Looking for a great Pizza Dough recipe. Do you have a favorite?

[LowCarbConvert]

I really need a pizza fix, and today is Friday.

I tried to make it out of Carbalose flour, but it was very brittle and "unstretchable".
The Carbquick version was too biscuit-ish.

I'm wondering if I could make up a special flour to use. Maybe some Carbquick, carbalose, a little whole wheat flour... something like that? It doesn't have to be super low carb, as after all this is a maintenence treat. But I would like it to be reasonably authentic.

The best treat of all would be to achieve a NY style pizza crust: thin, dense, poofy edges, crunchy on bottom, bends but does not break when folded.

Any advice, sucesses, failures, tips... would be very much appreciated! Thanks.

PS- here are some flours that I have on hand:
Carbquik, Carbalose, almond flour, oat flour, WPI 8000, Resistant corn starch 260, regular flour, whole wheat flour, and vital wheat gluten.

I haven't tried the wpi 8000 or resistant corn yet.

[jtex]

Here is a quick and easy solution to your pizza jones, but it doesn't include dough. Heat 5-6 pieces of pepperoni in a non-stick frying pan -- lay them out in a circle. Top with 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Flip after about a minute. Cook one minute more.

This always nips my pizza jones in the bud!

[Y0-Y0]

I use the pork rind pizza crust on Linda Sue's website. I use a pizza pan with wholes to make it king if crispy. I also don't use the parchment paper. It always gomes out great any my non-lowcarbing boyfriend love it too.

PORK RIND PIZZA CRUST
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 cup pork rinds, finely crushed, 2 1/2-3 ounces
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
8 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon garlic powder
Toppings

Cut a circle of parchment paper to fit a 14-inch round pizza pan and slightly going up the sides of the pan. Spray the pizza pan with cooking spray to help the parchment stay put. Place the parchment paper in the pan.

Whisk cream cheese and eggs until smooth. Add remaining ingredients except mozzarella until well combined. Stir in mozzarella. Drop the dough by large spoonfuls all over parchment-lined pan. Cover with two sheets of plastic wrap that have been crossed so that the entire surface is covered. With rolling pin, roll dough to the edges of the pan making it an even thickness. Remove plastic wrap. With a rubber spatula, push the dough up and away from the edges of the pan by 1/4-1/2". If the dough goes all the way to the edges, it can bubble over in the oven or go under the parchment paper. Bake at 425º 20 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes or chill several hours (can probably be wrapped and frozen at this point, but I haven't tried it). Add toppings and bake at 375º about 15-20 minutes longer or until toppings are bubbly and slightly browned.

Makes 8-12 servings

Whole Crust: 2081 Calories; 171g Fat; 130g Protein; 17g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 17g Net Carbs
Per 1/8 Crust: 260 Calories; 21g Fat; 16g Protein; 2g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 2g Net Carbs
Per 1/12 Crust: 173 Calories; 14g Fat; 11g Protein; 1g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 1g Net Carbs

[scott123]

Without a doubt, carbalose and vital wheat gluten. That's the most likely pair for success with a thin NY style crust.

Do you have a crust recipe you like? Just swap out the flour with 3/4 carbalose 1/4 gluten and nix the sugar completely. The yeast will still have plenty of food to survive on.

If 3/4 carbalose 1/4 gluten doesn't give you something stretchy droopy, then I'd give 2/3 1/3 a shot.

Your goal should be a pretty slack dough- almost too sticky to work with.

[LowCarbConvert]

Scott123,

AHA! So a sticky slack dough is the goal? It was very much like that when I used Carbalose alone. I'll definitely try your suggestion.

YoYo, thanks! I'm going to print that out and try it for lunch next week.

jtes, thank you also. That sounds like just the fun thing to try on movie night.

[LowCarbConvert]

Well, the pizza came out OK, and it was obviously good enough for my two picky kids because they ate very well.

However, next time I'll try backing down on the vital wheat gluten. Either that, or add a tad more water. The crust had that "low carb bake mix" kind of texture, it was very stiff (not sticky), and a little rubbery. Had to let it rest several times between rolling/stretching to relax. I used the 3/4 C carbalose: 1/4 C vital wheat gluten combo.
To sub for 3 C flour, next time I might try 1/2 C vital wheat gluten and the rest carbalose.

Also, there wasn't any crispiness to the outside of the crust. I wonder if a little wpi 8000 would help with that?

Anyway, Scott123, thanks very much for that excellent starting point.

jtex, What is a "jones"? I am thinking "craving"? Interesting word!

