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I am using this recipe for pizza dough, and I received some seasoned advice from other members of this site to use a precise kitchen scale for weighing the flour and water. The question is, if I already precisely measured for weight ie 1LB flour and 11 oz water - do I forgo following the direction to add more flour as needed?

As you knead, add more flour or water as needed to produce a ball of dough that is smooth, supple, and fairly tacky but not sticky.

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@rumtscho - Sounds like a great answer! Convert from comment to answer please! – dpollitt Apr 12 '12 at 18:30
@dpolllitt done. Glad you liked it so much, it felt a bit "not deep enough" to me. – rumtscho♦ Apr 12 '12 at 18:40

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Once you have learned to recognize good dough consistency by feel, you might decide to add more flour. This is because even when you weigh, your texture can be influenced by small changes in the gluten content in your brand and batch of flour (it is a natural product after all, and the difference between 11 and 11.5% is already noticeable) and by the humidity of your storage room. Before you have learned to recognize the perfect texture by feel, only use additional flour to prevent sticking to utensils, unless it feels terribly wet and flows everywhere (but then you probably measured wrong).

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You will need to add some flour, but not for the dough itself. It's for you.

Keep some flour on hand. You'll always need some to flour your surface, hands, rolling pin (for other ends) etc. This pizza dough is quite wet, so it's also quite sticky. To knead easily, a bit of flour on the outside can help you.

You won't need a lot, just a bit to ease the labour.

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This is usual practice, but it isn't absolutely necessary. With enough kneading, even the wettest dough will stop sticking. The problem is that with small batches, dough can easily swallow up to 15% more flour just from dusting. So I knead on a silicone mat or in my hands and live with the stickiness until there is enough gluten to pull it together. Afterwards, it doesn't need flouring for the rolling pin. Bottom line: do whatever is easier for you, both ways work. – rumtscho♦ Apr 12 '12 at 18:31

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