Kitchen

[DiamondGirly]

I found this on a site...might help you for next time: (I just posted part of it):

http://how-to-stretch-pizza-dough.blogspot.com/

If your pizza dough won't stretch, there are several things you need to consider.

1. How long has the dough sat rising? Fresh made dough that was made with water that was not very warm will take some time to get to the point where the yeast expands the dough through the gases the yeast let out. The longer the pizza dough rises, the easier it will stretch. Mix dough, and let it set for as long as you can. The previous night is best! Set it covered in the fridge!
2. Did you use a low gluten flour? The higher the gluten, the easier it is to stretch
3. Is the dough slightly sticky or hard and dry? If you kneaded the dough and it's kind of hard and not sticky, you could have killed the batch. The only thing you can do now is wait or make a new batch. If the dough is too sticky, you'll have to kneed some more flour in. Do this a few sprinkles at a time. Too much at one time just makes a mess and won't work.
   

The key ingredient in getting pizza dough to stretch is waiting. Assuming your yeast was not bad (how old was it?), the longer you wait the better. If it's doubled in size, you will have no problem getting it to do what you want.

[HUENEME GIRL]

For the past few months I have been working to perfect my pizza making. I have used a recipe from "cooks" magazine. It uses bread flour in processor,1/2 t rapid rising yeast. After mixing you refrigerate overnight. I remove and let sit for at least 1 hour before stretching. I find my processor really does not have the power to handle 3 cups of flour. It is a 600 watt kitchen aid. I have been eyeing a 1000 watt cusinart on amazon. My recipe makes 2 pizzas so I freeze I ball of dough for later.

[Poodlepet2]

Hu I agree with you about the dough being left in the fridge overnight: that seems to be the best. In a pinch, I have also used a basic bread dough recipe;-) makes a thick crust and there is a time factor (it usually takes me about two hours plus).

One of my favorite "go to" recipes is from Bob Warden that was written for the Ninja. You make the dough and roll it out, and it only uses two cups of flour. I do not think it is quite as good as the slow rising fridge method, but when you come up with the idea of making pizza at the last minute,it does not disappoint.

Poodlepet

[Eliana]

Thank you, everyone, for your replies. Luckily I'm only a couple of minutes from a grocery store, so I bought a packaged crust mix and put my homemade dough in the freezer to try another time. It's the recipe I always use, and I bought the yeast that same day. I've never had a problem with it before. Oh well.