[Less4life]

This isn't pizza dough, but it works great for pizza anyway. I just take LC tortillas and dry them out in the oven @ 250 degrees for about 7 to 8 minutes.
Add my pizza sause and topppings.
It is a wonderful pizza fix and very low carb.

For an added twist I have taken 2 tortillas and put moz cheese between them after I have "dried" them out and then proceed adding toppings.

I am not sure how well this would work for kids though as it can be a bit messy.

Hope this helps.

[scott123]

Hmmm... so it was a little rubbery? Yup, too much gluten.

The 5/6 carbalose 1/6 gluten sounds like it should do the trick.

Also, although NY style pizza is a traditionally lean, low fat dough, I think that with the ingredients we're using, a little more fat is necessary.

The WPI is just a more concentrated version of the vital wheat gluten. That would make it more rubbery.

The crispiness comes from intense heat in the oven and a little bit of fat in the dough. A baking stone helps.

Would you mind posting your recipe?

[LowCarbConvert]

Scott123, thanks so much and sorry for the delay. I don't mind posting the recipe at all! It's from Joy of Cooking, and worked for me in the high-carb days. It was actually the closest I could get to home made NY crust:

1 pkt yeast (Fleishmanns regular)
1 1/3 C warm water

3 1/2 C AP flour
2 T olive oil
1 T salt

Then make like any standard crust (mix, knead, proof, etc).

First, I used 3 Cups (or 3 of the 3/4 C carbalose and 3 of the 1/4 vwg). Second, I actually did back down a little on the olive oil, maybe 1 3/4 T. I also backed down a tad on the salt, to a scant 1 T. However, since the recipe called for 3 and a HALF cups flour, I did add about a quarter of a cup of carbalose/VWG mix. I'm sure that was a mistake, because the dough got a lot rubberier at that point.

My hubby bought me a NY Flying Pizza for my birthday last year. 19.95 for a post paid genuine NY pizza- and it was great, but not authentic enough (we both grew up there). There is something about a NY crust that is entirely (or "empirely" ) unique. Being from NJ, I'm sure you know what I mean. This crust can not be reproduced in the average home kitchen- especially in the midwest!

There are so many variables when working with yeast. My humidity was relatively low, and the ambient temp in the room was about 69. I used my oven as a proof box, at about 95*.

Scott, I can't thank you enough for your input! Being in NJ, I'm sure you know the pizza crust I'm after...
I was in NJ in Aug 05, and treated my family to a fabulous pizza. Well worth the forty-something carbs as a "once every ten years" treat ...

[scott123]

Karen, I know exactly the crust you're talking about. Although sweeteners have involved into a fetish for me recently, pizza has always been my religion. For the last 15 years I've been attempting to crack the code for making NY style pizzeria quality pizza in a home oven. I can't tell you how much time and research I put into it. About 2 years ago, I purchased 2" thick fire brick to convert my oven to a pizza oven. I had to reinforce the oven shelves with ceramic supports in order to handle the weight. The set up was perfect. I had crack the sauce code, the dough code and had the perfect pizza making oven. I was good to go. Before I had the chance to give it a shot, though, I decided to go low carb. As I said, that was 2 years ago, and I haven't made pizza since. Just recently I took the fire bricks out of the oven so that I could use it for other things.

I've cheated 3 times since I began this WOE 2 years ago. All 3 times it was pizza (bought from a pizzeria). With polyd/sweetener combining I have no desire to return to sugar, but pizza is almost impossible to resist. I have labored over the idea of developing a lc crust, but it's been tough getting my head around the prospect of eating less than perfect pizza. It's also kind of difficult to be so close to making real pizza at home only to have to go back to square one with a low carb version. I've never been very good at compromising, but I have no choice. I have to bite the bullet- eventually Just recently I've started baking crustless pizzas in lasagna pan. That's a big step for me. The crust is not far off.

As far as helping other aspiring lc pizzaiolo's perfect their craft, that I'm more than happy to do.

Now, regarding the recipe. It looks pretty good.

Salt makes gluten rubbery/less manageable. It also kills off some of the yeast if used to excess. Since there's some salt in the carbalose, I'd back down on the salt in the dough. Go with a teaspoon rather than a tablespoon.

When you used the gluten was the dough sticky?

How long did it take for your dough to proof? Did it double as it should?

