Many times with grocery store or take out pizza the edge of the crustis left on the plate. Well, that won't happen with this crust. Your family and friends are sure to eat the whole thing.
When all your friends ask you for the recipe, you can come to the top of this page and email it them at the click of a button (we figured this would save you a lot of time copying or printing it out. ;)
This dough is easiest to make in a food processor or bread maker. You can, however, make it by hand (there's just a lot of mixing and kneading that way). Feel free to add ingredients to the dough to make it more interesting. I've often added minced garlic or rosemary or basil. I've even added chopped peanuts for the Thai Style Pizza (recipe link below). It's your pizza, be creative.
Ingredients: 3 1/2 cups flour
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons yeast
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
To Mix Dough by Hand:
Pour warm water into a bowl. The water should be about 85 to 115° F. Test it with your hand. It should feel very warm, but comfortable. Add the honey and salt. Mix by and hand (or any other method) until well blended. Add the yeast and mix some more. Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of flour and the olive oil and mix until well blended. Add the rest of the flour (and any other additions) and mix well. The dough should turn into a ball. If the dough does not ball up because it's too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does. If your mixture is more like a batter, add flour one tablespoon at a time. Adding water or flour as needed to get the right consistency will assure you always get a perfect dough. Just remember to do it in small amounts.
Once the dough is balled up, place the ball on a floured board and knead for about a minute. This builds the gluten which helps the dough to rise and become fluffy when cooked. Place the dough in a plastic grocery bag or a covered bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise.
After about 45 minutes the dough should have about doubled in size. Show it who's boss and punch it down. That's right, give it a good smack so it deflates. Let it rise for another hour to an hour and a half. The dough is now ready to be rolled out. You can punch the dough down one more time if you want and wait another hour or two before rolling out. The choice is yours.
You're now ready for the next step: Rolling out the dough.
This dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or so, or even frozen. Be sure to let it come to room temperature before using.
Pizza Rolling Primer
Introduction
Ask just about anybody what their favorite food is. I can guarantee that one of the top three is likely to be pizza. Everyone loves pizza and everyone has different opinions about pizza. Thin or thick crust? What toppings? New York, California or Chicago style? Small, Medium or Large? Even pick-up or delivery? Now you can have your very own opinion,options and your very own pizza!
This article is intended to give you the basics of pizza preparation, condiments and cooking equipment. Pizza is very forgiving. It really doesn't care what you put on it or where you cook it. I've even made it on a barbecue! So don't worry and just have fun with it.
Equipment For Making Pizza
* Food processor - this is probably the most useful (although you can get by without it) piece of equipment.
* Rolling pin - for those who don't want to toss the dough.
* Baking stone or bricks - a heavy duty baking sheet can be used instead.
* Pizza peel - paddle like tool for removing pizza from the oven - a couple of spatulas will work fine too.
* Pizza cutter - don't have one? Use a big knife.
* Cooling rack
The method for making pizza no matter what kind or style you like
Pizza
1. Make the dough.
Bread flour is what I use, it produces a dough that's a little thicker, lighter and fluffier. If you prefer a thinner and crisper crust, use regular flour.
2. Make the sauce (not always necessary).
Some pizzas have sauces some don't. Not only does a sauce add flavor, it helps keep the cheese on the pizza.
3. Cut the cheese (Not the way you're thinking, Beavis!).
Cheese is probably the single most important ingredient. Don't be cheap when it comes to buying cheese. Buy fresh, whole cheeses. You and your taste buds will be glad you did. It's OK to grate the cheese in advance (I use the food processor for this) and keep refrigerated or frozen for later use.
4. Prepare the toppings.
I like to have all the toppings cut and ready prior to assembly. This makes the assembly fast, which is important.
5. Roll out the dough.
Roll out the dough on a clean dry surface. Use lots of flour so it won't stick. (Click on Page 2 of this article for detailed photo instructions.)
6. Assemble and bake.
Place the dough on a cookie sheet or on your pizza peel. If using a peel, first sprinkle it with a little corn meal. The cornmeal acts like tiny "ball bearings" that helps the pizza to slide off into the oven.
Put the sauce on leaving a quarter to half inch border around the edge. This gives your pizza that pizzeria look. Cover with cheese. Also leaving a quarter to half inch border. Place toppings on top. Put pizza in a 450° F. degree oven for about 15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. If you are using a pizza stone or bricks, always sprinkle corn meal on stone just before the pizza goes in. This helps the pizza not to stick here too.
Remove and let cool on cooling rack for 10 minutes. If you don't let it cool a bit before cutting the molten hot cheese will flow like lava off your pizza and on to your counter.
7. Slice it up and share with family and friends.
Slice it up any way you like and be sure to have enough people around to tell you how great it is.
Every pizza is pretty much made the same way. Any technique unique to a particular pizza will be described within the recipe.
Enjoy!
Rolling Out Pizza Dough
One mistake most people make when working with dough is not using enough muscle. Dough fights back. You push it, it pushes back. Don't be afraid of the dough. It won't bite you and you can't really damage it, either. When working with dough, use plenty of flour, but don't let it get too dry. It should be fun to work with, not too sticky and not too crumbly.
