For the past several weeks I have been perfecting my pizza dough and I think I pretty much have it where I want it. It’s super-good AND super-easy…5 ingredients, about 10 mins of mixing/kneading/clean-up out of your life and you’ve gots the dough, baby.
As for the baking of the pizza, I have tried a pizza stone (with cornmeal or without cornmeal on parchment), parchment on a baking sheet, and a perforated pizza pan sprayed with Pam. I haven’t had any sticking issues with any of them and all have resulted in a crisp, evenly browned crust. I think I like the pizza stone/parchment combination the best, but (surprisingly) the perforated pizza pan comes in at a very close second. The key with either one, though, is to have a ripping hot oven and bake the pizza pretty much in the middle for even results.
Pizza Dough
1 3/4 cups flour (see note)
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup warm water (between 105-110 degrees f)
1 tsp honey
1 package dry yeast (not instant)
Combine flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Set aside.
In a glass measuring cup (or bowl, but why dirty one?), stir together warm water and honey. Add yeast and let stand for about 8 minutes, or until all of the yeast has dissolved and is nice and foamy.
Add yeast mixture all at once to flour and stir to combine. As soon as the wet ingredients are well mixed in, tip the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and begin to knead. (This is where you have to know a *little* bit about bread-making, but don’t be a-feared!) Use a fairly light touch and knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic, adding flour a little sprinkle at a time if it begins to stick. Form the dough into a ball and place in an oiled (sprayed) bowl. Cover with oiled plastic wrap, drape with a clean tea-towel, and place in a warm-ish, draft-free spot for at least an hour…but preferably 8.
Once you are ready for your pizza – preheat your oven to 500. Tip your big, squooshy mass of dough onto a lightly floured surface (deja vu what?) and divide into 2 or 3 portions (or leave whole for one.big.pizza.) Sprinkle with a bit more flour and roll out each portion as thin as you can get it (flip over once). Transfer to a piece of parchment paper and top as desired. Bake (on the parchment) until crust is golden covered in bubbling goodness.
* I use the Robin Hood Nutriblend flour for all of my baking. It’s basically white flour with the bran added back. Nutritionally, it’s closer to whole-wheat…but it behaves like white and goes pretty much undetected in my baked goods. (Which is a good thing because who would get excited about a whole-wheat chocolate cupcake?)
relish 