Tag: pizza dough recipe

A common theme that I talk about the connection between bread and the lessons life teaches us. Bread can be traced back to ancient times and it is recorded in Torah, see for example Numbers 15:19 -21. I will talk more about the Biblical connection when I do my live stream on Challah bread making 27 March 2025.

Moving on, talking about bread it is importnat to remember bread is universal. Meaning it sustains human life and sustains human civilization. Without bread, life as we know it would be alot different. Bread too, before it is baked, is a live. Yeast, feeds off of the sugar in the flour and in the dough mixture resulting in the production of carbon dioxide, CO2. The how much and how quickly the yeast produces CO2, depends on several factors like the quantity of salt in the dough mixture, the temperature of the room, temperature of the water, the amount of water, and the type of flour to name a few. These environmental factors along with other causes the bread to rise and the rising influences both taste and texture. In many ways making bread is analogous to life. It is the ingredients along with environmental factors that influence development. Sometimes, the interaction between environment and ingredients lead to unexpected results.

When I did my first pizza dough and pizza live stream, it did not turn out exactly as planned. From that experience, 2 weeks later showing resilience I once again made the dough and pizza. I did it to show, even with careful planning, much as you plan yeast breads do not always go as planned. In this situation, factors outside of my control and inaccurate measuring led to some unexpected results. Using what I learnt from my first experience, I was able to over come it.

I took that experience and started my next journey, sourdough. On 26 January 2025, I made sourdough bread. This journey was a bit different. I made a sourdough starter and it took longer than I expected to grow. I feel the reason for not growing as quick as I expected is due to the kitchen being on the cooler side, like between 68 and 72 degrees farenheit. As I stated in my video I had reservations about the float test but I did the float test. My starter floated and so, I believed, it was ready. When I baked it, the bread came out hard and did not rise as expected.

I believe there are probably three reasons for this. First, even though my starter floated, I don’t believe it was ready. Second, I used a bit of flour because the dough was extremely sticky and this may have made it more dense. I still debate this because, the dough did not feel, to me, as though too much flour was added. Instead, I come back to the starter and wonder if it did not rise as much as I thought it did. Third, the dutch oven I used was quite large and when I formed the dough it was much smaller.

Out of the three reasons, I feel there were issues with the dough rising and rising issues come back to the starter. During my live feed in just over a week, on sourdough English muffins, I have created a new starter using a different approach.

From my sourdough experience, the life lesson I learnt was patience. Sourdough takes time to grow and to make. Also, from this experience another lesson I would say prepare for the unexpected. In this experience, I thought everthing would go as planned, even though I had some initial concerns. However, after I took out the finished product, it was not what I was expecting.

So, from my two dough experiences, I have learnt patience and resilence.

When you make your own dough, what do you learn?

Introduction

On 3 January 2025, I did make my first attempt at taco pizza; however lack of ingredients and the weather made it impossible to get the ingredients in time. So, I perserved and did not let a set back deter me.

So, if you are one of the approximately 325,000 American expats living in the United Kingdom you know that it is nearly impossible to find an authentic taco and if you love taco pizza then you know it is almost impossible to find. Look no further, I will walk you through how to make your own taco pizza that I demonstrated during my live stream on Facebook on 19 January 2025.

Pizza Dough

If you are truly looking for homemade pizza experience then you will need to make your own pizza dough and if you click this these links, this will take you to a recipe for an east to make homemade pizza dough and the other will take you to Be Berry Informed Facebook page where you can watch a video on making your own homemade pizza dough.

When making homemade pizza dough the trick is not to rush it and let it rise, at least overnigh in the refrigerator.

Taco Pizza Recipe

You will need:

240g – 400g of mince (I prefer less since it minimises the risk that that dough will go soggy)

1 large white onion or 2 medium white onions minced

1 head of iceberg lettuce thinly cut.

1 – 2 packages of Tesco’s Taco Seasoning – A Taste of Mexico

1 400g can Mutti Flavoured Pizza Sauce Aromatica

240g Shredded Mild Cheddar Cheese

2 Large Fresh Vine Rippen Tomatoes chopped

1 – 240 g package of mozarella cheese

1 small glass of water

Pre-heat your oven to 400 degrees Farenheit or 200 degrees Celcius.

How to Prepare Your Taco Pizza

Getting the dough ready

Before doing anything take out your bread dough and let warm up to room temperature, allow about an hour. After it has warmed to room temperature, push the dough down and let it rise to double its size. Depending on room temperature, this will be approximately 1 – 2 hours.

For a crispier crust, I recommend doing your prep work while the dough is doubling in size but if you desire a more thicker crust then, I recommend letting the dough double in size. Once it has doubled in size spinkle a bit of flough on your counter, take some dough and roll it out to the size of your pizza pan. The dough should be about 1/4″ – no more than 1/2″ thick. Place the dough in the pan, cover it, and let it rise as you do your prep.

