Punch down dough and scrape it off the bowl. Cut dough in 2 equal parts and shape each into a ball. Roll each ball in bread flour and place each ball into a gallon-size plastic bag. Seal the bag, leaving plenty of room for the dough to expand, and refrigerate for a minimum of 3 and a maximum of 36 hours, until ready to make your pizzas. I do not use a kitchenAid mixer to make the dough. I make it all by hand. That makes a big difference and it will affect the texture of your dough.

To use instant yeast in place of active dry, skip the step of dissolving the yeast in liquid and add it directly to your dough. You should add the water or other liquid that was meant for activating to your liquid ingredients, so you’re retaining the same total amount of liquid. What is the difference of active dry yeast and instant yeast? How to proof active dry yeast In a small bowl, add the amount of liquid your recipe calls for. Add in one teaspoon of sugar and stir. Add more if your recipe calls for it. Sprinkle the yeast over top of the liquid and allow the mixture to sit for five to ten minutes. How do you bake with dry yeast?Caputo criscito is a type of dried yeast flour and is an easy way to make pizza dough and breads with sourdough flavour. Similar to a ‘dormant’ sourdough mother, this dried yeast flour will give you the flavour and open texture of a sourdough, without the need for a starter.

Pour ½ cup of the water into a large bowl and stir in the yeast. Allow it to stand for 10 minutes, then stir in remaining water. Have two sheets of lightly oiled parchment paper ready and place 1 sheet on each of two baking sheets. Lift the dough halves with a bench knife and drop in the center of each sheet of parchment paper. Lightly brush the tops of each half with olive oil. Making the perfect pizza dough is most certainly a creative act, and for me it has been an obsession. I have experimented for years with different ways of making pizza dough: different flours, yeasts, resting time, kneading techniques, no-knead dough… A few months ago, I decided that I wanted to publish a pizza dough that was easy to make and would yield the results you might expect from a top pizzeria. So I rolled up my sleeves, read as much as I could on the chemistry of yeast and flour, and made dough – lots of dough.

INGREDIENTS

Naples-based Caputo has been grinding wheat in their mill to make fantastic flour since 1924. The Caputo method includes selecting the best wheat from across Umbria, Marche and other Italian regions and slowly grinding to preserve the starch and protein content. Caputo is also part of the first soft wheat supply chain in Italy, working exclusively with Italian farms to increase the traceability and quality of the raw materials - from sowing to harvest, the process is 100% made in Italy. My advice is for you to follow the recipe exactly as I have written it and make your dough as shown in the video (by hand). If you do this, you will understand all the steps better. It will take making this recipe a few times before you feel comfortable making this dough. It is not easy, but with time it will become more natural. The main benefit of dried yeast is that it has a much longer shelf life. Caputo Lievito can be stored for up to 24 months (2 years), according to Caputo. Dried yeast also requires less space, since all moisture is removed from the yeast. And you only need 1/3 of the amount (by weight) compared to fresh yeast. This means that a 100g (3.5oz) container of Caputo Lievito should bake around 1000 Neapolitan pizzas! Instant dry yeast (IDY), possibly the most widely used type of yeast in pizza dough, has a shelf life of one to two years at room-temperature storage conditions (65° to 80°F) when unopened. What yeast is best for pizza dough?

I bulk fermented (first rise) the pizza dough for 4 hours at room temperature. The rise was consistent throughout the whole 4 hours. The amount of active dry yeast listed works for this recipe, although I use US brands such as Fleischmann’s or Red Star. I have not used Caputo’s dry yeast. Use a baking stone or baking steel. Preheat oven for an hour at the maximum temperature prior making pizzas.Fresh yeast is favored by seasoned bakers as it is considered to provide a richer, slightly sweeter flavor with a better “rising” quality than its dried counterparts. While it might look intimidating, fresh yeast is easy to use once you get the hang of it. What happens if too much yeast in pizza dough? Bake at 450 degrees until the edges are deep brown. The center will be softer than the edges. Cut the pizza with pizza scissors. Even if your yeast has largely died, if you have some live yeast you can still make bread, although you might need more yeast and more time. I stretch my sourdough out to a three day rise to get a certain type of flavour. Reactivate this dried yeast flour by incorporating it with your flour, along with a separate, fresh yeast. Caputo recommends using 20-50g of Criscito dried yeast for every kilo of normal flour. It will give you a lovely stretchy dough, with a great open texture.