Made some fresh pizza dough from one of the recipes I saw on here . Don’t remember exactly which one .  Followed directions exactly.  Made the pizza, problem was, the crust was dry, and stiff/brittle after cooked .  Like it was burned kind of stiffness. But it wasn’t burned . Looked great when they were “done”  .

Cooked both on a pizza stone . One in oven, other on the grill.  Any ideas where we went wrong?

For a single pizza dough I use this:
1tbl. sugar
1-1/2 tsp kosher salt
I tbl  olive oil
1/2 tsp instant yeast
3/8 cup warm water *
2 cups bread flour

I use a kitchenaid mixer with hook, finished dough should be shaggy, not stiff.
*  Amount of water is dependent on the humidity of the day or night.
I use a rectangular steel about 1" thick, it's a heavy beast.
Oven temp is 400  I oil the steel just before putting the pizza on the stone.  My experience is with a steel it'll cook quicker from the bottom, so when the bottom is cooked, I take it off the steel with a metal peel and put it on a round perforator pizza pan and put in on the broiler on broil for a minute or so to finish the top.

Without knowing the dough, my guess would be is your dough too dense to begin with.

1 package of yeast
3 + cups bread flour
9 oz warm water
Teaspoon of honey
A little salt
Garlic powder
Olive oil  (start with 2,tablespoons and add more as you go)
I add more flour  or splash off water or  pour of oil depending on    texture …..I’m looking for it not to be sticky and to take all the flour.  I usually let a bread machine stir it but can do it in a bowl.
Letting it rise in a covered bowl can help if you have time.

Par bake the dough for about 6 min. Let cool and then proceed.

Olive oil in the dough

olive oil and cornmeal on the pan

what temp?

it sounds like you over baked or it had an un risen dough and maybe an overworked dough.  It takes a lot of work to overwork a pizza dough, most under work it not developing the glutens.  Speaking of which, a better for bread flour is where you should begin, if you use regular cheap store brand there is no telling what you will get.  I use King Arthur better for bread flour but their regular flour can work.  

i do not even use my ovens hottest setting.  I bake at 450Fon an aluminum pizza pan that i drilled holes in.  It takes about ten minutes or soto bake.  I generally go long enough to get some browning of the mozzarella as I like that nutty flavor the toasted cheese has.  

Your dough should be at least relaxed and room temp before you make your pie.  Minimum of four hours on the counter for the dough in a bowl resting and yeast doing it’s thing.  Or a couple hours on the counter and let the dough sit in the fridge a day or two.  When you take it out of the fridge do so a few hours before you make the pie.  A cold dough won’t stretch right.

Another factor is your yeast.  An old dead yeast will do little for you.  I once bought a pound brick of dry yeast (Red Star) and it always underperformed in my bread and pizza dough.  I ended up doubling the yeast to use it up which helped it.  After going back to Fleischmans packets or jarred yeast my consistency came right back.  Even store brand packets worked better than that brick of Red Star.   If your dough doesn’t double in volume then you will have a dense unsat dough.   If you use a rolling pin to roll ough your dough, you can have a dense dough.  If you do roll it out, cover it with plastic and let the yeast spring it up before building your pizza.   An hour or maybe 30m if you’re lucky.   Way better off to have a room temp dough that is properly risen and hand stretches easily.   If it springs back as much as you pulled then you need to let the dough relax.  Cover it with a towel and walk away for 20 minutes.

I never used a pizza stone but have had pizza at others homes on stones.  I was always going to get one or maybe just cut a 3/8 inch sheet of plate steel and season that.  I like my pizza crust. My sauce is ok, I like a touch of tomato paste in mine for a little robust sweetness without doing it with a lot of sugar.

The last pizza I cooked I accidentally preheated the oven to 480 instead of 460F.  It was a touch crackery on the bottom.   Just a touch, I do not really want that though. I like my dough to have a bit of chew or pull, that you have to tear with your teeth a bit.   No soft bready crusts,that’s gross like school sheet pizza.

While I bought a couple pizza craft type books my go to recipe is from Cook’s Illustrated Thin Crust Pizza recipe.  Their crust rocks for a normal standard oven, their sauce is just fair in my opinion.  

You can google the recipe but they want your email address for a BS trial membership.  Very annoying.

The trick is you don’t knead by hand, you don’t use a kitchen aid mixer, you use a food processor and the main steel blade not the dough one that may come with your machine.  

Dump 3 cup flour,
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp instant yeast,
whiz it to mix.

drizzle in 1 1/3 cup water while wizzing it, just long enough that the water is incorporated.

walk away for ten minutes and let the dough hydrate.

add a tablespoon oil, they use vegetable, i use olive oil,
1 1/2 tsp table salt

whiz it for a minute,  if you’re machine isn’t up to it you can halve the recipe.  

The recipe is allegedly good for two 13” pies or one medium to large pizza.  It doesn’t quite take up my 15” pan so I would call it a medium pizza dough for the whole recipe not the half.   I guess I don’t go quite as thin as they do.  

Put it in an oiled bowl with room enough to double and cover with plastic wrap.  Stick in fridge for 24-48 hours to ferment and give that yeastier flavor.  Four to five hours on the counter works but the yeast flavor isn’t there yet, texture and pull is fine though.   You need the yeast excrement to get that yeast flavor.


I find a wetter dough makes a better crust.  A dry dough is much tougher to stretch as the flour is bound tighter, it doesn’t rise as much either after you knead it.   Water is also a part of how much your pizza springs in the oven from the internal steam generated.   Simple, less water, less steam, flour too tightly bound by lack of hydration, less spring, dense and disappointing crust.  Me I love a big puffy crust with almost burnt air bubbles and air pockets all over, but the center should still be thin and not bread like.  The crust needs to be not bread like.  It needs toughness that you have to use some force to bite and pull off a bit of crust.  No par baked store bought like shell crust crap.  Boboli.......just no.   Not pizza.

I don’t mind the cornmeal but sufficient flour works too.   I went that way as my half Italian buddy that used to own a pizza shop would bust my balls using the cornmeal, it’s not authentic he would bitch. He has many fussy ways about him.   You should hear him bitch about poverty pony gear.

poolish

Cooke on grill at 400
Oven was set 425 I think

The dough was made night before, and had risen a bunch .  Would say at least doubled , probably tripled .

Not sure what was mentioned about overworking it . It did take way more work to make it stretch out than I thought it would , based on YouTube research…  but I’ve never made one so not sure if normal or not .  I don’t think it would have stretched like when the dudes throw it in air .  Seemed stuffer than that

https://www.youtube.com/@vitoiacopelli

Thanks for all the replies so far

We learned last year that the wife is allergic to wheat, so I don't do much with dough/baking anymore. these are just some things I picked up.



This is a good general rule for baking: the best recipes are those with weights, not volumes, for your dry ingredients.
Make sure you're using the best flour; there are different kinds.
There are different types of yeast (activated?), and it can go bad.