I feel your excitement Andrea. Just remember, making bread is addictive. Once your family gets hooked on homemade bread and homemade pizza nothing else will satisfy.

If I'm not mistaken, I think that Claire uses my pizza sauce in her Thin Crust Pizza recipe.

Don't forget to take pictures.

~Ann

The love of dough rising is only second to enjoying the finished product! ;-)

FYI: Instructions in recipes generally suggest a certain amount of time for allowing the dough to rise (proof) and that is just a good (or bad) guess. Truth is, dough rises according to the strength of the yeast, hydration of the dough, and the ambient temperature and humidity level, and can't tell time at all. Therefore it reaches "double" in it's own time, not according to the recipe instructions. When it's cold and dry in the winter, it may take longer, and in a hot humid kitchen may take less time. Most of us never have optimum temperature and humidity levels. I always check my dough after 20-25 minutes to see how it's progressing.

In order to have an accurate idea of when dough has doubled it's bulk so you don't over-proof it (which is often the cause of failed bread), I suggest using a straight-sided container for the task instead of a slant-sided bowl. These containers are called dough-rising buckets or dough-doublers and are plastic containers with graduated markings on the side and a tight-fitting lid. I buy mine at my local restaurant supply store (they call them food storage containers) to accommodate different amounts of dough (I mostly use my 2-quart size). You can find them at King Arthur Flour if you want to see what they look like. You can also recycle a plastic ice cream tub, canister, or large measuring cup. Just make sure it has straight sides and you can see the progress of the dough from outside the container.

How you use it, oil your hands so the dough doesn't stick to them and pat the dough into the container. Note where the dough is in the container. If your container doesn't have graduated markings use a ruler and measure the amount, double the amount of the measurement and that's where the dough will be when it has achieved "double" and mark that point (use a grease pencil or piece of tape - just mark which side of the tape is the mark). For instance, if the recipe you are using fills the container with graduated measurements to the 1-quart line, it will be double when it reaches the 2-quart line. Simple as that.

If the container has a tight-fitting lid it will create the perfect little environment for dough by holding the humidity in and preventing drafts.

Another place where over-proofed dough causes failed bread is using the incorrect size pan for the amount of dough, but that's another subject for another day.

-Grainlady

It's now in it's second rise. The dough was a little disobedient but I showed it whose boss and did the rectangle and folding step. Now I am going to make your sauce. Since I have slices of provolone and mozz, I'm going to try CDL's method of cheese slices under the sauce -- I'm substituting pepperoni for the sausage; however. As I understand it, I will only need half of the dough recipe (my pizza will be 14 inches) and I can store the remainder in the fridge for a few days -- how nice that will be for Saturday! When I take it out of the fridge do I need to let it rise one more time? Thanks so much, Ann, for all your helpfulness. Alas, no pictures - I haven't graduated to that step yet in the world of computing. That will be another goal for the future.

Thank you, too, Grainlady -- I bought KA's bread flour, flour container, yeast, yeast container and 6 quart dough doubler just for the reason you wrote. The last time I tried a yeast dough, I really couldn't tell if it rose or how much it rose but with this neat little dough bucket it's really easy (especially for a novice) to see what's happening. The 6 quart bucket is a little big - I probably should have started with their smaller one. Thanks for the oiling of the hands tip - I'll try that for the final rise.

Andrea

I have to laugh at your excitement Andrea! I too love seeing my precious baby rise. In fact I have some rising now too!

"The dough was a little disobedient but I showed it whose boss." THAT is too funny!!!!

Enjoy your baking. I refuse to buy bread, even though I only make white, and the honey-whole wheat. And sometimes the no-knead bread. We just love homemade bread, and I love making it!

Andrea, How exciting for you! That is Ann's sauce, and probably her crust too, so it will Ann's recipe you're making...but what's wrong with that? I would happily eat her food any day! I hope your pizza turns out wonderfully and you love it so much you have to make it again soon. Just a tip if you're dough is being disobedient; sometimes it just needs to rest to get it to do what you want. Ten to fifteen minutes may just make all the difference. I wish I had some right now!

Oh Claire brought up a good point. Let the dough rest after you turn it out of your rising bucket. It's easier to cut and shape after it has relaxed.

The plastic rectangular ice cream buckets make perfect dough rising buckets, btw.

