Recipe Review: Bobby Flay’s Pizza Dough Was Not Our Favorite. Here’s Why.

I’ve never thought of Bobby Flay as a pizza master (when I think of Bobby, I think of brunch, barbecue, and burgers on the grill). But when I set out to test the four most popular pizza dough recipes on the internet, I quickly learned that Bobby’s pizza dough is beloved by many. Fans of the recipe claim it’s easy to mix up, and, perhaps unsurprisingly, that it works great on the grill.

At first glance Bobby’s recipe looks like the perfect choice for anyone in need of a straightforward, last-minute dough. But would his basic recipe leave me wanting more? Here’s what I learned when I took to the kitchen.

Get the recipe: Bobby Flay’s Pizza Dough

Bobby Flay’s recipe follows standard pizza dough procedure: You’ll whisk together the dry ingredients (bread flour, sugar, yeast, and salt) in the bowl of a stand mixer, then add warm water and olive oil and knead the dough with the dough hook. Bobby walks you through adding a little more flour or water if the dough is dry, but doesn’t actually tell you what the dough should look like. I kneaded mine with the initial amount of ingredients until a smooth, elastic dough formed, about 10 minutes.

The dough then gets wrapped and rises for one hour before being divided and resting again for 10 minutes. And that’s it — there aren’t any suggestions on how to shape or bake the dough (grill, pizza stone, baking sheet — Bobby, which is best for this dough?).

I really wanted to like Bobby’s pizza dough on principal alone — what busy cook wouldn’t love a quick pizza dough to have in their back pocket? But if the promise of this dough is that it’s easy, I resent having to get my stand mixer out. Plus, Bobby’s dough was difficult to stretch, which actually made it take longer to be oven-ready than promised.

The baked crust was bland compared to others I tried, and didn’t have any distinct texture highlights to make it memorable — no burnished bottom or chewy, crisp crust. In a hurry for pizza, I’m much more likely to make Kitchn’s classic pizza dough (which is just as fast), or use a store-bought round instead.

I probably won’t be reaching for Bobby’s recipe anytime soon, but if you want to give it a try, keep these things in mind.

1. Add some seasoning. A lot of commenters on Bobby’s recipe recommend adding garlic powder, onion powder, dried oregano, or seasoned salt to the dough — and I agree. Next time I’d at the very least up the salt to give this dough more flavor.

2. Get it on the grill. I tested this dough on both a pizza stone and a baking sheet in a 500°F oven, but I suspect that a grill master like Bobby developed his dough for getting a good char on a hot grill. Next time, I’d try grilling the dough to see if that’s where it really shines.

• Difficulty to Make: 4/10
• Taste/Texture: 4/10
• Appearance: 5/10
• Overall Rating: 4.5/10

Have you ever made Bobby Flay’s pizza dough? Tell us what you thought! 

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