In the Pizza variations, one of the recipes calls for pesto; what is your recommended pesto recipe? Other than basil, please provide an arugula pesto, and other suggestions as well. Thanks.

You use grams and milliliters, then you use cups in the recipe. Can you please use a consistent measuring system and not switch? Also, providing the recipe in metric units and also in the American units would be very nice---for all recipes. Do you know how hard it is to find a measuring cup in milliliters in the states? Right now I have to print out the recipe and then do all the conversions and write them down by hand on the printed recipe. I guess I also have to buy a scale so I can do the weight measurements...is it possible to measure the flour by volume instead weight?

Keep up the good work and fantastic cooking school! I realize it's more about cooking than recipes, but this dual measuring system is a real problem.

Just wanted to let you know that this recipe is coming. You can buy great pesto pre made at most local markets. But we will post our recipe for you in the next couple of weeks. Sorry for the confusion. Joe

Very high heat is they key for wood fired style pizza. Since most ovens don't go higher than 500 your pretty much stuck with that. Ultimately targeting 700-900 degrees works well. A 3 min cook time is usually pretty good. Some folks have had luck with the Big Green Egg BBQ as an effective poor mans woodfired oven.

I found when your making multiple pizzas your stone will cool down quite a bit from your original preheat. After making about 3 pizza's on a stone I would recommend adding a 5-10-min cycle of it heating up again without anything on it.

I like the bubbles and slight char on the edges.

Personally not a fan of Cornmeal, the recipe works great without it.

Also on the Tomato side of things, I really like the San Marzano Valley or Cento brand of Italian Tomatoes

Buffala or Smoked Mozzarella is also a nice addition.

Thanks for the Stretching and Storage ideas. :)

We have updated this recipe to include Imperial measurements. It is recommended, however, to use a scale whenever you are making dough or pastry. It is better to weigh flour, rather than to measure it by volume. If you pack the flour into the measuring cup, you may use way more than the recipe calls for, and you'll alter the formula in the recipe. Even the humidity in the environment can affect whether or not the flour will be lighter or heavier.

A scale, preferably digital, will give you precise measurements and will help to ensure a successful recipe. Great baking is all about having the correct formula, so the more accurate you can be, the more consistent your result will be.

We are busy working on launching the cooking school, but a conversion tool will soon be added - we promise! Happy baking!

By the way it is also quite hard to find measuring cups that measure, ah, cups in Europe :) But I managed. I second the metric / imperial proposal. Ideally I could switch it in my settings, at least for the printed recipe.

I wonder how one could handle measuring by weight vs by volume, though.

Generally, liquids should be measured by volume and solids should be measured by weight. Here's a link describing the many reasons why one would invest in a kitchen scale: http://www.cookingforengineers.com/article/82/Kitchen-Scales

I'm just curious, but I was surprised that the use of a stand mixer wasn't addressed in making the dough. Are there reasons when to use one and when not to use one? It sure seems like it'd save quite a bit of time, but perhaps there is the danger of over-mixing the dough. Hmm... I just don't know... but that's why I'm here. :)

What about using a food processor with a dough blade to make the pizza dough. Any suggestions?

"Generally, liquids should be measured by volume and solids should be measured by weight."

I agree, but many North American recipes (including this pizza dough recipe) measure flour by volume.

We had published the flour by weigth but had a number of user comments today asking us to indicate both "by weight" and "by volume", so we adjusted the recipe as requested. Now you will find both measurements. Although we strongly recommend the use of a scale as Kimberley suggested above.

Thanks Joe!

As a Canadian (living half time in New Zealand) who completely supports our metric system of measurement, I also would like to see a bit more consistency in the volume and temperature measurements of your recipes. I realize that the poor Americans are the last country in the world to let go of the antiquated Imperial system, but we must do our best to help enlighten them.

Otherwise, I love Rouxbe!

Metric Marilyn

Thanks Rouxbe for changing the measurements. Also, thanks for the info on the use of a scale; I now have one on order.

Oh, and I just wanted to add that as an American, I became enlightened about the metric system when I was a teenager. Clearly it IS the better system, but why we don't use it, I have no idea. Perhaps tonight I'll go to McDonalds and get myself a quarter-pounder to pay homage to our antiquated ways.

