A 12 inch round pizza will take from 8 to 12 ounces of dough. According to thickness you want. After the dough is made weigh it out and roll into balls. Oil the pans and place a dough ball in the pan , smooth side up and flatten slightly, working the dough towards the side of the pan, with the palms.
Then let it rest a few minutes. Repeat this every so often until the dough reaches the side and up, enough for a crust about one half inch. Let it raise slightly , pinch the dough all over, with a fork and put into the oven to bake at 400 deg. If it bubbles while baking pinch it with a fork again. When light tan specks show ,take them out onto a rack to cool fast. Then you can use them right away or freeze , to use later.

When baking the Pizza, place the Pre Baked dough back in the oiled pan ,
Or cook on your Stone.

Put a latel of sauce on the dough and swish it around, sprinkle some Parmesan or Romano , put it in the oven for a few minutes. Take it out and spread the topping of your choice and the Cheese Topping. A good topping cheese is a mixture of Mozzarella and Provolone chopped and mixed. The provolone gives it a good flavor and doesn't get like rubber when it cools.

I use all Provolone. A little trick for baking. Keep a cup of water and brush handy, to baste parts that are cooking too fast. If you can get new metal pans, (uncoated) they have to be cured in the oven, so they won't stick. Coat them with oil and bake them for at least 6 hours. Never clean them with soap and water. Just rinse with water & wipe with a paper towel.

Dough recipe:
1 cup of warm water (not hot)
1 Package of Active Dry yeast 1 tablesp sugar ,in a half cup of warm water
Quarter Cup of Veg. Oil
1 teasp.Salt
About 3 1/2 cups Flour
half cup of Whole Wheat flour or up to 1 cup
Place in a mixing bowl, the Water, 1 cup of flour, wheat flour , yeast if risen
Add the oil and salt and more flour.
Add enough flour to make a soft ball of dough, that doesn't stick to your hands.
Knead until smooth. Put it back in the bowl , Smooth side up and Rub on some Veg. Oil
Cover and set in a warm place to rise until it doubles in bulk.
I put it in a warm oven, Covered with a damp towel. Place a pan of hot water on the bottom shelf
It will rise in about 1 hour.
When doubled, punch it down and knead it well.
Divide into Balls , about 11 to 12 ounces and place in oiled pans. 12" round
Dough should be about three sixteenth thick on the bottom and about half inch around the edge.
For Sicilian Pizza , I used most of the dough in a 11" X 16" pan
Follow the previous instructions.
Good luck, Lou

Well, here's yet another, from Dolores Casella's A World of Bread. I've been using this recipe for almost 50 years. This is a great cookbook including a huge range of breads, coffee cakes, cornbreads, soda breads, biscuits, each with many variations. It seems to have been forgotten, but I use it for many different things.

4 cups flour (if you want part WW, use 2 of white and start with 1 1/2 of WW, adding more white to the dough as needed)
1/2 tsp each salt and peppper
1 TBL yeast mixed into
1 1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup olive oil added to the water after the yeast dissolves.

Pour liquid ingredients into dry. Mix well and knead. Let rise. Makes two large pizzas. (The dough can be frozed after it rises for another pizza another day)

A tip I read a couple of years ago that makes all the difference: Knead the dough and by all means roll out the dough on a surface that you have spread a little oil on, not flour.

I'm not familiar with pizza dough yeast, so I don't know what to tell you about it, other than I suspect it's a marketing gimmick. There are a lot of products out there that are the exact same product, but with different labels slapped on the package to make it seem like two different products. I know this for a fact, as a distributor of a product we sell where I work supplied us once with plain bottles of their product, but two different labels. One label was geared towards the pet owner, the other label was as a cleaning product. The product was orange oil. The pet one pushed the odor eliminating qualities, while the other label pushed the cleaning qualities.

In the same way as the orange oil product I mentioned above, I suspect, and it's only a guess, that pizza yeast is no different than quick acting yeast, it's just put into a different package to market either to a different set of people, or to get the same people to buy twice as much yeast. But it's just a guess, and I could be wrong.

I wouldn't worry too much about using the right flour or the right yeast for pizza dough. I think you can experiment and try different things and have fun with it.

Sally

Lacyvail:
She must have gotten the Recipe from me, I had the Pizzeria in 1962. LOL!!!

I have learned to make the prebaked dough, to where it is better than using fresh dough.
According to what you like.

I acquired my knowledge of Pizza From many friends in the business and
used a little of what I liked from each.

Calzones started in my part of Delaware county, PA.

Happs :

I have experimented thru the years for you.

If you will check out the ingredients in all the Pizza Dough Recipes,
you will find they are basically all the same.

If you need a good Pizza Sauce recipe I will Post it.

Or you can Google " Lou-s Spaghetti and Pizza Sauce ".

Thanks , LOU

Your welcome,
Lou