Different Types Of Pizza Dough

Pizza has been around for a long time and everyone around the world has come up with its variations. Its flavor varies with its toppings, and there are also different types of pizza dough.

Pizza is believed to have been food for peasants in the past. It was invented around the 1800s and was looked down upon by most people because of its basic ingredients.

But over the years, pizza has become increasingly known. It is as if its fate has completely changed, and it is now one of the most popular dishes worldwide.

Now, pizza dough changes might not be as popular as changes in toppings, sauce, and cheese, but they are worth considering because pizza dough is the backbone of a pizza.

So here are the different types of dough that you can make the next time you make pizza at home for dinner.
 

1. Neapolitan-style Dough

The Neapolitan-style dough is probably an Itlian style  dough that pizza places produce.

The Neapolitan-style dough is like the base of all pizza doughs. It is a simple recipe, but the process of creating it can be complicated.

We say this because the ingredients used in this kind of dough are pretty simple. The key to making this dough is the type of flour used and its hydration.

To achieve the thin and crispy yet chewy Neapolitan crust on a pizza, you will need high temperatures to cook the pizza and achieve the leopard spots.

To make a Neapolitan-style dough, you need only all-purpose flour, salt, instant yeast, and water.

A Neapolitan-style dough should be stretchy and thin,, no more than one-third of a centimeter thick in the center, so that it will rise quickly when cooked with some char.

Check out my Neapolitan Pizza Dough Recipe

You also need to ferment the pizza dough for a long time. Nowadays, you can use refrigerators to cold ferment a Neapolitan dough for up to four days.

The long fermentation process will give the pizza dough a lot of flavors and a great texture.

2. New York-style Pizza Dough

New York style pizza dough is one of the most popular pizza doughs on the planet

New York Pizza is often sold on a plate with a big slice instead of a whole pizza.

It is notorious for being so thin that the crust bends in the middle and it holds up on the edges. The best part you can easily recreate this in a home oven(with or without pizza stone).

This style of pizza is standard in cartoons and advertisements. You will see how they lift the slice of pizza with some cheese being pulled and the pointed side of the slice droops down.

The ingredients used in a New York-style dough are different from those used in a Neapolitan-style dough.

They have the same ingredients, but they add sugar and olive oil. Does that make a difference?

Yes. Oil and sugar really make the crust crispy yet chewy, whereas Neapolitan pizza dough is more chewy.

These additional ingredients give the dough a distinct flavor. You will find some variations on the ingredients used in different parts of the Northern U.S.

This kind of dough is cooked at a slightly lower temperature, often with gas ovens and occasionally charcoal-fired ovens. This is when people started using machines to help create the dough.

Check out my easy NY Style Pizza Dough Recipe

Apparently, some say the water also matters when making a New York-style pizza.

The minerals in New York water combine with the gluten and give the dough its unique flavor.That is why some pizzerias outside the state import water from New York to create authentic New York-style dough.

3. Sicilian-style Dough

The Sicilian-style dough is another kind of dough that can be made quickly with the help of machines. It also has different contents than most pizza doughs that make it unique.

This pizza dough is known for its shape and thickness. It is often made with a stand mixer and a well-oiled sheet tray so you do not have to stretch it or roll it in shape.

The Sicilian-style dough also varies depending on the state that you are in. For example, the Sicilian pizza in New York is very thick and is enriched with garlic flavor and tomato sauce.

In other states, the Sicilian-style pizza can be served with a thinner and chewy texture. Despite these differences, the ingredients that are used are all the same.
 
The same ingredients are used when making a New York-style dough and a Sicilian-style dough. This type of dough can be made with the cheapest ingredients that you can find.

The process of cooking the perfect crust from a Sicilian-style dough is to fry it, hence, the olive oil on the baking sheet. It also needs to rise and shape by itself.

Check out my Sicilian Pizza Dough Recipe

So although the ingredients are the same when making a New York-style dough and a Sicilian-style dough, the Sicilian contains a lot more water for airy pockets in the dough to make it follow the shape of the baking sheet.

You need to prove it twice if you want to get the dough in the shape of the pan.

4. Deep Dish Dough

The most common style of pizza in Chicago is the deep-dish pizza, which is made of a strong dough that can withstand the massive amount of toppings or stuffings that are added to it

The deep-dish dough has a ledge on the side that allows it to contain layers of toppings. The arrangement of the toppings, cheese, and sauce is also different on a deep-dish pizza.

This recipe uses common ingredients for the dough, which is placed in an oiled deep-dish pan like it is meant for a pie.

So imagine a pie without the top layer of dough

Since the dough needs to be firm for the generous toppings, the proper way to cook a deep-dish dough is to oil the pan so that the dough fries and becomes firm when baked.

 

This dough often includes cornmeal or semolina to give it a more yellowish color. The cornmeal and semolina also enhance the texture and the flavor of the dough.

 

5. St. Louis Pizza Dough

This might not be the most popular pizza dough but it is actually common and most people do not realize that they are eating one unless they are truly obsessed with the history of pizza.

The St. Louis Pizza Dough can be distinguished by the way that it is served. This pizza dough is very thin and is also sliced into squares or rectangles instead of the common triangular slice.

This crust is commonly topped with vegetables and other light toppings because of the very thin crust. It is a very crispy crust that is sometimes dubbed as the crackers of pizza.

The very crispy crust that this dough makes is also perfect for dips. So when you top it with vegetables, you can also drizzle some sauce over it like ranch or mustard for more flavor.

It is made with a lot of yeast so the gluten is really activated. This allows the dough to be stretched into a super-thin dough without it breaking or ripping apart.

This pizza dough was popularized in the Midwest and has traveled all over the world. This is the pizza that is common for parties and other activities where you just want something to chow down on.

 

6. Flatbread Pizza Dough

Flatbread pizza dough is one of the most controversial pizzas because it is made with a unique combination of ingredients and rising techniques.

This type of dough does not necessarily use yeast. It is made from a mixture of flour, water, yeast, and yogurt.

This is an easy pizza base because making a flatbread is relatively easier than making other yeast-based recipes. Yeast-based recipes require a bit more care and some time to proof.

This dough needs no more than 30-60 minutes to rest before you can start making the flatbread.
You get an extremely soft and airy flatbread once you are done cooking

 

 

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