A big part of the taste/texture of a NY crust is a long cool rise. Most pizzerias utilize cake yeast that doesn't need to be activated by heat. They add the yeast directly to cold water and flour, mix/knead the dough, portion it and then they refrigerate it until they form the crust. Colder doughs will hold more water without getting sticky unmanageable. The more water in the dough, the fluffier the end result. Bakeries/pizzerias use fresh cake yeast. The compressed cake yeast in supermarkets has usually spent too much time in the case to be fresh. Still, you might want to give that a try. Use double the quantity of fresh yeast than you would dry. Use cold water. Mix the dough, portion into 1 crust size balls. Place each in an oiled bowl and then refrigerate for a few hours. About an hour before you eat, take the dough out and form your crust. If the coldness makes it too cold to work with, give it a few minutes to warm up. Ideally, you're looking for a slack enough dough that's manageable when cold, but as it approaches room temp, it becomes too sticky to work with.

A baking stone, as I said, helps but an aluminum cookie sheet will work okay. Use plenty of 'flour' underneath the pizza to prevent if from sticking. Preheat your oven to it's highest setting and place the pizza on the lowest shelf. Pizzas are more about being cooked from beneath than above.

[magnamater]

YUMMM! After returning from Italy last night and borrowing "bites" of real Italian pizza to stay relatively LC and keep the carb hunger at bay, I am definitely going to try the attempts for NY Style Thin Crust.

Italy does the very best. . .their crust is almost cracker thin when best. . .and almost worth bad health and 85 extra lbs. . .but NOT REALLY!

Okay, this is for another taste altogether, but Linda Sue's Deep Dish Pizza is really good. . .great in fact, but not thin crust like you are talking about here.

Kind of like talking about apples and oranges.

[gmgisme]

I use this recipe and love it for quick fixins...

"The crust:
1/4 c flaxmeal
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp onion salt
1 packet Splenda
1 tbs Italian seasoning
1 tbs grated parmesan
1 egg
2 tsp water

Mix dry ingredients, then add egg and water. Spay a dinner plate with Pam and spread mixture into plate. (Will be about the size of a 'personal pizza') Microwave for about 1 minute 40 seconds.
Slide off plate into a pam sprayed frying pan and brown both sides on high.
Place crust on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Spread pizza sauce over crust almost to edges. Top with cheese of your choice (I used a moz./jack blend) and toppings of your choice. Pepperoni and mushroom for me. Heat in oven at about 350 until cheese melts and toppings reach desired 'doneness'. Cut into 4ths and enjoy. It looks like pizza, tastes like pizza, you can pick it up and eat it like pizza, has that crunch like a thin crust pizza."

I made this last Sunday and didn't have pizza sauce so I used ricotta mixed with some chopped italian parsley and grated parmesean and topped that with my home-made pesto sauce and then topped that with some grated string cheese and baked it til the cheese was all golden and bubbly. Yum, Yum! Adifferent take on pizza but worth it.

[CreekWatcher]

Scott 123, you asked Low Carb Convert if his dough had doubled when proofed, but how could it rise in the fridge? I've heard of using special refridgerators set to higher than normal temps to slow rise sourdoughs, but that's over a period of days.

BOY am I glad that the Prince of Polydextrose is on this! Who knows--maybe we'll end up with not only pizza crust but other kinds of yeast breads made successfully with the (otherwise) wonderful Carbalose flour. I wait eagerly (but patiently) to hear about the results of your (and Low Carb Convert's) experiments. And thanks so much for all your work with low carb substitutes. I know that if you should ever claim to have cracked the NY crust code, it WILL be the real thing.

[LowCarbConvert]

OK Scott, I went out shopping today and replenished my supply of VWG. I was unable to find fresh yeast, though. My grocery store no longer carries it. I'll try a different store tomorrow. Meanwhile I have a packet of Hodgson Mills yeast if I cant find fresh.
Either way, I'm definitely trying this again on Friday, with all of your advice.

To answer your questions, no the dough was not sticky. That was a distant early warning.
Yes the dough just about doubled in my "oven" proofbox. Took about an hour & fifteen. I could have let it go longer, but the kids were hungry.

I've heard about that cool rise.
When I used to bake at Dunkin Donuts, I would use Ice water when starting my yeast doughnuts (shhh don't tell anyone). I was kind of a slow baker, and that cold water gave me enough time to get through 2000 doughnuts before they died.
I've often seen stacks of stainless steel bowls at pizza places, filled with dough. I guess they'd take out what they needed for the next hour or so.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

[LowCarbConvert]

OK Today is "Pizza Experiment #2" Day.

2 1/2 C Carbalose Flour
1/2 C Vital Wheat Gluten
1/4 C WPI 8000
1.3 oz fresh yeast (about 2/3 of a 2 oz cake)
3 T olive oil
1 t salt
1 1/2 C water

I got a nice, sticky dough. Too floppy for the dough hook, but just pulling away from the sides of the bowl using the paddle. After mixing, I kneeded it in the bowl with a spatula a few times.
It is in the fridge, covered. I'll pull it out around 5:30-ish, and will hopefully be eating it by 6:30.