Form it into a flat ball about six to eight inches wide.
Using both hands, one on top of the other, press from the center outwards on it to start stretching it out, turning the dough a bit on each push. You can also pick up the dough and squeeze the edges of it while turning it like a steering wheel. This allows the weight of the dough to stretch it.
Once the dough is about 1/2" thick all the way around, use a rolling pin to flatten it out to about 1/4" thick. I usually run the pin over once or twice, flip the dough over and give it a quarter turn and roll it again to make it even.
Take a fork and put puncture holes all over the dough. This keeps it from bubbling up while cooking and it also helps to hold the sauce on as well.
pizza peelputting on the toppings
Transfer dough to pizza peal sprinkled corn meal or place it on a lightly greased cookie sheet.
Top with sauce, cheese and/or toppings and bake in a 400° F. oven until the crust is light brown. Bake on either baking stones or on the cookie sheet or a pizza pan.
Enjoy!
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For Awesome pizza dough recipe
Put 2 tsp into 1 1/4 c warm water in a large bowl. Sit for 5 minutes. Add 2 tsp sugar and 1 tsp salt. Mix. Add 1 c of all-purpose flour at a time. Do this 3x for 3 c of flour. Knead for 10 minutes. Let sit for 1/2 hour.
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THE BEST NEW YORK STYLE PIZZA
Cooking Tools:
1. Pizza stone (critical to the pizza crust texture)
2. Pizza peel (looks like a wooden pan, important in transferring the pizza to the oven
3. Thermometer (to measure water temperature)
4. Pizza cutter
Stage 1:
2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon olive oil
2/3 cups warm water (110°F to 115°F)
1 teaspoon sugar
5/8 teaspoon active dry yeast
Stage 2:
flour
cornmeal
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons pizza sauce
2/3 lb mozzarella cheese
1/4 lb Romano and Parmesan cheese
chopped basil
crushed red pepper
garlic powder
onion powder
oregano
Stage 1:
1. Mix the warm water and sugar in a small bowl until blended together.
2. Add the yeast and mix well. Then wait until the top becomes foamy (about 5-10 minutes).
3. In the meantime mix the flour, salt and olive oil in large bowl.
4. Once yeast/water mixture is ready, add it to the flour mixture and stir. Continue to mix until you get a doughy mass that is smooth and elastic. If it is still sticky, add some extra flour to it (It's okay if dough is slightly sticky).
5. Form the dough mass into a ball and place in an oiled bowl (you can use oil or a cooking spray). Roll the ball in the bowl so that it is covered in oil. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and place in a warm place; let rise for at least an hour. (I run my clothes dryer for a minute then stop it and put the bowl inside).
6. If you are planning on cooking the pizza immediately, preheat the oven to 475°F and place the pizza stone inside the oven on the lowest rack. The stone should be heated in the oven for around an hour before placing the pizza. This way, your dough and your pizza stone will be ready around the same time.
Stage 2:
1. Place dough ball on a flat (clean) floured surface.
2. Punch it down and work into a circular disc. At this point the dough should be smooth and elastic and easy to work with. If not, add a pinch full of flour and rub it on top of the dough.
3. Use your hands to spread out the dough (Don't use a rolling pin). You should work from the center and spread outwards (this ensures the center dough is thinner and keeps a thicker crust). You can also stretch the dough out by holding it on top of both fists and spreading them apart slowly.
Occasionally, flip the dough over and sprinkle a little flour on to make sure dough is not sticky. Continue to work dough until you have circular disc about 12"-14" in diameter.
4. Be sure when you have completed stretching out the dough that there are no parts of the dough that are sticky, as this will make transferring the pizza to the oven difficult.
Once ready, transfer dough to a pizza peel. The peel should be lightly covered in flour and corn meal (this will help keep the pizza from sticking to the peel).
5. Brush the pizza crust with olive oil. Then top with pizza sauce and cheeses.
6. Now add the spices over the cheese. Just add enough to lightly coat the surface with a single pass. You can add any toppings that you prefer to the pizza.
7. The pizza is now ready to be cooked. If you had your oven prepared with the pizza stone at 475°F for an hour, you are ready to go.
Using the pizza peel, slide the pizza on top of the stone. This can be tricky. Have the peel inside the oven at about a 20 degree angle. Then push the peel forward and jerk backwards. The pizza should slide right in like this.
8. Cook for 14 minutes and then remove only the pizza (use a pair of spatulas to remove the pizza). Let the stone remain in the oven and allow it to cool inside the oven.
9. Let the pizza cool for about 7 minutes before serving. Use a pizza cutter and make 8 slices.
Serves 2-4 people.
To clean the pizza stone:
Once it is cooled, use a metal spatula to scrape off any residue and use a wet paper towel to wipe off.
Don't use any soaps or detergents, the stone will absorb the chemicals and possibly affect the taste of the pizza. Stone will stain brown and is normal.
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