Both of my grandmothers were Italian, and I worked at two different pizza shops in high school. So, I’ve eaten a lot of pizza.
If you live in Toronto, then you probably know about Pizzaiolo, by far the best chain-pizza crust. But my all-time favourite crust is thin Naples pizza done in a proper wood-fired oven.
How to Make the Best Pizza Dough
The best pizza dough has a crisp, crunchy, and slightly chewy crust. It should be flavourful, even without added spices. It should be relatively easy to work and have a fine grain.
To find the best pizza dough recipe, I tested ones with maple syrup, different flours, and salt continents. The winner was the simplest recipe of the batch, but none of them were bad.
The Winner – New York Style Pizza Crust
Found on Pinterest under ‘best New York Pizza Crust‘ this easy recipe is simple, and can be made ahead of time and kept in a bag in the fridge for up to a week.
When looking for quality dough recipes, it’s important you look for weights, as humidity can have a huge effect on flour volume.
Gordon Ramsay’s Pizza Dough Recipe
I love Gordon Ramsay’s focaccia, so I thought his pizza dough was worth a shot. It’s almost the same as Plain Chicken’s recipe, but the difference in ratios leaves a slightly tougher dough. The only benefit is that this dough is a little easier to work with when stretching.
Pizza Dough Made With Maple Syrup
The Love & Lemons Everyday cookbook is one of the few I own. Her flavourful creations are easy to change up for seasonal eating and she has a great way of turning veggies to comfort food.
She is not Canadian, but as one myself I thought I should at least explore this option when it was presented to me. Unfortunately, the maple syrup didn’t impart any flavour.
So I tried the recipe with honey and adjusted it 3 times before determining it was more complicated than other dough recipes. So maybe not the ‘ultimate pizza dough recipe’. But it does smell incredible when rising. It’s also wonderfully tangy and perfect for artisanal pizzas.
Whole Wheat Pizza Dough with Honey
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale
Ingredients
- 1½ tsp Honey
- 15 g Active Dry Yeast
- 177 mL Lukewarm Water
- 3 tsp Italian Seasoning
- 200 g All-Purpose Flour
- 100 g Einkorn
- 1 tsp Salt
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
Instructions
- Mix your honey, water, and yeast. Allow it to sit for 5 minutes (until yeast blooms)
- In another bowl mix all your dry ingredients. Slowly add your wet to dry, including the olive oil. Knead 5-7 minutes, until soft.
- Shape dough into a ball and put in a well-oiled bowl. Cover the dough in oil and allow it to rise, covered until doubled in size.
- Punch down and stretch your dough out to size or place it in a sealed bag in the fridge to use later.
- Heat your oven to 450F (232C) and bake for 18-20 minutes.
‘Traditional’ Pizza Dough (American)
Of course in my testing process, I had to try google’s top result for the best pizza dough. My thoughts were that it was much too similar to bread, very fluffy and sweet like most American loaves of bread.
What do you like in a good pizza crust? Are there any recipes that are better than the ones I listed? Let me know in the comments below and happy baking!
