What are some good things to do when your 8-year-old nephew comes to visit? Inevitably, you should prepare pizza.
True, but it’s not always the case. For some reason, I didn’t think about it until we were completely spent. Please accept my apologies on behalf of Gin Rummy and Monopoly. My father had just gotten a baking stone for Christmas, and my nephew is a pizza fan, so this turned out to be a fantastic idea.
If he helped me, I told him I’d make him famous and put his name on my website. It seems like that’s what piques his attention. The finished dish was “wonderful,” but the dough was “slimy and unpleasant,” in his opinion. But he liked getting to choose the condiments on his own pizza.
My Go-To Pizza Crust Recipe
As a further step, I improvised meals by combining instructions from cookbooks like The Best Recipe in Cook’s Illustrated and The Joy of Cooking. This pizza dough recipe is enough for two pizzas, each around 10 to 12 inches in diameter.
Next time, I’ll be more patient as I roll out the dough to a thinner thickness.
The Best All-Purpose Baking Flour for Homemade Pizza
Bread flour is the greatest option for making homemade pizza dough. You may use all-purpose flour instead of the bread flour called for in the recipe, but the gluten content of the bread flour will make for a crunchier crust.
Methods for Verifying the Viability of Yeast
To produce pizza dough, you’ll need a dry, active yeast. Check the yeast’s expiration date before using it! Yeast that is too old may be dead and hence useless.
If the yeast doesn’t froth or bloom after being added to the water in Step 1 of Making the Pizza Dough, it’s definitely dead. In order to start again, you’ll need yeast that is both active and fresh.
Here’s How to Determine Your Flour Quantity for Pizza Dough
When measuring flour, for example, one cup might hold more or less than another (we fluff the flour, lightly scoop it, and level with a knife). Therefore, I suggest using a kitchen scale to measure the flour. Only by doing it this way can you be sure of getting an accurate reading every time.
Pies and Crusts Baked From Scratch
- TIME NEEDED FOR PREPARATION Thirty minutes
- Time Required for Cooking: 30 Minutes
- TIME TO WAKE UP
- 90 mins
- INTERVAL OF TIME
- 2.5 hours
- Four to six servings
- RESULTS IN 2 TEN-INCH PIZZAS
This recipe makes enough pizza dough to make two (1-pound) pizzas.
Ingredients
When making pizza dough,
- 1 and a half cups (355 ml) of warm water (105°F-115°F)
- To activate dry yeast: 1 package (2 1/4 tablespoons).
- 3.75 cups (490 grammes) bread flour
- Two Tablespoons of Pure Olive Oil (omit if cooking pizza in a wood-fired pizza oven)
- Salt, kosher, 2 tablespoons
- Sugar, 1 Teaspoon
Preparing sauce and toppings for pizza
- Pure, unadulterated olive oil
- Cornmeal (to assist slide the pizza onto the pizza stone) (to help slide the pizza onto the pizza stone)
- Pasta with tomato sauce (smooth or pureed)
- Grated mozzarella cheese that is firm.
- Cut pieces of fresh, soft mozzarella cheese.
- Grated Fontina cheese
- Grated Parmesan cheese
- Crumbled feta cheese
- Mushrooms, either fresh and chopped extremely thinly or first sautéed
- Remove the stems and seeds from the bell peppers, then slice them very thinly.
- Pepperoncini from Italy, cut very thin
- Crumbled, precooked Italian sausage
- Black olives, sliced
- Finely diced fresh basil
- Adding baby arugula that has been coated in olive oil just before the pizza is served.
- Pesto
- Pepperoni, cut very thin
- Raw or caramelised onions, cut thin
- Lean slices of ham
Method
To Prepare Pizza Crust
- To “proof” the yeast, put the warm water in the big bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer. To activate the yeast, just sprinkle it over the warm water and let it rest for 5 minutes. If the yeast hasn’t entirely dissolved after 5 minutes, give it a stir. If the yeast is healthy and active, it will begin to froth or bloom. (Keep in mind that you don’t need to prove the dough if you use quick yeast instead of active yeast. Simply include into the flour mixture in the subsequent stage.