I should probably be thinking of a back-up meal for the kids, in case this one flops.

Wish me luck!

[SugarBabi]

Good luck!! Let us know how it turns out, okay.

[hirezmary]

As I was reading your posts regarding the NY pizzas, I couldn't help but smile and drool. I too grew up in NJ. I too am simply mad about pizza. There is nothing close to NY pizza in CA in my opinion (maybe it's something in the air) just like there is nothing like NJ tomatoes, but I find I still just have to have pizza. I still eat real pizza about once a week. I'm satisfied with 2 slices and then I just eat very LC the rest of the day. I'm not losing weight at a very fast pace, but I'm still losing, so I'm just happy that I can have my pizza and eat it too!
I've tried some LC pizza recipes and even though they are not bad tasting, I just need the real thing. Although it's not NY or NJ pizza here, I can still find a pretty good satisfying pizza and that keeps me from dumping LC eating otherwise or eating lots of other junk. I'd rather have a good slice of pizza than a slice of chocolate cake anyday.

[CreekWatcher]

Good luck, and I apologize for getting both your name and sex wrong in my previous post.

[LowCarbConvert]

CreekWatcher, Quite all right! No offense taken. Thanks for the well wishes you and SugarBabi.

hirezmary, "I'd rather have a good slice of pizza than a slice of chocolate cake anyday".
Me too!
I think that is what it's going to be from now on. A "Flying Pizza" flown in fresh from NY. I have issues with their toppings, but the crust is good.

This iteration was a failure, but not so much so as the last. I think this time I didn't have enough VWG, as the crust was that "unstretchable", fragile type that you get with Carbalose. I was unable to use the pizza peel as it would have fallen apart. However, it was less rubbery. So, for the first one I used a thin aluminum cookie sheet and put that on the stone. It stuck, but not too bad. I put the second one on the same cookie sheet, lightly oiled, and that was better.
Both crusts did not cook thoroughly before the toppings were done, and both had a 'slightly' rubbery texture, and no crisp, though NOT as bad as the first.
Next time I will use an average VWG to Carbalose ratio derived from the first and last recipe. Maybe skip the WPI 8000.

One thing I have learned is that Carbalose burns big time on a pizza stone!


Magnamater, I am going to try Linda Sue's deep dish.

Scott123, I can't thank you enough. If you ever get the time, please fool around with making a crust and report back. I sure do wish I had your oven set up! Well, before you took it apart, that is.

I do wonder if this is worth persuing. I would like to continue the quest, in the name of PIZZA, but suspect that even the worlds most perfect low carb pizza crust can never be the same as a real NY crust.

[SugarBabi]

I think it is worth pursuing if only so you can have a great pizza that is low carb. I have tried several pizza crust recipes that are low carb and I'm no kind of baker, but all of them have flopped. I haven't given up, but I haven't attempted any lately. I know I'll try again and I hope you do too. There just has to be a way....

[jd]

Hi, I was just wondering if Scott123 found the ultimate pizza dough recipe. That would be great. I live overseas and am worried about losing ANY of my special ingredients from home....
tc
Lynn

[LESSOFME]

I fix this pizza all the time. Wonderful!!!


http://www.lowcarbfriends.com/recipe...cat/all/page/1

[hirezmary]

I wish Dreamfields would come out with pizza crusts, breads, or even a flour product. I'm kind of surprised they havent since their pastas are so good. Of course, I dont know if the flour they developed for their pastas would work with yeast and such, but wouldnt it be wonderful if it did?

[jd]

I agree! Thanks for the thread!

[SugarBabi]

Thanks for the link. All the reviews were positive, so it's worth a try to me.

[scott123]

Okay, as I sit here, I have just finished consuming two 9" pizzas. These 2 crusts were from 4 different batches of dough, each tweaked a little bit for purposes of trial and error/experimentation. How was it? Eh... better than any frozen pizza I've ever had, but nothing like the real thing.

No matter what amounts of carbalose/vital wheat gluten and water I use, I just can't seem to be able to get a crust that I can stretch. The vital wheat gluten, when it hits water, absorbs it, attaches to it's neighbor and forms a sponge. As you stir the dough, the gluten, rather than stretching/getting gluey, tears. Each knead, each stir- tearing. This is not happy dough.

The first pizza I made was a 5/6 carbalose 1/6 vital wheat gluten blend. This had just about zero stretchability (extensibility). The second was about 60% carbalose 10% resistant corn starch and 30% vital wheat gluten. I have to admit that the resistant starch helped. I was able to form it into a crust. It had just about zero oven spring, though.

