American/TV/Movie Pizza

[hey-it-sharpy]

OK, well I'm new here - obviously.

I am a young "housewife" and slowly branching into the world of cooking, and one thing I have never dared to take on is the epic task of learning to make my own pizza/dough.

I live in Australia, and drool when I see American Pizza's in the movies.. I want something which has a thin base but don't want it to be crunchy, but I do want a decent crust on it..

can anyone help?

[Pete-zza]

hey-it-sharpy,

When you say "crunchy", I take that to mean "cracker-like" and that it doesn't rule out "chewy" or "crispy". Is that correct? By "decent crust", I take that to mean a fairly decent sized rim. Is that correct? Also, do you favor a sweet crust or one without sugar? And can you tell us what kind of flour you have available to you in Australia to use and what equipment you have to make the dough (e.g., a mixer, food processor, bread machine, etc.) and to bake the pizzas (e.g., pizza stone, pan, etc.)? Finally, do you have a decent scale?

Peter

[hey-it-sharpy]

Eh.. Ah.. well thanks for the reply, but I didn't realise I would need a PhD in order to make a pizza hehe..

Yeah I don't want it to be 'cracker-like' as you say, chewy sounds more of the correct description. and yeah A nice big doughy rim ..

No No, no sugar for me..

OK here is where it gets interesting..

Flour?? well, I have plain flour?? Other than and self raising I didn't know there were many different kinds of flowers (uh oh I am going to get flamed for this)

And no I don't have any kinda fancy bread making equipment, I have a mixing bowel?? blender.. and an hand held electric mixer (it does have a kinda swirly bread mixing like attachment however)..

And as far as cooking I have a normal baking tray thats about it..

Scales I don't think I have (I'm housewarming so I'm not 100% sure what things are here) But I can probably get my hands on one if it is essential??

[Pete-zza]

hey-it-sharpy,

I'm sorry, but I am not aware of any simple dough recipe on the forum that will meet your specific set of requirements and is recited in volume measurements and where the dough can be made by hand or a hand mixer using plain flour and where the pizza is baked on a baking tray.

What you may want to do is take a look at posts on the forum to see if you can find something that will meet your needs. Or possibly another member can help you out on this one.

Peter

[hey-it-sharpy]

no worries.. thanks anyways

[zalicious]

By baking tray, do you mean like a cookie sheet? I mix my doughs in a bowl with a fork or spoon, & knead them all by hand. You can even mix your dough on the counter & putting a well in the center for the liquid. You certainly don't need any special equipment. If you are interested in a pan style or Sicilian pizza, I will gladly measure out the amount of flour & water I use into a measuring cup. ( I currently weigh my flour & water, but it's very easy to convert.) In the meantime, you might want to check out this http://www.monkeysee.com/play/995-how-to-make-pizza 
She shows you how to do it all by hand.

[hey-it-sharpy]

No, No its OK I have found a few recipies which will do me for the while, just to try atleast. Thanks for the link though it is very helpful

[zalicious]

Your very welcome . Let us know how your pizza adventures go .

[Bryan S]

Eh.. Ah.. well thanks for the reply, but I didn't realise I would need a PhD in order to make a pizza hehe..

I don't care who you are, that's funny.  Yep It can feel like that around here at times. Pizza dough can be rocket science if you want it to be. 

[abatardi]

Try JerryMac's recipe:
http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,5851.0.html

Maybe cut the water a bit if you are using regular all purpose flour.

- aba