- To make the pizza dough, put the flour, salt, sugar, and olive oil into a mixing bowl and blend on low speed with a paddle attachment for one minute. Swap out the paddle for the dough hook. Use a dough hook and a low to medium speed for 7-10 minutes to knead the pizza dough. No mixer necessary; just combine and knead by hand. Make sure the dough is somewhat tacky when touched. More flour may be added if the mixture is too moist.
- Spread a thin coating of olive oil on the inside of a big bowl and set aside to use as a dough bowl while you let the dough rise. Put the pizza dough in the basin and toss it around to coat it with oil. Time the dough to rise and ferment according to your preferences. The dough’s taste will develop more fully after a slow fermentation (at least 24 hours in the refrigerator). The dough may be made workable after just 1.5 hours of fermentation in a warm environment. Protect the dough by wrapping it in plastic. You may speed up the rising time by 1 1/2 hours by putting the dough in a warm environment (75°F to 85°F). Dough needs 8 hours at room temperature (the kitchen counter is good) to rise moderately. To get a better rise out of the dough, refrigerate it for 24 hours (no more than 48 hours). To a certain extent, the crust’s taste improves with a longer rise time.
Assembling the Pizzas
1. Warm up the pizza stone (or pan, or sheet) in the oven:
Put a pizza stone on a rack in the lowest third of the oven. It’s best to preheat the oven for an hour, but at least half an hour, at 475 degrees Fahrenheit. If you don’t have a pizza stone, you can use a pizza pan or a thick baking sheet instead. You just need a surface that won’t warp when heated.
2. Form two equal-sized balls from the dough:
Take the dough out of the plastic wrap. In order to deflate the dough a little, dust your hands with flour and press down on it. Cut the dough in half horizontally. Make two identical spheres from the dough. Separate into individual bowls and let rest for 15 minutes covered in plastic (or up to 2 hours).
3. Put together the condiments:
Get together the condiments you’ll be using. Keep in mind that if you pile too many toppings onto each pizza, the dough may get soggy. Tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese, each about a third of a cup, would be enough for one pizza. You just need one or two mushrooms, chopped very thinly, to top a pizza.
4. Reduce the size of the dough ball and roll it out into a circle:
Take a single dough ball and flatten it with your hands on a lightly floured board. Repeat with the other dough balls.
Working from the centre outward, flatten the dough to a thickness of half an inch using your fingers. Turn the dough and continue stretching it until it breaks. Stretch the dough until it reaches a diameter of 10 to 12 inches, then rest it for 5 minutes. Be gentle with the dough! Working around the edges of the dough, you may also hold up the dough with your fingers and let it to hang and stretch as you work. If a hole forms in your dough while you’re working with it, just set the dough on a floured surface and press it back together to close the gap. Press the thicker edge of the dough down with your hand to thin it down. Form a lip by pinching the corners together.
5. Olive oil the top of the dough, then use your hands to push down and form dents all over the surface to stop it from rising and becoming too puffy. Spread some olive oil on the dough’s surface (to prevent it from getting soggy from the toppings). Allow 10 to 15 more minutes of rest. Put the second ball of dough through the same process.
6. Cornmeal-sprinkle the pizza peel, then place the rolled-out dough on it.
Pizza peel (or flat baking sheet) with a little coating of cornmeal. (The cornmeal will function as little ball bearings, making it easier to slide the pizza off the peel and into the oven.) Toss one prepared dough that has been rolled out onto the pizza peel. Lightly reshape the dough to the correct size if it has deformed during transfer.
7. Cover with tomato paste and seasonings:
Apply tomato sauce, cheese, and toppings of choice with a spoon. If you put too many toppings on the pizza, it will become mushy.
8. Be careful not to burn your fingers as you slide the pizza onto the baking stone in the oven. If the dough doesn’t glide readily when you shake the peel, raise the pizza’s edges and sprinkle them with a little additional cornmeal. Gently transfer the pizza from the peel to the hot baking stone.
9. Bake:
Bake pizzas in a preheated 475°F oven, 10 to 15 minutes each pizza, until the dough is baked and the cheese is golden. Some more cheese may be added at the end of cooking if desired.
| NUTRITION FACTS (per serving) | |
|---|---|
| 322 | CALORIES |
| 4g | FAT |
| 61g | CARBS |
| 10g | PROTEIN |
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