Want to learn how to make a pizza dough recipe that uses beer instead of water? Read on or watch this video!
A few years ago I had the opportunity to compete on Hulu’s pizza competition show Best In Dough. I’m usually comfortable in front of a camera but competing against two other pizza nerds in front of about a dozen cameras was something completely new for me. The irony is that I’ve been judging pizza competitions for over 15 years, so I’ve been on the other side of the table. This time I was a competitor, making pizza in an unfamiliar location with unfamiliar equipment and a ridiculous amount of pressure.
It’s been years since the show aired (and I don’t think it’s even still available on Hulu) so I can skip the drama and tell you I emerged victorious on my episode! The grand prize was $10,000 and I give all the credit to my dough recipe.
I designed the dough fit into the specific constraints of the show’s production schedule. We arrived the day before shooting the episode and had exactly one hour to make our dough. I’m used to making my dough a few days in advance, so it was going to be a new challenge to have such little fermentation time. I could have brought my sourdough starter (which gives the flavor of several days’ fermentation in much less time) but I couldn’t guarantee it would reach its peek at the time I needed it. That’s why I went with an ingredient that would instantly give me fermentation flavor: beer.
The show’s producers provided a list of ingredients we’d have access to and I noticed they’d have lager. If I used lager instead of water, I’d get that rich, malty flavor of long fermentation. Using beer would also allow me to eliminate the variable of unfamiliar water. So I picked up a case of Budweiser since it’s super common and started practicing. I tweaked the recipe so it would come together in an hour and give killer results the following day.
Here’s the recipe:
- 1 can of lager (I used Budweiser to practice, Stella in the show)
- 455g flour (I used Caputo Super Nuvola, but you can use bread flour)
- 12g salt
- 2.3g instant yeast
- 2.3g olive oil
STEP 1: Mix the beer, flour, and yeast in a large bowl until no dry flour remains. Add salt to the top of your dough and immediately cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
STEP 2: Knead in the salt using either the slap method (on a table) or the Rubaud method (in a bowl).
STEP 3: After 5 minutes of kneading, add in the olive oil and continue kneading for another 5 minutes.
STEP 4: Rest 20 minutes.
STEP 5: Split and ball into either two 400g dough balls (makes 14″ pizzas) or three 270g dough balls (makes 12″ pizzas).
STEP 6: Store the dough balls in lightly oiled containers or on a baking sheet, covered.
WHEN TO USE THE DOUGH: If you want to use them same day, let the dough containers sit at room temperature until the dough is risen and relaxed enough that you can poke it with your finger and the indentation does not pop back. If you want to use next day, store overnight in the refrigerator.
