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This is the ultimate pizza and garlic dough balls recipe which is perfect every time. Elevate your appetiser game with this garlic dough ball recipe. My easy to follow recipe only takes 20 minutes to prepare. It ensures a perfect balance of garlic infused goodness and doughy perfection. A delightful snack that's sure to impress!
Change the topping, but never change the dough recipe. This is a consistently good recipe and serves as a way to use up spare dough.
Contents
These were made using my Ultimate Pizza dough recipe, this is one to try. There are two varieties that you can make. One is the yeast based recipe and the other uses a sourdough starter as the rising agent.
If you don't have any 00 flour you can make these with my simple pizza dough recipe.
Garlic Dough Ball Ingredients
The ingredients for the pizza dough are the same as the garlic dough ball recipe. In fact, it is the same dough throughout and it just depends on how you shape the dough prior to the initial rise.
Garlic Dough Balls and Pizza Dough
Flour - I use a mix of 00 Pizza Flour (75%) and Bread Flour (25%). I find this gives a nice balance and crisp crunch in the dough crust.
Water - While standard tap water normally will do the trick, I prefer to boil the kettle and let it cool to rid of any chemicals in the water. You are looking to have luke warm (30C) water to be warm enough for the yeast to react and the dough to rise.
Salt - Standard table salt will suffice in this recipe. Make sure to measure out accurately. I find reducing the salt level in pizza dough works well because pizza cheese has a lot of salt in it already, so loading up the dough with salt will not be healthy.
Yeast - Instant yeast or yeast blocks works well. Either is good. The conversion rule of thumb is freeze dried (fast acting) instant yeast needs half the amount compared to fresh yeast. So if a recipe asks for 7g instant yeast, instead you could use 14g of fresh yeast.
Garlic butter - This is for the topping of the dough balls. Make your own by mixing a close of garlic to 25g of butter. Alternatively you can buy the premade garlic butter.
How to make garlic dough balls
The beauty of making pizza dough and garlic dough balls is the simplicity and the fact you can't really go too wrong. You are looking for around 60% hydration (use my bread hydration calculator to make sense of this). This makes the dough manageable but also tasty.
Gather all your pizza dough ingredients and mix together. You can dissolve the yeast in the water or you can put it straight in the flour. Either way, it will work.
Mix it all and then turn out onto a surface and begin to knead the dough. Over time it will start to resist back. By hand this will take around 10 to 15 minutes. You can use a food mixer with a dough hook. If using the mixer method, mix for 5 minutes on low speed, then wait 5 minutes. Then mix again on low for another 5 minutes.
You are looking for a smooth dough.
Cover with cling film (or even a shower cap!) and wait for the dough to rise. This all depends on climate and ambient temperature. Normally this will be around 1 hour for a house of 24C. If it is colder, it will take longer, if warmer it will be quicker.
Once risen, the dough should be twice the size it was when it went in the bowl.
If making pizza, grab 230g of the dough and shape into a ball. Let it rest for 30 minutes or so and then when ready, stretch out to the pizza shape.
If making shaping the garlic dough balls, each ball should be about 20g and needs rolling in a ball and then placing on greaseproof paper to rest for 30 minutes.
Cook for 10 to 12 minutes and then serve with garlic butter dip.
Tips for tasty garlic dough balls
When cooking the pizza or the garlic dough balls, placing them on greaseproof paper will help transfer them between the work surface and the oven.
If you have a baking stone in the oven then let this get to temperature for at least 40 minutes before cooking the pizza. This way the base will get crispier and not soggy.
Useful equipment for making dough
The dough for pizza and doughballs can be made by hand - check out my simple pizza recipe post for the best dough. If you need to mix the dough I recommended a stand mixer to knead it all together. Ooni have created a stand mixer specifically for pizza dough and so make sure to check this out for a way to mix dough.
Dough Balls with Garlic Butter
You can create a garlic butter to go with dough balls by mixing some chopped garlic in with some room temperature butter. Check out my home made garlic butter as another option to flavour the dough with. This is the same mix that can be used to brush on the top of the dough balls before cooking.
