Vodka instead of water?

[nick57]

I just made America's Test kitchen thin crust pizza as described in BTB's thread for Imo's pizza in the cracker style thread. It turned out pretty good. I did add some quality garlic powder and Italian seasonings to the dough for flavor. It seems that it works better with less water, as stated in the thread. ATK  had a recipe for pie dough that uses vodka to make a crisper and flakey dough. As it cooks, all the alcohol evaporates from the dough, making it crisper. Has anyone tried this on a no yeast dough? Would it work on a yeast dough, or would the booze kill the yeast? I think I'll try it the next time on BTB's Imo's pizza. I'll post my results.

[buceriasdon]

I tried a tequila dough for one of the monthly challenges, Anything but Water, and found it to be one of the weakest doughs imaginable with no oven spring. Perhaps one of my worst failures. Upon researching the matter I discovered that too much alcohol detroys the gluten structure. Evidently vodka makes a great pie dough, but poor pizza dough. Perhaps a blend would work but I never pursued the idea further.
Don

[RobynB]

Don's right.  The whole point of using vodka in pie crust is to NOT develop gluten.  Vodka is probably not going to be a positive in pizza crust.

[JConk007]

  Just do a shot if you really need alchohol that bad right?   but in a  pizza dough   
beer is a maybe right.

[BTB]

I just made America's Test kitchen thin crust pizza as described in BTB's thread for Imo's pizza in the cracker style thread. It turned out pretty good . . . It seems that it works better with less water, as stated in the thread. ATK  had a recipe for pie dough that uses vodka to make a crisper and flakey dough. As it cooks, all the alcohol evaporates from the dough, making it crisper. Has anyone tried this on a no yeast dough? . . . I think I'll try it the next time on BTB's Imo's pizza. I'll post my results.

I've tried using Vodka for regular pie dough for a lemon creme pie along the lines ATK suggested and it was the BEST pie dough that we've ever tasted.  I've been thinking of trying the concept on pizza dough like you have been, but won't be able to get around to it for a couple of months yet.  I encourage you to "try it" and let us know how it turns out. Like many say, there could be some minuses, but there could be some surprise pluses I think.  I seem to remember others thinking or trying the use of a little Vodka in a pizza crust recipe, but don't remember what the thoughts or findings were.

                                                                     --BTB

[DNA Dan]

I have played with alcohol in my doughs for quite some time, primarily beer. From what I can tell there are two main ways to get a successful dough doing this. The first one is the boil off some of the alcohol so you only get the flavor of the liquor. This would then be mixed with wet ingredients. I find this approach less reliable unless you have a way to guage the alcohol percent you are dumping your yeast into. Remember, alcohol is a waste product to our yeasties to begin with.

The second approach which I have had a lot of success with is proofing the yeast in a small amount of water until it's very active. Typically my doughs have sugar in them so I will add this to the water. I will then add the alcohol to the flour directly, mix it up a bit, then add the yeast mixture separately. This sort of "jump starts" the yeast and gives them a chance to grow in the dough.

[BTB]

Just to follow up somewhat on this thread, . . . . a week ago I made a great single crust pastry pie (i.e., key lime this time instead of lemon) and it was super, super great.  And as most pie afficianodos know, real, true key lime pie is made with traditional tasty and flaky pastry pie dough (just like at the good Key West bakeries) and not graham cracker crust that is often seen at some places.

I think that this is really worth exploring further for pizzamaking purposes despite some thoughts by some that the crust with some Vodka won't turn out right.  I used the ATK pie recipe modifying with using 3/4's cooled vodka instead of 1/2 (meaning 1/4th the water), added 1/4 tsp of baking powder to the mixture, minimal mix (as usual for me), and did much less "refrigerator cooling" in between the various ATK steps.  The result was -- IM estimation -- super great.  Tender, flaky, super tasty and delicious.  Me and mine said . . . the absolute best pastry pie dough yet.

But my point here is simply that for pizzamaking purposes, we should further dig in and see if some of this can here result in pizza crusts that get closer to our thin crust pizza Valhalla goal.  In my youth, I remember eating at a famous local Chicago pizzeria that had a crust similar to, but "in between" that of, a pizza dough and a pastry pie dough and it was fantastic.  Light, crispy, but somewhat soft and tasty . . .  Anyone have any similar thoughts?

                                                                                       --BTB