New York pizza recipe for Michelle and other pizza bakers

Michelle, here's a New York Pizza recipe I just found last night  that was rated excellent by members of a pizza making, on line forum I just joined. Professional pizza and bread makers usually weigh out their ingredients and deal with baker's percentages.On high humidity days you may need to use less flour, on hot, dry, days you might need more, so I gave the amounts which match the percentage recipe he gave. Personally, I think I'd try 60% hydration on my first attempt, which shouldn't make the dough too wet in our damp, Oregon winters. So 60% would be 300 grams of high gluten flour.

Here's a recipe I re-calculated  for enough dough for about 3 10" pizzas or 2 14-15" pizza.

500 grams of high gluten flour( (General Mills All-Trumps High-Gluten Flour and King Arthur Sir Lancelot are both high gluten. Both can be ordered on line. A lot of professional makers of Neapolitan and other pizzas, use Caputo00 pizza flour (the one in the blue bag), also available on line. If you have a good local pizza restaurant, they may use one of these flours and might sell you some. If you make a lot of pizzas, you can buy the large bag and freeze the flour in small amounts, or split a bag with a friend. Shipping is a killer, so it would be great to fine a local source - either a restaurant or restaurant food supply source.)
290 to 325 gr of filtered or good tap water (290 is 58% hydration, 325 gr. is 65% hydration.  
7.5 grams of sea salt or kosher salt
5 grams of extra virgin olive oi
2.5 gr. compressed yeast, or 3.75 gr dry active yeast, or 0.83 - 1.25 gr. of instant dry yeast. 

Read the instruction carefully about prepping the various yeasts. 

There are also some excellent how to you tube videos. Just search Tony Gemignani's videos, as well as Neapolitan pizza which is similar to N.Y. and you get a lot of tips. I think the big thing is to use the proper ingredients, follow the mixing techniques and make your dough at least a day ahead to let it develop good texture and flavor.

Enjoy! 

By Tom Lehmann (a.k.a. "The Dough Doctor")
Director, Bakery Assistance
The American Institute of Baking

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DOUGH INGREDIENTS
VOLUME (Single Pizza)	WEIGHT (Single Pizza)	WEIGHT (Bulk Quantity)	BAKER'S PERCENT	INGREDIENT
?? cups	?? ounces	25.0 pounds	100%	High gluten flour
?? cups	?? ounces	14.5 - 16.25 pounds	58 - 65%	Water
?? teaspoons	?? ounces	6.0 ounces	1.5%	Salt
?? teaspoons	?? ounces	4.0 ounces	1.0%	Olive oil
?? teaspoons	?? ounces	2.0 - 3.0 ounces	0.5 - 0.75%	Compressed yeast

Note: Water temperature should be adjusted to give a finished dough at 80 to 85 °F.

This formula produces a somewhat thin crust with a tough, chewy texture.

How to Prepare:

Standard Dough Making Procedure: Put water into the mixing bowl, add the salt and sugar, then add the flour and the yeast. Mix at low speed for about 2 minutes, then mix at medium speed until all of the flour has been picked up into the dough. Now add the oil and mix in for 2 minutes at low speed, then mix the dough at medium speed until it develops a smooth, satiny appearance (generally about 8 to 10 minutes using a planetary mixer).

The dough temperature should be between 80 and 85F. Immediately divide the dough into desired weight pieces and round into balls. Wipe the dough balls with salad oil, and place into plastic dough boxes. Make sure that the dough balls are spaced about 2 inches apart. Cross stack the uncovered dough boxes in the cooler for 2 hours as this will allow the dough balls to cool down thoroughly, and uniformly. The dough boxes can then be nested, with the top box being covered. This will prevent excessive drying of the dough balls.

The dough balls will be ready to use after about 12 hours of refrigeration. They can be used after up to 72 hours of refrigeration with good results. To use the dough balls, remove a quantity from the cooler and allow them to warm at room temperature for approximately 2-3 hours. The dough can then be shaped into skins, or shaped into pans for proofing. Unused dough can remain at room temperature (covered to prevent drying) for up to 6 hours after removal from the cooler.

Note: If using ACTIVE DRY YEAST (ADY) only half the amo0unt as compressed yeast. Then suspend the ADY in a small quantity of warm water (105 – 110F) and allow it to stand for 10 to 15 minutes. Add this to the water in the mixing bowl, but do not add the salt and sugar to the water, instead, add the salt and sugar to the flour, then begin mixing as directed.

If using INSTANT DRY YEAST (IDY) us only 1/3 the amount as compressed yeast. Add the IDY to the flour along with the salt and sugar, and begin mixing as directed.