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How to Make Bread From Pizza Dough (In 7 Easy Steps)

How to Make Bread From Pizza Dough (In 7 Easy Steps)

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Pizza dough is one of the most versatile doughs you can use when you want to get creative. Aside from making different pizza types, you can use it to make countless other recipes, including bread loaves.

The reason you can get imaginative with making a loaf of bread from pizza dough is that both bread and pizza doughs use the same essential ingredients: flour, water, salt, and yeast.

In this post, we provide you with a step-by-step guide to show you how to make bread from pizza dough, so let’s get baking!

Step 1: Prepare the Necessary Material

It’s always better to prepare the material you need in advance to make the job a lot easier and faster than having to pause every time you need to get something.

Here’s what you need to make bread from pizza dough:

  • Pizza dough
  • All-purpose flour
  • A proofing dish
  • Two clean kitchen towels
  • A baking mold or sheet
  • One sheet of parchment paper
  • A cooling rack

Keep in mind that this step can take as long as the pizza dough you’re working with, whether homemade or store-bought.

In either case, the following steps will suffice to transform the dough into bread.

Step 2: Knead the Dough

Kneading Dough

To start making bread from pizza dough, begin by lightly dusting your work surface with all-purpose flour.

Place the pizza dough on the flour-dusted surface and hold the dough with one hand and stretch it out with the other hand.

Then, roll the dough over on itself and repeat with the opposite hand. Continue kneading the pizza dough until it’s smooth and elastic. This usually takes 10 minutes.

Kneading the dough right works the gluten, and properly worked gluten allows the dough to proof well and holds on to the air pockets that make bread airy and fluffy.

Step 2.1: Shape the Dough

During the last minutes of kneading the pizza dough, start shaping your dough into a shape that resembles the bread’s final form

If you plan on making a long loaf of bread, roll out your dough into a rectangle shape. Fold the top half to the center, then the bottom half to the center, slightly overlapping the first fold.

Next, roll out the dough until it reaches your desired length.

However, if you want a round loaf of bread, fold the dough over on all sides, turn it over, and gently tuck in the dough as you rotate it.

Finally, set the dough aside for 15 to 40 minutes, giving the gluten a chance to rest.

Step 3: Ready a Proofing Dish

Proofing Dough In A Bowl

While you let your dough rest, you can prepare your proofing dish.

Your proofing dish should be big enough that your dough can rise comfortably, but not too big that the dough flattens.

You can use an 8-inch bowl for a 1-pound dough and a 10-inch bowl for a 2-pound dough.

First, take the two clean, large kitchen towels, and place one in your proofing dish and the other on your work surface.

Then, coat the towels with a medium layer of all-purpose flour.

If you use too little flour, your dough may stick to the towels, and if you use too much, the flour may stick to your dough and burn during baking.

Step 4: Knead Dough Into Its Final Shape

Dust the surface and your hands with a light coating of flour so it doesn’t stick. Then, take your well-rested dough and pull it toward you. After a few pulls, rotate it a quarter turn.

Keep in mind that you should use as few motions as possible so that you don’t overwork the gluten in the dough.

Do this for a minute or so, then mold the dough into its final form.

Step 5: Let It Proof

The last and longest step before baking your bread is to allow it to proof.

Bread proofing is a crucial step that helps your bread become soft and airy. Without proofing, the bread may come out heavy and insipid.

Take your dough and place it in your prepared proofing dish, then cover the dish with the flour-coated towel.

Proofing time usually depends on the amount of yeast in the dough. Sourdough bread, for example, can take up to 24 hours to proof. Pizza dough, on the other hand, may take one to two hours.

What’s important is to let your dough proof until it doubles in size, which takes at least one hour for almost all doughs.

Step 6: Bake Your Pizza-Dough Bread

Putting Bread Dough In The Oven

Now that the dough has doubled in size, you can start baking it.

Preheat your oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for at least 15 minutes before putting your bread in to bake.

While the oven heats, line your baking sheet or baking mold with parchment paper. Then, take the dough out of the proofing dish and place it in the baking mold.

Once your oven is well-heated, put your bread in the oven and let it bake until it’s golden brown and makes a hollow sound when you tap it.

This process can take 30 to 40 minutes, but most bakers recommend checking on the bread every 10 minutes without opening the oven door to ensure it doesn’t over-bake.

Step 7: Allow Your Bread to Cool

After you take out your bread from the oven, you should let it cool down.

Allowing your bread to cool down prevents it from becoming gummy-like, which isn’t a texture that we associate with any kind of bread.

If you baked your bread on a baking sheet, it should take 10 to 20 minutes to cool down. However, if it was in a baking mold, which is a lot thicker, you should let it cool down for about an hour.

Step 7.1: Allow Your Bread to Cool Again

After the bread cools down, take it out from its mold or sheet and place it on a cooling rack for about 10 minutes.

Once it has completely cooled down, you can cut into your bread and dig in!

Final Thoughts

Each of these steps on how to make bread from pizza dough can help you transform any pizza dough that you have lying around into a scrumptious loaf of bread.

On top of that, with the right preparation, you can use pizza dough to make other types of bread, such as pita bread and Focaccia.

Happy baking everyone!

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