Crazy Dough: the recipe for the perfect dough with no yeast

Crazy dough is a basic dough whose ingredients are mainly water and flour. It is also called "dead dough", since there is no yeast. This type of dough often replaces the shortcrust pastry and it is mainly used to make strudel. The only fat used is extra virgin olive oil, which is added instead of butter. More elastic than shortcrust pastry, crazy dough has a delicate flavor, almost insipid, for this reason it is often used to prepare not only pies and strudels, but also savory pies.

How to make Crazy Dough

In a bowl pour the flour.

Create a space in the center.

Add the water and start mixing from the center outwards with a spoon.

Add the extra virgin olive oil to the center of the space.

Knead so the flour begins to absorb liquids.

Add the white vinegar. Keep mixing and add a pinch of salt.

Knead until you get a smooth and homogeneous dough.

Cover the dough with cling film and let it rest for about an hour.

After this time, lightly flour it and start rolling it out with a rolling pin. Roll out the dough as much as possible until it is a few millimeters thick. At this point the crazy dough is ready to make a crunchy shell for a delicious filling, both sweet and savory.

Tips and uses 

The crazy dough must absolutely rest for about an hour, preferably in the refrigerator. Only in this way the dough will take on the right texture. Roll it out well until you get a very thin sheet; the lower the thickness of the wrapper, the greater the degree of final crunchiness.

Crazy dough can be used to prepare a delicious sauerkraut strudel, or for a savory pie with broccoli and sausage.

How to store the crazy dough

The crazy dough can be perfectly stored in the refrigerator for up to about 2 days. Cover it with plastic wrap so it doesn't dry out though. If, on the other hand, you want to make crazy dough well in advance, or have it always available, put it in an airtight bag and freeze it. Just take care to take it out of the freezer about 6 hours before you need to use and stuff it.