Try adding a teaspoon of olive oil in with the butter to make it a bit smoother.
Serving suggestions
This garlic dough ball recipe and pizza are a really good party food. You can make them in advance and then cook for a few minutes once your guests arrive.
If you are looking to keep the kids busy then they can make their own pizzas and vary the toppings when the bases are ready. Everyone has different pizza toppings they prefer so I can't contribute to what you should put on them! The big question is, are you a pineapple on pizza type of person?!
Storing Garlic Dough Balls
The doughballs generally taste best when eaten the same day once cooked however they can last a day or two in the fridge. The key is to not let the air get to the dough too much. If it does, it can dry out. Therefore I'd recommend storing the doughballs in an airtight container in the fridge.
If you want to reheat the dough balls and get that "fresh from the pizza oven" taste then I recommend using a Ninja air fryer to reheat them. Check out my reheating a pizza in the air fryer for full details. Doughballs will only need 2 minutes at 200C in an air fryer to reheat.
Try these other recipes
This is possible by using a sourdough starter instead of yeast. You can get a sourdough starter here and then make the dough the day before you need to use it to allow it time to rise and gain flavour.
You do not need to have a pizza peel when cooking pizza in the oven. You can get away with using greaseproof paper and a baking tray to slide the paper on and off with.
Sometimes if cooking on paper or on a baking tray the dough does not crisp up enough. Try investing in a pizza stone and get that really hot (at least 30 to 40 minutes before using it).
A pizza stone should be a minimum of 12mm thick however the ideal thickness is 15mm. This is so when cooking pizzas, the cold dough does not cool down the stone between cooks. If the stone cools down then the pizza base will not be as crisp on the 2nd and 3rd pizza you cook unless you give it time to warm up between cooks.
The Recipe
Pizza Dough Bite-Sized Garlic Dough Balls
Ingredients
- 500 g Bread flour Type 00 / bread flour
- 7 g Yeast Dried fast acting is ok
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon olive oil extra virgin
- 375 ml water luke warm, approx 22 - 25 degrees Celsius
- 25 g Garlic butter melted
Instructions
- Measure out all your ingredients. Mix together the water and yeast and let it stand for at least 5 minutes before beginning. Tip - sieve your flour twice for a light fluffier dough.
- Pour in small amounts of water at a time. Mixing with the spoon takes at least 5 minutes and needs to keep going to mix everything in. Gradually add the oil in to the mix and keep mixing. The salt should be the last item in to the mix. This is an important step as adding it too early will stop the yeast from working.
- Keep mixing until the dough starts to form a ball and stops sticking to the side of the bowl.
- At this point, its now time to cover your hands in flour and grab the mix. Start kneading the dough and make a note of the time. You need to knead for at least 10 minutes to get a good rise on the dough. This pushes the air around the dough, mixes everything in and gets those yeast enzymes pumping.
- After 10 - 15 minutes of kneading you should be knackered and have a really nice malleable ball of dough. Give your mixing bowl a good wash out and then spray it with Fry Light. You can also use butter or oil, but I find fry light is a bit easier to manage and gives a more even covering.
- Place the dough ball in the oiled bowl and then cover with cling film (and if you want a tea towel) to keep it from drying out. Then set the bowl down somewhere nice and warm for a good few hours to let the yeast work its magic and start to rise.
- After a few hours, you should see the dough has risen to at least twice the size it was when it went in. At this point the dough can be given another quick knead, then split into equal portions of around 20g each. Roll into a ball and place separately on baking paper. Cover for around 20-30 minutes while they prove. Coat in the garlic butter by brushing it over and then bake for 10 - 15 mins until golden brown and sound hollow when you tap underneath.
- *** Freezing ***If you plan to freeze your dough, once you have split it up, wrap tightly in cling film and freeze them at this point.
Notes
Nutrition
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One response to “Garlic Dough Balls Recipe”
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Simple and effective dough for making pizza, garlic dough balls and dipping dough sticks.
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