Doing your preparation work

Taco pizza needs to be in two stages.

Stage 1: Making the foundation

In the first stage you need to cook your mince on medium heat until brown. Once it has browned you will need to drain the fat. Depending on how seasonsed you like your tacos, add 1/2 – 1 package of Tesco’s Taco Season – A taste of Mexico taco seasoning to the mince and add a bit of water to the pan. You can use any taco seasoning but I find Tesco’s taco seasoning is the closest I have found to the authentic taste.

Mix together and reduce heat to low and cook until the water has evaporated. As the water evaporates the mince and seasoning begin to make a thick sauce. This will take about 5 – 10 minutes. Once the meat has cooked to the desired consistancy remove the pan from the heat and if you prefer transfer the taco beef to a bowl.

If you are opting for a thinner crust, take some dough and roll it out to about 1/4″ thickness. Place the dough into the pizza pan and shape to it.

Take a fork and pierce the dough in several places. This will keep the dough from contracting too much while cooking and help prevent large bubbles from forming. After piercing the dough, pre-cook the dough into the over for about 3 – 5 minutes.

While the dough is pre-cooking, pour out about 1/4 – 1/2 of the pizza sauce can into a bowl and the remaining taco sauce to it. As you add the seasoning to the sauce, ensure the seasoning mixes well.

The pizza pan will be hot. Take out the dough from the oven wearing oven mits and let it cool down for a few minutes.

After letting it cool, add the pizza sauce and spread around the pan. Now add the seasoned mince and about 1/4 – 1/2 of the oninon you have chopped. Sprinkle the top of the pizza with Mozeralla cheese and let it cook until the cheese browns. Depending on your oven, this will be around 10 – 20 minutes.

Stage 2: Creating the Taco Experience

If find, due to amount of toppings on a taco pizza that it works best to cut the pizza first. After cutting the pizza sprinkle the top with lettuce, onions, cheddar cheese, and top with tomatoes. If you like sour cream you can add sour cream.

Enjoy.

(c) copyright 2025 Be Berry Informed all rights reserved.

Hi all and thank you for stopping by to learn how to make a simple pizza dough in less than 10 minutes.

In this article I will present to you the recipe I used during my live feed and you can check out my analysis of my results from making the dough.

When you make this recipe it is important to remember a few points:

1. The temperature of your water is paramount. Too cold and the yeast will not rise and too hot it will kill the yeast. Water temperature should be around 100 degrees Fahrenheit or about 40 degrees Celsius. If you are like me and go by feel, 100 degrees Fahrenheit is about the same temperature as you would heat a baby’s bottle.
2. Balance between flour and water is dependent on many factors like type of flour, temperature of your room, temperature of the water, how you are measuring your flour, and other factors. Your dough should feel smooth but slightly sticky to the touch.
3. Don’t cut back on salt or sugar in the recipe since this will throw off your results.
4. If you let your dough to rise in the refrigerator for at least overnight and up to the 72 hours it will produce a more evenly rising dough without the large air holes and it creates, if left in for at least 48 hours, a very subtle taste.
5. Do not use fast rising yeast since this will not produce the results you need.
6. Do not use self rising bread flour since you are using yeast and self rising will cause the dough to over rise. Instead use either regular bread flour or preferably 00 bread flour, which is more conducive to pizza.
7. This recipe is not suitable for bread machines.

Ingredients

4 1/2 cups of flour ( I use il Molino Chiavazza NA 00) this is a flour designed for pizzas and produces a very nice crust

1 1/2 Tablespoon of white granulated sugar

1 Tablespoon of fine Kosher salt

2 teaspoons of yeast or 1 packet of yeast

3 Tablespoons of oil (olive oil is preferred. however, you can substitute vegetable oil or if no other oil is available sunflower)

1 3/4 cups of warm water

1 large bowl

Aluminium foil or a towel.

Directions

Combine the dry ingredients (flour, salt, sugar, and yeast) into a mixing bowl. Using a mixer set to pulse or if using a hand mixer, briefly mix the dry ingredients together.

Next add the water and olive oil to the mixture and mix until a soft ball forms. The ball will be a bit sticky, don’t worry about how sticky it is.

