Comments: Sure, you could buy prepared pizza dough, but you could also buy pizza already cooked, so why not just go all the way, do it right, and make your own dough.
Ingredients
- 4 cups bread flour, plus more for rolling. Makes 2 pizzas. (Chef’s Note: Using bread flour will give you a much crisper crust. If you can’t find bread flour, you can substitute it with all-purpose flour which will give you a chewier crust.)
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 tablespoon (envelope) dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 1 1/2 cups water, 100°F (but start with 1 1/4 cups and add more as necessary)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, +2 teaspoons to grease edges of bowl where the dough will rise.
Directions
- Combine the flour, sugar, yeast, and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine (You could also mix by hand, although it’s wicked hard to do). While the mixer is running, add the water and 2 tablespoons of the oil and beat until the dough forms into a ball (6 minutes or so). If the dough is sticky, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together in a solid ball. If the dough is too dry, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time. If you have any plans to go arial with this dough, add more water so it spreads when tossed. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a smooth, firm ball.
- Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in a warm area to let it double in size, about one hour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide into two equal halves, wrap, and let them rise for 10 minutes, minimum, and one hour, preferably.
- Oh, hey, one more thing: If you are cooking inside, roll out the dough, put it on a pizza pan (or stone), add olive oil, spread it all over the surface, and cook it alone for 5-6 minutes at 450 degrees before adding sauce and cheese/toppings. Makes a huge difference. A recipe for cooking on the grill is included in this cookbook.
