Pizza Dough

Instructions

You can either need by hand or use a stand mixer with a dough hook. Both ways are outlined below.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, salt, sugar and yeast in a large bowl.

Combine water and oil; add to flour mixture. Stir until mixture forms a ball.

By Hand: With lightly floured hands, turn dough out onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic (7-10 minutes). Shape into a round mound.

Kneading Technique: Punch dough down, pick it up, twist and repeat. When dough gets sticky to the touch add a “little” flour as needed, as you go along. Once the dough reaches elasticity, you don’t want to continue to add flour or crust will become dry. It should take 7-10 minutes total.

Stand Mixer: Initially mix with the paddle attachment just to mix ingredients, then switch to the dough hook and to kneed for about 10 minutes on low speed.

Once dough is done kneading, place it in a large bowl coated with a little olive oil; turning to coat top and sides. Cover dough with a light weight towel and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts for about an hour, or until double in size. (Press 2 fingers into dough. If indentation remains, the dough has risen enough).

Punch dough down. At this point you can either shape right away (I watched YouTube Videos for this technique) to use, refrigerate until needed or freeze; see Note below. If freezing, divide in half, shape into 2 round balls, squeezing any air bubbles out.

If you are going to make your pizza right away, place a pizza stone in oven and preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Place ball of dough on a lightly floured board. Knead 20 times and divide dough in half. On a lightly floured surface flatten one of the halves with your hands, pushing the dough outwards with the underside of your fingers (don't use finger tips). Don't overwork the dough. Or place the disks over your fist and stretch and work the dough with the other hand until you have a 10-inch circle. Place dough on pizza peel that has been sprinkled with 1 tablespoon of cornmeal.

Top with your favorite toppings. Carefully slide pizza off pizza peel onto preheated baking stone and bake for about 15-20 minutes.

Repeat with other half of the dough to make another pizza or refrigerate or freeze dough for another time.

To pre-cook your crust (similar to a Boboli crust), prepare and shape dough as indicated above and cook in a grill-pan or large fry-pan. Heat a little olive oil to medium-heat (be sure to use enough, but not too much; you don’t want to fry them, just prevent sticking). Once grill marks appear (a couple of minutes), flip and cook other side. Remove to cooling rack and when cool wrap with plastic wrap until you are ready to add toppings and bake.

If you are going to make pizzas later in the day, wrap each ball of dough in saran wrap and put in refrigerate until you are ready to assemble. When ready to make your pizza, lightly flour the surface you will be using to shape the crust. Cover dough with a light-weight towel and let dough rest until it gets to room temperature (about 2 hours). Flatten dough with your hands, pushing the dough outwards with the underside of your fingers (don't use finger tips). Don't overwork the dough. Or place one of the disks over your fist and stretch and work the dough with the other hand until you have a 10-inch circle. Place dough on pizza peel that has been sprinkled with 1 tablespoon of cornmeal. Top with your favorite toppings. Pre-heat a pizza stone in your oven. Slide pizza off pizza peel onto the stone and bake at 425 degrees for about 15-20 minutes.

NOTE: This recipe makes 2 crusts. They can be frozen for up to 1 month. Dust half with flour; wrap in plastic wrap and store in a heavy-duty Ziploc bag in your freezer. To thaw, place dough in refrigerator 12 hours or overnight. Transfer dough to a glass bowl, cover with saran, then shape according to directions above.