If you are using a stand mixer then switch to using a dough hook and if you are using a hand mixer then it is best to hand knead the dough. If you are hand kneading the dust your counter with a bit of flour and knead for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth

However, if you are using a stand mixer with a dough hook, switch the mixer to a low speed setting and let it mix for about 2 minutes. Scrape the sides and work any dry ingredients into the ball and mix again for at least another 2 – 3 minutes on low speed setting. Check your dough. If dough is feeling sticky add 1 – 2 tablespoon of flour but if it is feeling stiff then add a little water, like a teaspoon or two, to soften it up. Run the mixer again for about 3 minutes, check again and making any fine adjustments. If the dough is not kneading and it feels as though it needs more kneading then increase the speed of your mixer to no higher than medium. After about 10 minutes, you should get a dough that is smooth, springy (elastic), and have subtle (slightly sticky touch to it).

Now, take a little bit of the oil and coat the inside of the bowl with the oil. Place the dough in it and in swipe the dough around the bowl to ensure all sides of the dough is covered in the oil. Cover the bowl with the dough in it using aluminium foil. You can coat the inside of the foil with oil, this will keep the dough from sticking to it. Finally place the bowl into the refrigerator and let the dough rise, at least overnight and up to three (3) days.

Cost

The cost to make this is minimal and the most of the ingredients you should already have in your home. If you are to buy 00 bread flour, I believe the 5 kg package I showed in the live stream was £9.99 on Amazon.co.uk. Otherwise, regular bread flour will cost you between £1 – £3 (depending on brand and weight).

Time to make

This is a fairly quick recipe to make since there is no activating the yeast, which can take 10 minutes to do. From doing the preparation to placing the dough in the refrigerator, total time should be under 20 minutes and depending on several factors (e.g. room temperature, water temperature, and your location), to actually make the dough may be less than 10 minutes.

Be Berry Informed is about for lack of a better word, lifestyle and more importantly, it is about how to make your life easier. As a part of that concept, simplifying your life, Be Berry Informed on 3 January 2025 lived streamed how to make the perfect pizza dough

and on 5 January 2025 Be Berry Informed created 2 videos, showing how to prepare the perfect pizza

and the results.

In order to re-purpose the remaining pizza dough, a dessert pizza was made

with the results.

In this article, I will deconstruct, review, what went well and what could have been better. I am doing this for two reasons. First, it is demonstrate self-reflection. To show my followers that it is important not to give up and how you can take an experience and develop from it. Second it is to set the scene for another event, where I come back and make improvements.

Bread Dough:

The Good:

Overall I was pleased with the dough. I felt I did get the temperature right and the simplicity of the recipe meant it was an easy one to teach.

The Bad:

When doing the video, I lost count of how many cups of flour I measured. I think this left the dough a bit sticky but it was very manageable. However, when it mixed it did not mix as well as it should have. This was a bit of a disappointment for me.

Pizza

The Good:

I was very pleased with the video and I felt it went very well. I felt I was able to explain the reason for choosing making pizza and how it can be an enriching experience for families.

The Bad:

Before live streaming, I struggled with what to do with the pizza dough. Do I take it out 90 minutes before streaming to have it reach room temperature and to flatten it so that it could rise or take it out of the fridge to show the viewers that bread dough can rise in the refrigerator. I opted for the latter because I felt, it by the time I assembled the pizza that the dough might have enough time at room temperature. Unfortunately, when I cut into the dough the dough did not have the texture I wanted and was disappointed. Also, after pre-cooking the dough for 5 minutes it was clear that my miscalculation on flour showed.

Another thing that could have been done better, was the planning for the second pizza. I knew I had cheese but when I took it out it was clear that it could not be used. The tomatoes were borderline usable and for a video, I chose not to use them. and because of the weather conditions, I could not run to the store for cheese and tomatoes. So, I had to re-plan the event.

Desert Pizza

The Good:

Be Berry Informed focus on lifestyle and as a part of the concept of lifestyle, Be Berry Informed is helping families save money so they can enjoy the success. Success does not mean being financially wealthy. Instead is about the wealth that comes from family time, being able to enjoy the money you make from working instead of paying bills, Be Berry Informed is about giving you ideas on how you can get the most from life. So by re-purposing the pizza dough it was to ensure you were able to get the most the money you spent and to reduce the total cost of the meal.

When I was younger I did make a lot of apple pies and apple crumble and from that experience, I had an idea of the basic recipe for the desert pizza. However, it has been a few years since I made an apple pie or crumble. This meant I was not 100% confident in my recipe. Nonetheless, when cooled enough to eat the filling was very good.

The Bad:

I believe if I had 3 cups of sugar instead of 2 then the sauce would have the consistency I wanted. Because it was a bit runny, the sauce did drip into my oven creating a lot of smoke. Also, I think, I might have added too much butter and probably should have cut back just a bit on it. As for the crust, I feel it sort of worked but given some of the issue, I feel it took away from it. Plus pizza dough crust is probably not the best crust for a desert.

Finally

I will plan two events in two weeks and re-try this and see what further success comes from retrying.