You can certainly use a stand mixer with a dough hook or a food processor to mix the dough. However, if you haven’t worked with a lot of dough, it’s great to get your hands dirty and do it by hand. This way, you’ll learn how the dough feels during each of the stages it goes through. You’ll also begin to understand how gluten develops in the dough, and how it becomes smooth and elastic. Once you’ve done it by hand a few times and know what it should look and feel like, you could, if you really wanted to, move on to a mixer.

Using a stand mixer, in my opinion, doesn’t save you that much time. Either way, the dough needs to be kneaded well – the mixer will just save you energy. If you do choose to use a mixer for the dough, put it at a setting that would match the speed of you kneading it by hand. Faster isn’t always better. It’s difficult to over knead dough by hand, but in a mixer, it may start to become wet again if really overworked.

Just try making it by hand. It’s quite therapeutic and satisfying!

Would it work to use all purpose flour instead of semolina flour and bread flour?
Would this work ok?

It's absolutely fine to substitute the entire amount of bread flour and semolina flour with all-purpose flour. You'll still get fantastic results.

I've been making pizza dough w/ semolina for years. Although I've never used bread flour (BTW, what is bread flour?) but I've used all-purpose and unbleached.
I find the unbleached gives the dough a softer texture once cooked. If anything, try it with the semolina, its easy to find and makes a much tastier crust!

Would whole wheat bread flour and all-purpose flour work? Here in the UK, semolina flour does not seem to be readily available but I have found whole wheat bread flour. How would it be using this? I'm assuming slightly healthier!

Bread flour contains higher protein content than all-purpose flour and is preferred by some when making yeast breads. The higher the protein content in flour, the more gluten can be developed when kneading, which is what gives strength and chewy textures to dough. All-purpose flour works just fine.

A combination of whole-wheat bread flour and all-purpose flour will work in this recipe. However, when substituting whole-wheat flour in place of white flour, it can result in a heavier and denser texture. The total amount of flour used in this recipe is 500 grams. Start by trying 200 grams of whole wheat flour and 300 grams of all-purpose flour and see how you like it. Bump it up to 250 grams of each, but don’t use any more whole-wheat flour than that. The texture just won't be the same.

(Just fyi…You can find the protein content of flour in the nutritional section on the package. Bread flour is often around 13.5% protein content (great for breads), while all-purpose flours range between 9-11% (a good general flour for most baking). This is why bakers often use cake flour when making lighter products. Cake flour contains around 8.5% protein content and is a good choice when you want the end result to have a delicate texture.)

I have tried numerous dough recipe's and this one is now my favorite! I bought a digital scale and have to admit that it turned out exceptional! So it made me a believer of using a scale and will continute in the future. Thank you so much for the perfect dough recipe!

I tried a different recipe with cake flour on the weekend (after meaning to buy bread and grabbed the wrong pkge) and my dough is still sitting there looking flat and pathetic. I'm steering clear and going right to bread and/or semolina.
Thanks for the many comments on flour, I'm trying it again and this time, counting on Rouxbe to get me the great results.

I don't have a pizza stone but have a large heavy duty non stick pizza pan with lots of holes in it so the crust can brown. I made one large pizza and made half with the prosciutto recipe and the other side with the pesto, caramalized onion and bocconcini (instead of the goat cheese). It was delicious - 2 of us ate the whole pizza for lunch! The dough was extremely easy to work with and I weighed the ingredients as suggested. I found that my half cup measurement had to be really pressed down several times to weigh 100 grams of semolina. I have made pizza dough before using my bread machine but this dough was 100% better and so easy to stretch. Delicious!

I made pizza last night for dinner. This dough was so easy to make. We stretched the dough quite thin and kept it simple - crushed tomatoes, fresh basil and bocconcini cheese. The crust was incredible. Won't be going out for pizza any time soon.

I found this great video of a guy working at a pizzaria on a Friday night. He's amazing at it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTCCynybQc4. I just to love watching the guys throw pizzas at the Colonnade in Ottawa when I was a kid.