Our local supermarket sells bread dough, and I was wondering whether I could use it for a pizza base, or whether it would rise too much.
At present we've been using frozen pizza bases, but something fresh would really be nice, -I just don't always have a chance to make it myself.
I have not found that there is a definitive answer, the most common I know is that it depends on what you like for a pizza dough. I know many people who use a common bread dough for pizza. I personally find that too "bready", but they like it that way. When I first learned, I was taught use a basic french bread recipe and add a couple Table Spoons of oil then allow to rise in cool environment rather than warm. Many use a higher gluten flour, but if you prefer a more cracker like thin crust then whole grain and a extra pinch a salt and immediately cook after rolling out with only one rise. If you like a thicker, chewy crust, then I suggest letting the dough do a second 10-15 minute rise after you have it ready for toppings but before you put them on. Most times what many of us consider a better pizza crust, regardless of if we like thin, thick, crispy, chewy, or some odd combo is one with smaller fermentation bubbles which calls for slower rising than bread. Higher gluten, a more elastic knead, a bit extra oil and a pinch of salt can all help get this. Starting with a regular break dough would restrict you down to only being able to go with a slower rise in my mind.
You can use frozen bread dough, just fine. You'll often see it suggested in recipes. Pizza dough sometimes is made from higher gluten flour, or goes through a slower rise to make it more chewey and stretchy, but bread dough is definitely a major upgrade over pre-cooked crusts.
Another option is call around to some local pizza shops (national chains usually won't do this) - many of them will sell their dough for about $1 a ball (good for about a 14" pizza).
Sure you can use it for a Pizza and you know why ? Because one of the most gratifying part of cooking is experimenting :) Seriously, there are a lot of variations in pizza dough out there, some of them clamed to be THE real ones, other just pretend to. The reality is that if it's made with good ingredients and you already baked bread out of it, chances are also a pizza would be tasty. As @dlb wrote, it all boils down to personal tastes and how you like your pizza, but this shouldn't stop you from trying (afterall, you're not asking if it's ok to bake a pizza using pasta ;) )
Pizza dough = Bread dough + white corn meal+ olive oil + 12-36 hours in fridge, (well sealed in air-tight container)
Scratch mix tip: flour ratio: 2/3 all purpose, 1/3 whole wheat
Other: Use milk or distilled water or filtered water Optional: 1 tablespoon of vinegar for ph balance. Never use any alcohol based liquids such as wine etc--kills yeast! Garlic and yeast seem to love each other in fresh dough! Garlic can be mashed or put into blender with water or milk
Always use fresh ingredients in dough and toppings
As somebody who has been experimenting with different dough recipes and cooking techniques for pizza over the past 3-4 years, I can tell you that you can definitely use bread dough for pizza.
What you have to bear in mind is that there is a huge amount of variation in dough recipes for pizza - some are "no knead" doughs where you mix the ingredients together and leave them without kneading, some ask for eggs to be included in the dough, some rise in an hour, some rise for 5 days, the hydration of the doughs vary wildly...
One of the main differences to me seems to be that the different kinds of dough suit different cooking methods. Some doughs are well-suited to being stretched super-thin and cooking for a very short time (~5 mins) at a very high heat (400°C), others are suited for thicker bases and slower cooking, some are best-suited to deep-pan cooking methods where you oil a pan and the base more-or-less fries in the pan. For what it's worth I would say generally (and I can only speak generally) the "breadier" doughs work better in a deep-pan situation to be cooked with oil rather than e.g. directly on a pizza stone.
The main thing you will find is you can get decent pizza from most types of dough, but you will need to experiment with how to prepare and cook the dough to get the best out of it. Furthermore, a particular type of dough may not conform to what your idea of "good pizza" is. Odds are whatever you come up with is [i]somebody[/i]'s idea of good pizza. In my opinion you need a relatively wet dough, a really hot oven and a fast cooking time to get a really great pizza with a crunchy-but-chewy base, but that's just my opinion and my favourite kind of pizza. The best thing you can do is to try it.
