Homemade Pizza Dough

Again, I have to apolgize for my poor photography today.  These pictures were taken at night with a flash, and in a hurry.  But hopefully you get the idea of the deliciousness of their subject!

One of our favorite meals is homemade pizza.  We started making it about 5 years ago, but at the time we would buy our dough from a local restaurant.  Then we moved and the local places wouldn’t sell their dough to us.  Necessity is the mother of invention right?  So I made my own dough.  I guess I didn’t invent pizza dough though.  I’m not quite sure who did that, but they are good people in my book!

I tested out a couple recipes on my family, and this one from Annie’s Eats was the favorite.  Over the last few years, I’ve figured out some tips and tricks to get the perfect pizza every time.

My Pizza Tips

1. Invest in a pizza stone.  They are worth their weight in gold.  I keep mine in the oven all the time and use it for everything.  Throw some foil or parchment paper on it and put your cookie dough on it, although this will change the cooking time, heat frozen chicken nuggets directly on it, toast garlic bread on it.  It has way more uses than just pizza.

2. Planning – To make dough from scratch requires a little planning.  Because of the rise time, you’ll have to start your dough in the afternoon, or make it the night before and allow it to rise overnight in the fridge.

3. Stretching the dough was the trickiest part for me my first couple times.  It gets easier with every pizza you make, but here is how I do it.  After letting the dough rest for about 30 minutes, I lay out a piece of parchment paper the size of my pizza stone and sprinkle some flour all over it.  A tip for sprinkling flour, the higher up you hold your hand above the surface, the better.  If you hold your hand close to the surface, you will get large piles of flour, hold it up higher and you will have a more even dusting.  Okay, back to the dough.  Sprinkle a very small amount of flour on both sides of your ball of dough, less is more here.  Just enough so it’s not sticky.  Push your dough down into a disk.  Using both hands, grab the dough by the edge, hold it in the air, and rotate, allowing gravity to help stretch the dough for you.  Once you have a disk about 8 inches in diameter, put the dough on your floured parchment.  Use a rolling pin to continue rolling out the dough for a thinner crust.  If needed, sprinkle a little more flour on your dough and your rolling pin.  If your dough keeps bouncing back, let it rest for about ten minutes and try again.  Of course, this is just what works for me.  If you want to learn how to throw your dough, go for it, but my toddler keeps our kitchen floors plenty dirty, I don’t need any help in that department.

4.  Less is more.  If you use too much sauce, especially with a thinner crust, it will get soggy.  The recipe I’m sharing for sauce, is super easy, and to be honest nothing special, but that’s how we like it.  We want our toppings to be the star of the show, and not the sauce.  This one is a good background flavor, but it won’t work on your favorite pasta!  If you use too many toppings, you’ll have the same problem of soggy crust, along with a heavy pizza that is a mess to hold and even messier to eat.

Par-bake without the cheese for a crispier crust and no burnt cheese!

5. Forget the cheese, at first.  I discovered this completely by accident.  I put the pizza in, and went to check on it a couple minutes later, to discover that I completely forgot to put the cheese on!  What can I say, dinner time can be a little hectic with a hungry toddler and a crying baby!  I added the cheese and let it cook a few minutes longer.  It was the best pizza I had ever made!!!  This gave the crust time to crisp up, without the cheese doing the same thing.

6.  Cook right on the parchment.  I use a large rimless cookie sheet to transfer the parchment paper and pizza directly to my pizza stone.  The edges of the parchment paper will brown a little, but it won’t hurt anything.  This keeps the pizza dough from sticking, and corn meal or flour, that would otherwise be necessary, from burning.  And if you’re an environmentalist, you can toss your parchment paper in your compost.

7.  Pizza is best served with ranch dressing.  I know many of you will disagree with this last tip.  To each his own!  We like a creamy homemade buttermilk ranch, but if your lazy or out of time, or out of buttermilk, Hidden Valley will do.  My husband would say it must also have a bottle of Frank’s hot sauce to go with it!

So here are the recipes.  And later this week, I’ll share some super yummy ways to use up your pizza dough if you are only planning on making one pizza!  Hint: one of them is sticky sweet, and so very delicious!!!

 

PIZZA DOUGH (enough for 2 medium pizzas)

1 3/4 cup warm water (110 degrees)

2 1/4  tsp. instant yeast (or one packet)

4 cups (22 oz.) King Arthur all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1½ tsp kosher salt

1¼ cup water, at room temperature

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Sprinkle the yeast over the top of your warm water and allow to sit for a few minutes.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the bread flour and salt, mixing briefly to blend.  With mixer running, add in olive oil.  With the mixer on low speed, pour in the yeast-water mixture; make sure you get all the yeast, scraping down the sides of your bowl if necesary.  Mix until a cohesive dough is formed.  Switch to the dough hook.  Knead on low speed until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.  Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, 1½-2 hours, or place in the fridge overnight.  If you plan to freeze your dough to use later, do so now, by wrapping in plastic wrap sprayed with cooking spray.  I find it easier to divide the dough in half before freezing.

If you let your dough rise in the fridge overnight, you can follow the steps below with directly from the fridge, no need to let it warm up or anything.  If you froze your dough, you’ll want to move it to the fridge the morning you plan to use it, and allow it to rest at room temperature for an hour or so before using.

Press down the dough to deflate it.  Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface.  Divide the dough into two equal pieces.  Form each piece of dough into a smooth, round ball.    Cover with a damp cloth.  Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no longer than 30 minutes.

To bake, preheat the oven and pizza stone to 525˚ F for at least 30 minutes, on the bottom rack of your oven.  Transfer the dough to your shaping surface, lightly sprinkled with flour.  Shape the dough with lightly floured hands.  Brush the outer edge lightly with olive oil.  Top as desired, minus the cheese.  Bake for about 5 minutes, add your cheese, then continue baking for another 3-7 minutes, until bottom is crisp and edges are golden.

SUPER SIMPLE PIZZA SAUCE (enough for 2 pizzas, depending on your preferences)

One 7 oz can tomato sauce
One clove garlic, minced or grated with a microplane
1 tsp italian seasoning
salt, pepper, red pepper flakes to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl and allow to sit for at least an hour before use.