# Alton Brown pizza dough won't rise. What am I doing wrong? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 11, 2006, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alton-brown-pizza-dough-wont-rise-what-am-i-doing-wrong/352269 "2006-04-11T20:27:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Homebrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/c89c15/32.png) [@Homebrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Homebrew)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alton-brown-pizza-dough-wont-rise-what-am-i-doing-wrong/352269/21 "2006-04-12T13:27:25Z")
> [@bluethree](#): > > I was eyeing stand mixers on eBay last night and coveting them, but nobody so far in this thread has recommended them. According to Alton Brown (and the only thing I know about this guy is that this is his pizza recipe; I’m not his groupie or anything), if I don’t use a stand mixer I have to knead the durn thing by hand for half an hour! > > Thanks to everyone who has responded! I’ll try again this weekend. I use my bread machine on the dough setting to knead pizza dough. A stand mixer is absolutely essential for making cheesecake. For bread it makes the process easier but isn’t essential. If you buy one, get a Kitchen Aide and you’ll find more and more uses for it. It is a great convenience, letting you do other tasks while it does the work of whipping, mixing and stirring. Your angel food cake, whipped cream and merengue will be better than every before, also. Plus, the neat attachments makes it a multi-use product. Just last night I used the meat grinder attachment to grind a bottom rump roast to make meatloaf. ---
**Author:** ![Neurotik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/91b2a8/32.png) [@Neurotik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neurotik)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 1:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alton-brown-pizza-dough-wont-rise-what-am-i-doing-wrong/352269/22 "2006-04-12T13:41:26Z")
> [@Trunk](#): > > whoopie pies Pardon? ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alton-brown-pizza-dough-wont-rise-what-am-i-doing-wrong/352269/23 "2006-04-12T13:58:26Z")
> [@Neurotik](#): > > Pardon? [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopie\_pies](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whoopie_pies) (with a pretty good write-up, addressing the “New England vs. Amish” debate, too. Here’s a place to buy awesome ones. . .(these were featured on Oprah’s “Favorite Things” one year) [http://www.wickedwhoopies.com/index.php](http://www.wickedwhoopies.com/index.php) Naturally, “whoopie pie” is nice euphemism for “hair pie”. ---
**Author:** ![Beadalin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Beadalin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beadalin)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alton-brown-pizza-dough-wont-rise-what-am-i-doing-wrong/352269/24 "2006-04-12T14:44:50Z")
> [@DoctorJ](#): > > Alton’s recipe uses a slow 24-hour rise in the fridge. I have tried it side-by-side with my standard recipe (from one of Wolfgang Puck’s books) and it really does make a difference. I should have looked at his recipe before posting. That does sound interesting, but I also agree with **Trunk** that the OP would do well to get the dough rising outside of the fridge first. I wonder if it would work to let it rise partially before refrigerating it? Or, let it rise to double, punch it down and then refrigerate it? ---
**Author:** ![Quercus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/7ab992/32.png) [@Quercus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quercus)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alton-brown-pizza-dough-wont-rise-what-am-i-doing-wrong/352269/25 "2006-04-12T15:03:56Z")
First thing, before going through the trouble of making another whole batch of dough, why don’t you make sure the yeast is working? Just mix one dose of yeast in a cup of water at the temperature you’re using, maybe with a teaspoon or so of sugar. Leave it on the counter for half an hour. If it’s not bubbly with a nice head on it, then something’s wrong with either the yeast or your water temperature. If it is nice and heady and bubbly, then the yeast is OK, and you can start thinking about temperature of the dough during rising and other possible problems. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2006, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alton-brown-pizza-dough-wont-rise-what-am-i-doing-wrong/352269/26 "2006-04-12T21:55:19Z")
Excellent advice, thank you. This is what makes the board so great. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![StGermain](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stgermain/32/2868_2.png) [@StGermain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/StGermain)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alton-brown-pizza-dough-wont-rise-what-am-i-doing-wrong/352269/27 "2006-04-13T01:07:29Z")
I also like Alton’s suggestion of rising dough in a cylindrical container, poutting a rubber band around the container at the level of the dough, so you can see exactly how much it’s risen. I always had a hard time figuring out how much it had risen until I could see specifically. StG ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [April 13, 2006, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alton-brown-pizza-dough-wont-rise-what-am-i-doing-wrong/352269/28 "2006-04-13T10:39:11Z")
> [@StGermain](#): > > I also like Alton’s suggestion of rising dough in a cylindrical container, poutting a rubber band around the container at the level of the dough, so you can see exactly how much it’s risen. I always had a hard time figuring out how much it had risen until I could see specifically. > > StG Wow, I like that idea. If anybody’s on the edge of their seat, I tested my yeast and it’s perfectly good. Apparently with bread machine yeast the water can be not very warm at all. Also, you add it with the dry ingredients. Next time I try the pizza dough I’ll have a warm kitchen, water that isn’t too hot, and maybe I’ll leave the dough out for just a little while to get used to the notion of rising. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alton-brown-pizza-dough-wont-rise-what-am-i-doing-wrong/352269.md?page=1)