Can You Make Pizza Dough Using a Food Processor?

[OhioTom76]

I've been watching many of the videos on Cooks Illustrated and their sister sites. While they tend to have all the nicest appliances at their disposal, including top of the line stand mixers, and $200 crock pots, etc... I was kind of surprised by something I saw on there recently.

They did a segment on how to make the perfect pizzeria quality pizza at home. However instead of using the stand mixer to make the dough, the cook used a food processor instead. I found that to be kind of odd since that's not necessarily what they are intended for.

I've seen some informercials, such as for the Ninja Kitchen System, mention doing this. However I was always under the impression they were just trying to make it look like it can do everything.

I don't personally have a mixer (yet) or an electric food processor (yet, lol). But I am curious, is there some possible benefit of making dough in a food processor? Or is it worse for some reason? Is the dough the same or does it come out different for some reason?

 

[Becky]

Hmmm I'm not sure... were they using a special attachment in the processor? I always think it's best to make dough by hand, but mixers with a dough hook are good where the dough is too wet to handle easily. Who wouldn't want to make pizza dough by hand - it's great fun!

 

[chellebaeby]

There is no special benefit from using a food processor to make your pizza dough. I have used mine before, but I refer the old fashioned way. They do make these appliances look like they do everything for the home cook. I think it is a sales tactic to sell more products. The only appliance I wish I had would be a Kitchen-aid mixer. I do think they do what they intended it to do. It would be a better choice to use for pizza dough. I like to use the recipe ion the back of the yeast package. It makes a good pizza dough.

 

[LivetoErr]

I've never tried it but, my Ninja blender is supposed to be able to mix dough. I'm afraid to try it, though. Using a blender seems so weird.

For pizza dough I use the bread machine. The recipe that came with the machine makes the best homemade dough I've ever tasted.

Man, I should not look at this board when I'm hungry. *sigh*