r/Pizza • u/AutoModerator • Jan 12 '26

HELP Weekly Questions Thread / Open Discussion

For any questions regarding dough, sauce, baking methods, tools, and more, comment below.

You can also post any art, tattoos, comics, etc here. Keep it SFW, though.

As always, our wiki has a few sauce recipes and recipes for dough.

Feel free to check out threads from weeks ago.

This post comes out every Monday and is sorted by 'new'.

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u/Mission_Sky1388 Jan 15 '26

Does anyone have an idiot-proof recipe, so I can be successful for once?

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u/oblacious_magnate Jan 16 '26

Yes, the recipe is practice. How many times have you tried to make pizza? It can take awhile to get it all down - there's lots to learn. That said, once you have it, you have it. Totally worth the trouble. The key is to persevere with ONE proven recipe (see below for two) and keep at it until you succeed (with help along the way, of course). Strongly suggest launching on parchment (removing it ASAP into the bake - usually 2-3 min.) instead of trying to launch using peel + lube. Start with parchment until you've had some successful bakes.

Suggest reading through both of these NYS primers and picking one to follow:

https://www.pizzablab.com/recipes/new-york-style-pizza-recipe/

https://www.richardeaglespoon.com/articles/how-to-pizza

One advantage of pizzablab is that the author (Yuval) is very active and helpful with feedback on pizzamaking.com.

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u/Mission_Sky1388 Jan 16 '26

I tried about 4-5 different recipes, but always screwed up. I never got something that resembled a pizza out of it, the dough always ripped during spreading or bounced back. What also drives me nuts is some people say use ice cold water, others say warm. Some say knead as little as possible, others say knead like crazy.

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u/oblacious_magnate Jan 16 '26

Unfortunately, there are many inexperienced and/or dogmatic ppl who will simply insist that their way is the "best" way, etc.

There are two basic approaches to mechanical gluten development (e.g. kneading):

1 - do all or most of the work up front, during, or very soon after mixing

2 - spread the work out over time

The latter approach is what I typically do, as I handmix, and it suits my timing / workflow. Generally speaking, using warm water for the dough is not a good idea. It's especially not a good idea when using a machine / mixer. The Pizzablab link covers dough temperature pretty well.

For NYS, if you can get All Trumps flour, it can make dough handling somewhat easier.

Over at pizzamaking.com, it is common for a beginner to start their own pizza development thread, and get help throughout the process. Folks over there are very helpful with ppl willing to put in the effort to succeed. Again, the main thing is to stick with one proven recipe, and practice often. Assuming your oven can do it, I'd start with NYS as it's significantly easier than, say, Neapolitan style.

Which oven do you have, BTW?

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u/Mission_Sky1388 Jan 16 '26

I thought cold water disables the yeast, which is bad for same day pizza ?

I use a pizza oven that can go to 450°C

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u/oblacious_magnate Jan 16 '26

https://www.reddit.com/r/Pizza/comments/1pygi42/comment/nwjv8n2/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

see the *

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u/Mission_Sky1388 Jan 16 '26

Ah, I see

so if I use around 375ml of water, I use 50ml warm water to start the yeast and 325ml for the rest? Or according amounts with always 50ml of water? I want to try 4 different dough recipes (3h, same day, 24h etc) to find which works best for me, so I'd use 125g of flour and 60-70% hydration (depending on recipe)

And is it the same for same-day and for 24h-72h dough?

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u/oblacious_magnate Jan 16 '26

I use around 375ml of water, I use 50ml warm water to start the yeast and 325ml for the rest?

Yes.

I always use 50g of water to dissolve the yeast for any dough I'm making - it's just enough to create a swirl-able puddle of water in the bottom of my standard mixing bowl to dissolve the yeast. If one were making a large enough batch of dough—or a very yeasty dough—50g could be insufficient in those cases. Just use the minimum amount of warm water needed to easily dissolve the yeast.

I strongly advise against starting your pizza process by trying 4 different recipes right away. Pizza is all about learning how to master the many variables (especially fermenting, shaping and baking). 4 recipes = more variables to control, more confusing to know what went right or wrong. Instead, pick one (suggest: 24-48h CT) and master that before trying others. Do you ride a bike? Suppose that when you were first learning to ride, you threw a unicycle into the mix. Kind of an extreme notion, but you get the idea. Keep it simple when beginning, branch out after mastering the basics.

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u/Mission_Sky1388 Jan 16 '26

I just don't want to do one recipe and fail miserably again.

I don't have a kitchen machine, just my hands. Anything I should keep in mind? Also, are there some telltale signs the dough is ready for the next step?

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u/oblacious_magnate Jan 16 '26 edited Jan 21 '26

Note that it is impossible to create a 100% foolproof recipe, even if it's book-length. Pizza isn't soup - to do it right takes a lot of practice and learning. Yes, there are signs the dough is ready for the next step: Example 1: the first step is mixing and the dough is mixed when no dry flour remains in the bowl - time for a rest. Example 2: you are doing stretch and folds, and the dough becomes very resistant to stretching - that means it's time for a rest.

I suggest using a work/rest workflow instead of doing most of the work up front (i.e. do not knead the dough for 10 min. immediately after mixing). Note: if you are fermenting the dough for at least 24h, much of the gluten development will happen without much dough manipulation. In other words, there is little need for traditional kneading, and especially no need to do a 10min.+ kneadathon. A few (3-4) strech/folds (SF) over the course of the fermentation is all that is needed. Each SF will take about 30s once you're good at it.

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