2-ingredient pizza dough

http://tiphero.com/2-ingredient-pizza-dough/

I’d try this today if it weren’t for the hot weather.

Interesting. I have a naan recipe that I like which uses yogurt, baking powder and flour, so I imagine this would be similar.

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How does it turn out?

A side question for dough experts. What’s the difference in taste when using fresh yeast, baking powder or other raising agent?

In the past, I have tried either buying fresh dough from craft bakery to make my pizza base, but never use the fresh yeast. I have tried using baking powder to make bread, it’s alright but nothing like those good bread places.

I don’t know if I would call it taste exactly, but the texture differs. When flour and liquids combine it activates a protein (gluten) in the flour. This is what is responsible for the chewy texture of good breads. Gluten is further encouraged by kneading the dough (if you knead to long the bread can be tough). Letting bread rise with yeast is like a slow action kneading and air pockets are introduced through the gasses given of by the yeast as the yeast consume the sugars in the bread. Baking powder reacts to liquid (and maybe acid?) and happens quickly. If you add baking powder to bread and let it sit like you would yeast bread, the structure created by the gas from the leaving agent will collapse yielding dense bread. Baking it right away yields a lighter, but more crumbly (then yeast) bread since the gluten hasn’t developed as much.

Finally, vis a vis pizza/flat bread, this might be pretty good, since you can get nice chew just from flour and water (like tortillas) and a pizza crust doesn’t require the same amount of levening/structure as a loaf of bread.

I’m not a fan of these doughs. They taste very Bisquick-y to me. Also, self-rising flour is cheating on the ingredient count.

As far as I can tell, this is the direction naan is going in modern times, though.

@corneygirl, are you saying that yeast helps with the kneading process? In another thread, I was informed the hydration is what does the kneading in no-knead, not the yeast. Or am I confusing what you said for something else?

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Actually, if you knead this dough enough, it will develop plenty of gluten for good chewy texture. You can’t let it sit like a yeast dough, since obviously baking powder loses its leavening power as it sits, but it won’t be crumbly if you’ve kneaded it enough. However, the bubbles will not be large and irregular the way that yeast bubbles are, but rather small and uniform.

Also, the tangy flavor that bread gets from a long yeast fermentation is replaced in this bread by the yogurt. IMO, this type of bread is not as good as the naan you get in good Indian restaurants, but it is quite serviceable and better than most packaged products I’ve tried.

I was meaning more that the structure of the air pockets differ from a yeast dough to a baking soda levened bread. I think biondanonima eloquently captures a lot of what I was trying to say :slight_smile: