Hard Seltzer And Pizza Dough Are A Match Made In Heaven

White Claw and Truly and High Noon, oh my! Hard seltzers have been all the rage the past few years; they combine the taste of a fruity cocktail with the ease of popping the tab on a can of beer. And while they're great for a trip to the beach, a summer bash, or a girls' night in, they can be utilized in a more creative and unexpected way: in pizza dough. 

Everyone knows the best pizza dough is light and airy, and the way that bread gets that fluffy texture is from the minuscule air bubbles that are released when it is rising and baking. Traditionally, yeast is the active ingredient that makes this important process happen. It feeds on the sugars in the flour and releases carbon dioxide. However, a carbonated beverage will get the job done, too, as its own carbon dioxide bubbles will create the air pockets in the dough. This method of dough-making will even add a slight crispiness to the crust. Sure, you could make a sparkling wine or beer-based pizza dough, but with so many popular hard seltzer brands to choose from, enhancing your dough with hard seltzer just makes sense.

To achieve that perfectly puffy and crisp crust using a carbonated drink, simply swap out the water in the recipe for the hard seltzer of your choice. In order to get the best results when using seltzer, be sure that it is ice-cold when you add it to the dough. The chillier it is, the more bubbles it has. 

Another reason adding hard seltzer to your pizza dough rather than sparkling wine or beer is exciting is because of all of the available flavors there are. They will come through slightly in the taste of the final product, along with a hint of sweetness. For example, in 2020, Blaze Pizza experimented with a mango-flavored White Claw pizza dough topped with pepperoni, jalapeño, roasted red peppers, fresh arugula, and pineapple to help complement the crust's fruity flavor. You could jump off this idea and use pineapple seltzer to add some extra tropical flavor to a Hawaiian pizza, lemon seltzer for a spritz of freshness to accompany the shrimp and crab on a seafood pizza, or get extra fancy with blackberry seltzer added to a goat cheese, bacon, honey, and blackberry pizza. No matter which flavor you choose, your pizza dough is guaranteed to get an upgrade with the addition of hard seltzer.