Okay, we are at the final rise stage. I put half of the dough in an oiled plastic bag (I think that was a Lindac tip) and refrigerated it. Now if the half that is rising in my hot house (I actually turned up the heat in the house for the dough) is ready before I want to bake it, will it hurt to let it continue growing or should I refrigerate it and stop it from overproofing. My parchment is cut, sauce is made (using CDL's garlic rocker), cheese is ready, and it will be DH's job to thinly slice the pepperoni (next time I'll have the deli do it). And I will oil my hands and let it relax (if only I could) if it remains disobedient. This is truly a Cooking Forum project and such fun.

Andrea, if your dough has risen, and you aren't ready to use it, you have a couple of options. If you are going to use it in the next hour or so, then just knock it down again and let it rise one more time. But if it is going to be hours before you intend to use it, I would knock it down and refrigerate it. Bring it out a couple of hours before you want to use it so that it has time to come back to room temperature.

And for future reference, you do not have to raise the heat in your house. In my opinion, a cool room and a slower rise is more desirable. More flavour is developed on a slow rise.

Ann

I am loving your progress updates!

Thanks, Ann - I just turned the temp down. It's 72 degrees in here! I'll remember that about the temp next time. I'll probably be making the pizza around 5 o'clock today so I'll be doing the knocking down thing pretty soon. My next update will be after the eating. DH just called and asked if I was going to entertain him with some pizza tossing -- I won't post my reply to him but, suffice it to say there will be no tossing -- of dough at least.......

I'm loving them too. Just another tip (I realize this is unsolicited) as I was showing my niece how to make pizza recently. She wanted to pull it out of the oven before it was time. The top needs to brown, but more importantly, the crust underneath needs to be done. Before you decide it's time to pull it out of the oven, lift the crust and check the bottom. It should be nicely golden before you remove it. The last bite I ate of that pizza had that perfect, crunchy taste. The other thing I've found is people I've shown how to make pizza, typically want to put too much (of the toppings) on. I may add many things, but don't usually put more than 1/4 cup each (like sauce, onions, sausage, etc.) on the pizza. Once it all goes on there, there's quite a lot and it's easy to overload. I'm hoping you love it!

"----there has to be something wrong with me. What's next? Will I enjoy watching paint dry? -----"

"Go get a life!", I was told by a few.

I actually enjoy watching my bread machine battering the flour, and turning it into stretchy dough. The dynamics as the paddle tears the elastic gluten, mixes the yeast, churning the sugar ---round and round, ----- fast, slow, fast slow ----

dcarch

AND, dcarch, some of us even like to watch our front loading washers spin 'round and 'round! Jessy, are you there?

There's a lot of good contemplation in watching a slow progression...

Catching up on your progress has made me smile, and also makes me wish we were having pizza for dinner.

Lee

My pizza journey is over. DH and I absolutely loved the pizza! The dough was fabulous -- it had all those wonderful airy holes and was better than many of the pizzas we've had out. DH is usually a brat when he eats pizza and he leaves the crusts behind and only eats the center part -- the perfect compliment to my pizza was that he ate the crusts. I did make sure it was done by lifting a corner and the cheese on top was a beautiful light brown -- it would have been a pretty picture if I knew how to take and post a pretty picture. I even put freshly ground pepper on the crust before I dressed it just like Ann T. The sauce was really good and I wouldn't change a thing. I even pulled out my old Krups coffee bean grinder to grind my toasted fennel seeds; said grinder will now be my dedicated spice grinder. I can always tell when DH is just being kind or when he sincerely likes something (after 41 years we can finish each other's sentences) and I know he truly loved his dinner tonight. Thank you one and all for your recipes, hints, and encouragement

Andrea

What fun! My son loves to make their pizza and even has a pizza stone and the special peel.

Once you have all the equipment, and you quit overheating the house, you ought to see that a pizza dinner at home is quite inexpensive.

congratulations, Andrea, welcome to the wonderful world of watching dough rise. Yes, I enjoy it too, LOL, as well as listening to the canning jar lids pop. But the end result is so delicious!

I made a couple dozen dinner rolls tonight, stepmom wanted some to share at a potluck on Friday at her apartment complex. I smiled watching the dough rise, and thought of you, simultaneously watching your dough rise!

there is nothing quite like homemade dough, no matter what you make out of it.

Annie

Thanks Annie - Next week I may tackle artisan bread in five minutes. This dough thing is addictive. I still have half of the dough in the fridge; I'm planning on pizza for tomorrow. This morning that dough which is in a ziplock rose so much overnight that I smacked it down. I think it's angry with me now because 6 hours later it's still flat as a pancake. I'm assuming when I take it out of the fridge tomorrow it will be more forgiving and rise to the occasion.

Andrea