How To Knead Pizza Dough The Right Way
Pizza is a great staple of American cuisine, and the climate of the pizza restaurant industry is constantly growing. As fast-casual restaurants continue to grow in popularity, the importance of dough preparation will grow. Pizza dough is the foundation of your pizza. If a pizza has poor dough, that pizza will be no good. It makes sense that you want to get it right. Well, you’re in the right place to learn everything you need to know about pizza dough. In today’s post, we’re going to share with you how to knead pizza dough the right way.
Why Is Kneading Pizza Dough Important?
Since pizza dough is such a fundamental element of your pizza, you must prepare it in the best way possible. A poorly prepared dough can turn out too soft, too firm, have bad flavor, or a combination of all of these. We don’t want that to happen. Before we dive into how to knead pizza dough the right way, we’re going to look at why kneading the dough is so essential.
Dough contains two important proteins—gluten and gliadin. These proteins work together to form strands of gluten. As you work the dough and knead it, the process heats up those strands. This heating up helps the dough rise by encouraging the fermentation process to flourish. Kneading also improves the structure of the dough by causing those gluten molecules to bond together. The bonding makes for a more elastic dough.
How To Knead Pizza Dough
Kneading is about a 10 to 12-minute process in which you will build up the structure of your dough. You can use the dough hook attachment on a stand mixer, but we suggest working the dough with your hands. Working the dough with your hands is the best way to learn and produces the most authentic results.
First, you’ll want to make sure you’re kneading on a well-floured surface. A countertop or cutting board works for this. If you don’t use a floured surface, the moisture in the dough will make it stick, and you’ll end up with torn dough and a headache.
To knead, fold the dough over itself and press down. Continue this process until the dough is completely smooth and you don’t see any clumps. The dough should be a bit sticky to the touch but not too sticky. Another way to tell if your dough is ready is to stick your finger in it, and it springs back quickly. That means the gluten has built up enough to give your crust a good texture.
Call The Professionals In Pizza
Now you know how to knead pizza dough the right way. At New York Brick Oven, we pride ourselves on being the leading authority on all things pizza. We are here to serve our customers and are always looking to help in any way we can. We even offer a pizza school for new business owners or anyone who wants to learn how to become a pizza-making expert.