All of the doughs took an unbelieveable amount of coddling to prevent them from tearing.

Part of my experimentation today involved seeing what happens when pure vital wheat gluten is mixed with water. It takes a few minutes, but it does eventually get sticky/gluey. Not too terribly stretchable, though.

I have two more doughs left in the fridge. One is pretty close in specs to the other two, but the last dough is higher in gluten, maybe 60% carbalose 40% vital wheat gluten. It wasn't handling that well when I checked up on it a few hours ago, but I'll be curious to see what it can do tomorrow.

I'm not sure a cool rise is the way to go with lc dough. The heat may help the gluten stretch further/be more manageable. I'm not sure.

I think the answer might involve some additional ingredients:

1. I took the resistant corn starch idea from Jena Maries blend. The resistant starch is pretty carby (30% carbs) so I can't use a ton of it, but I think I'll keep using it in small amounts. The resistant starch dough was the closest one in feeling/manageability to the real thing.

2. Xanthan gum is known to help chemically leavened baked goods get more height, maybe it works for yeast stuff too. I might play around with it.

3. Citric acid is supposed to help gluten become more workable. Due to the lack of extensibility of the vital wheat gluten, some form of dough conditioner might be worth looking into.

4. WPI 5000, which I believe is the same type of WPI Trish used to sell, has been chemically altered/reacts slightly differently than the 8000. I don't know if this is a good or a bad thing- we shall see.

I'm please that both the pizzas were edible, but at the same time... I'm not sure a real NY style crust is truly feasible. I don't think I'd necesarily look forward to the quality of pizzas I made today, but I think with one more generation, they'll be good. Maybe eventually they'll be great. As far as producing something superb, I don't know.

[scott123]

Originally Posted by CreekWatcher

Scott 123, you asked Low Carb Convert if his dough had doubled when proofed, but how could it rise in the fridge? I've heard of using special refridgerators set to higher than normal temps to slow rise sourdoughs, but that's over a period of days.

BOY am I glad that the Prince of Polydextrose is on this! Who knows--maybe we'll end up with not only pizza crust but other kinds of yeast breads made successfully with the (otherwise) wonderful Carbalose flour. I wait eagerly (but patiently) to hear about the results of your (and Low Carb Convert's) experiments. And thanks so much for all your work with low carb substitutes. I know that if you should ever claim to have cracked the NY crust code, it WILL be the real thing.

Thanks for your very kind words. The prince of polyd, huh? You're making me blush

Regarding the doubling question- up until my suggestion, Karen was proofing her dough at warm temps. Which after my experiment today, I might do as well. Besides possibly making the gluten more extensible, a warm rise will be helpful in determining the strength/freshness of my yeast.

[Tater Head]

The best pizza crust could be using the recipe that over50mom? posted with pictures included. Here is what she said, I only have the picture of these buns, not the recipe anymore. Darn and I'm not even sure it's her who came up with this yummy bun recipe.

Deb...

BURGER BUN SUCCESS!!!!!
results of my burger buns made with Country White carb sense Bread Mix. I made half of the box, adding one half cup CarbQuik, one quarter cup WPI, and two tablespoons olive oil.

[jd]

Keep it up you guys, I'm watching and reading it all!! Very exciting!!! I tried two days ago to make pizza dough. Used 1 cup Carbolouse, 1/4 VWG and 1/8 WPI 500, 3 tb spoons of olive oil, yeast, splenda, water. I used my bread machine to knead it. No way am I getting my hands on that mess. I added water until it looked good and let the machince go for it. It looked pretty good after 1 1/2 hours in a warm machine.
Well, then I used a rolling pin and kept rolling it out. It seems to help by stretching it with both of my hands in the air, where I use my finger tips on the edges (while it is about the level of my head) and keep moving around the dough. IT also seemed to help by just leaving it alone for a few minutes and let it "rest" too. Adventually it was as big as any pizza dough (but thin), which was ok. I brushed it with olive oil (to avoid soggy crust). cooked it on 425 for 12 minutes (of course loaded with peperoni, cheese and olives). It was good, not great, but it was better than the other ones I have tried. Waiting for Scott123's results!!!!

tc
Lynn

[LowCarbConvert]

This thread is getting better and better! Thank you all for the inspiration and motivation to keep it going. Scott123, I should have done half cold-rise, and half warm-rise. I admire your logic in making several different experimental doughs at the same time.
Gotta keep it going. After all, it's only time, money, and love, right? Hopefully the end product will be healthy and delicious.