"krimmie" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> What does it mean if the dough seems a little lumpy or heavy after
> > the first kneading? It's not silky smooth that's for sure. What effect
> > does to much or to little water have? Thank for the help.
>
> If it's lumpy, you are not kneading it enough. You need to knead for 10
> minutes until it gets smooth and elastic. Are you dissolving the yeast
> in warm water first? My recipe also calls for 2 Tbspoons of olive oil.

My recipe (such as it is - lately, I tend to use more of a
"start dumping stuff in and go," with the exception of
measuring out the flour) is almost identical, but for what it's
worth I thought I'd share my take on the assembly procedu

1. Put all the dry ingredients into the bowl of the KitchenAid,
which is fitted with a dough hook. Sometimes, for a little different
flavor, I'll drizzle in some honey instead of adding sugar. I also
like some herbs in the crust, so I add oregano and/or some
prepared Italian seasoning mix.

2. The yeast is given a chance to get started in a bowl of warm-to
-the-touch (but not hot) water, perhaps 1/4 - 1/3 cup; I might
drizzle a little honey in there too, if I feel like it, just to give the
little critters something to snack on before they get dumped into the
flour mix...:-)

3. I add the rest of the water, probably up to a cup or so (also
warm) while the mixer is churning up the dough. Rather than
dumping the water in all at once, I add maybe half of it right
up front, and then add the rest while watching the consistency
of the dough. What you want is for the flour to come together
into a nice smooth mass which, as the mixer keeps turning on
low speed, "climbs" the dough hook and wraps itself into a nice
ball of dough all by itself, and it's sticky enough that it pulls the
remaining little bits off the side of the bowl. Give the mixer a
few minutes on low speed to do its thing.

4. Take the dough off the hook, and wipe out the bowl. You
can knead it a bit at this point, but no need to do it too much
yet. Drizze a bit of olive oil into the bowl, shape the dough into
a ball, and put it back into the bowl and turn to coat. Then cover
the bowl with a moistened cloth and let it sit for an hour while
the dough goes through the first rise.

5. Punch the now enormous-looking dough ball down (you don't
really need to get violent here - it'll collapse pretty easily) and
remove it from the bowl. On a floured surface, knead it well,
for a good five minutes. If you want to go ten, knock yourself
out, but five seems to be OK for me (again, the important thing
is the consistency, not that you spend exactly XX seconds
kneading the silly thing). I will generally divide the dough into
two pieces, shape each into a ball, and place each into a
Ziploc bag or some such (having first sprayed some Pam or
drizzled some more olive oil into the bag), then seal 'em up and
place them in the fridge for a second rise. You need to allow at
least another hour for this, but you can also get this step done
2-3 hours before you're actually going to make the pizzas.

6. Take the again-risen dough balls out of the bags, and
stretch/toss/roll to the desired size/thickness for the pizzas.
Once they're the size I want, I put 'em on a peel (with a bit
of corn meal sprinkled on first), add a bit more olive oil to the
top, and then add my sauce/toppings/cheese. I bake on a
stone in a 475 deg. oven, for 8-10 minutes (checking to make
sure I'm not getting any big bubbles - which can be punctured
with a fork if need be - and that the crust or cheese isn't getting
too brown.

Bob M.
> Here's my recipe:
> 1 package yeast dissolved in 1 1/3 cups warm water.
> 3 1/2-3 3/4 cups flour
> 2 tablespoons olive oil
> 1/2 tablespoon salt
> 1 tablespoon sugar
>
> I mix the batch with only 3 1/4 cups of flour, then add the rest as I
> am kneading.
>