How to Make Pizza Dough
Would you like to know how to make pizza? I’ll show you some great recipes for crust, toppings, along with the techniques I’ve discovered over my 25+ years of cooking.
Today I have a quick and easy recipe for pizza crust for you to try. I love this recipe and use it all the time. I’ve got some hints and tips for you sprinkled liberally throughout.
By doubling or tripling this recipe, I can make two or three pizzas within an hour (if my kids stay out of the kitchen!)
Pizza dough Makes one 15-inch pizza crust.
Ingredients:
2-½ cups flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon dry yeast
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup hot tap water (120 - 130 degrees F)
2 tablespoons oil
Directions:
Mix 2 cups of the flour with the remaining dry ingredients. Add water and oil. Mix well. Add remaining flour as needed to make a soft dough. Knead five minutes. [You can knead the dough by hand, or, if your mixer has dough hooks, use the mixer. Using a spoon or spatula, combine the ingredients in the mixer bowl, then let the dough hooks do the kneading for five minutes. Also a bread machine can mix and knead the dough easily.]
Let dough rest for five minutes while you prepare your pan or baking stone. This is when the dough rises. Some recipes (some very good recipes) have the dough rising for an hour or an hour-and-a-half. Those recipes use less yeast than I have called for. I like this recipe in part because the extra yeast causes the dough to rise more quickly while still giving a good texture. Five minutes is enough. But if you let it rise longer, it will only improve the dough. If you do let it rest for more than five minutes, cover the dough with a damp towel or plastic wrap to prevent the dough from forming a dry crust.
Using a pizza roller, rolling pin, or your hands (which I do) roll or press your dough about ¼-inch thick on a lightly-greased heavy pizza pan, baking sheet, or baking stone. Pre-bake the crust at 500 degrees F for 3-4 minutes [5-7 minutes for a baking stone] just until puffed, but not brown. [You can omit this step, but the resulting pizza crust won’t be nearly so nice and crispy. Try it both ways if you’re adventurous.]
Tips: For a heartier, more nutritious crust, you can replace the 2 cups of white flour with whole wheat flour. This makes a more filling but denser crust. My family prefers white flour, but the pizza goes further when I use whole wheat flour.
I always have the sauce and toppings ready before I start the dough. If I don’t have the toppings ready, the pizza crust will be pre-baked and waiting for me with the oven on, wasting fuel while I prepare the rest of the ingredients.
If using a baking stone, lightly oil the stone in the center and work the oil out toward the edge, leaving the outer two inches unoiled. This will allow the dough to stick to the stone at the outer edges and help prevent the dough from shrinking too much back toward the center.
There’s a quick and easy recipe for you. You now know how to make pizza dough. Have fun! I’ll have more articles soon about toppings and whatnot.
bestpizzalady
P.S. For a really interesting cookbook available online that has good recipes from restaurants that we all know of, click on the link. It includes pizza recipes!
