Bushboy would like me to mention that he has a new post up at West Coast Bloggers, about his latest obsession.
Bushboy and I decided to conduct a food experiment the other night. We were making pizzas, and decided to make one dough in the bread machine and one dough by hand. Really we needed two crusts if we wanted enough pizza to take for lunch the next day, and we weren’t sure that doubling the dough in the bread machine was a good idea. So, the other dough was made by hand with a packet of instant yeast.
The bread machine dough was made with beer, and the hand-made dough was done with water. When it came time to roll out (or push out) the crust, the bread machine dough was easier to shape and shinier, the hand-made dough was fluffier. The bread machine dough took 2 hours in the machine, the hand-made dough took 5 minutes in the bowl and 15 minutes to rise on the sheet.
The crust maker.
Bread machine dough.
Hand-made dough.
Once cooked (quite plainly, as we didn’t have anything fancy in the pantry, so one was meat and one was Hawaiian) the pizzas were quite different. The bread machine dough was more like a thin crust, and you could taste the beer – not so that you knew it was beer, but so that you could notice a different taste in the crust. The hand-made crust was puffy and thick, and tasted just like you would expect freshly baked dough to taste.
Bread machine pizza.
Hand-made dough pizza.
I preferred the hand-made dough fresh out of the oven, as did Bushboy. However cold for lunch the next day, I preferred the bread machine crust, while Bushboy still preferred the hand-made dough. I think we will likely make hand-made dough from now on, it is quick and easy and tasty. But when I want a thin crust, the machine it is. Have we made you hungry now?
Yes, you’ve made me hungry and I just finished supper! There’s something special about a homemade pizza, mmm mmm. I loved that you & BB did your own experiment, is great quality-time spent with your son, he’ll never forget what you 2 made
By: Kim on February 16, 2012
at 7:25 pm
Mmmm! That looks so good (spoken with the longing of someone who currently isn’t eating wheat). I have noted the same thing with bread machine vs. hand-made pizza dough. They are two very different finished products. I have put enough flour in my bread machine to make 2 regular size crusts and it has worked fine.
By: kristieinbc on February 17, 2012
at 6:31 am
Really nice! Great experiment for yous. I make pizza often and have always used my bread machine for the dough. We all really like the outcome and by far prefer it to store bought pizza of any kind
I should give it a try though, making the dough from scratch that is & see what the family thinks of it.
By: Rona on February 17, 2012
at 12:45 pm
I heart science!
By: Liz on February 18, 2012
at 9:03 am
I love that you guys did this. And a perfect day to read the post since I’m making my traditional Saturday night pizza! I’ve been making home-made crust for awhile now following a Cooks Illustrated recipe and it’s delicious. I don’t ‘roll’…I ‘stretch’ and so always end up with a really thin crust which is how we like it. Topped with mushrooms, home-made pesto, parmesan and some mozzarella…so yum! Of course, without a bread-making machine, I can’t do the comparison.
Reminds me…need to turn the oven on!
By: Rachel on February 18, 2012
at 5:39 pm
love it!
we don’t have a bread machine, so i ‘m glad to know the handmade crust won the initial taste test… now i don’t have to feel like i’m missing out
By: melissa on February 20, 2012
at 7:30 am