Oil in Pizza

[haldi]

Do you actually need oil in the dough
Does something unusual happen if you don't put it in?

[Pete-zza]

Do you actually need oil in the dough
Does something unusual happen if you don't put it in?

haldi,

Much has been written on this subject. See, for example, Reply 1 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,864.msg7819/topicseen.html#msg7819 and Reply 1 at http://www.pizzamaking.com/forum/index.php/topic,7915.msg67933/topicseen.html#msg67933. The short answer is that oil is not needed in a dough. In the early days of pizza making in NYC, pizza doughs were baked in very high temperature ovens and were made using only flour, water, salt and yeast--no oil and no sugar. Those came later when deck ovens became available commercially. I will leave to you to determine whether something unusual happens if you don't use oil.

The style of dough where oil is most prominently used is for deep-dish doughs. They can contain about 8-25% oil as a rough range. I would say that for the deep-dish style, oil, or at least an equivalent fat, is essential.

Peter

[Jose L. Piedra]

Do you actually need oil in the dough

Depends on style:

American: yes
Chicago: yes
Neapolitan: no (use of oil for this style is officially contraindicated by the standards body, in fact)
NY: no (whether or not it even ought to be used at all for this style is a point of contention)
Sicilian/Focaccia: yes

Does something unusual happen if you don't put it in?

The worst-case scenario would be an unbearably hard and crunchy crust similar in consistency to corn chips or something like that. The risk of this happening increases with baking time.

-JLP

[haldi]

The worst-case scenario would be an unbearably hard and crunchy crust similar in consistency to corn chips or something like that. The risk of this happening increases with baking time.
-JLP

I've had deep pan pizzas from Pizza Hut
They seem very greasy
Is this simply the oil added to the dough or is this oil added when they are cooking it?

haldi,
Much has been written on this subject. See exampes
Peter

Thanks Pete
I think I'm going to do an oil free dough!!

[Matthew]

Is this simply the oil added to the dough or is this oil added when they are cooking it?

It's a combination of both.  They add alot of oil to pan prior to baking; in essence the dough is is almost frying while it bakes. 

[Pete-zza]

haldi,

I looked at the ingredients list for one of the original pan doughs that Pizza Hut used to use before they went to frozen dough patties and the oil used in the dough was listed after the flour and water. That meant that there was a fair amount of oil, maybe something above 3% if I had to guess. I also looked at the ingredients list for the current frozen PH pan doughs and the oil shows up farther down the list, after the flour, water, yeast, salt and sugar. That means that they are using considerably less oil than was used in the original "fresh" pan doughs. When I researched the PH pan doughs and pizzas, I found that there were vary wide variations in the amounts of oil used in the pans themselves. But, generally speaking, there was plenty enough oil to essentially "fry" the crusts, as Matt mentioned.

Peter