Pizza Dough

Three months in the making, here is my pizza dough recipe. I used to make Tyler Florence's recipe, but then I started making more following the recipe in A New Way to Cook by Sally Schneider (which, by the way I this it is one of the better all-inclusive cookbooks I've run across). I use the amount of sugar from Tyler's recipe, but his was too salty for me, and I liked that the one from Sally Schneider because it has less salt.

Pizza Dough

1 cup warm water (I used filtered and microwave it until I get to about 105 degrees)
1 tsp sugar
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (or one of those little packets)
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour
2 tsp sea salt
about 2 TBSP extra-virgin olive oil

Combine water, sugar, and yeast. (I don't know if it matters, but I always add sugar first, stir it in, and then add the yeast, and I give that a stir). Let sit until foamy (about 4-5 minutes).

While that is getting all foamed up, add flour and salt into the bowl of Kitchenaid Mixer (If you don't have a Kitchenaid mixer, you can do it by hand or with a food processor, however, I've never tried either way). With the dough hook, mix together everything on medium speed until a dough ball forms. I usually let in knead for about 5 minutes or so. If the dough is sticky, add more flour. If it is crumbly, add more water. Only about a TBSP at a time though. The dough should be elastic.


Turn onto lightly-floured surface, and knead a few more times. It should form into a nice ball of dough, that springs back when you touch it, and has a slightly vevelty texture.



Put dough in an oiled bowl, and roll it around to coat the entire ball. This will keep it from sticking to the sides of the bowl as it rises.

Cover with a damp tea towel, and let rise in a warm spot for about 60 to 90 minutes. I set my oven on Warm (170 degrees) as I am prepping the dough. Then I put the dough in the oven, and turn the oven off. If it cools off, I'll turn it back on warm for a few minutes.

Once it rises, I plop the blob back onto the floured surface and knead it a few more times. I divide the dough in half. I form each half into a ball, and wrap one up tightly in plastic wrap and put in a freezer bag and into the freezer it goes.

At this point it ready to roll out and top and bake. It is best baked at 500 degrees. I have used one of those pizza stones, but I have a hard time transporting a completely topped pizza to the stone. I'm not even sure a pizza paddle would help me. I bake pizza on a pizza pan. I bought it a Wal-mart (sorry Wal-mart haters!) and it came in a set of 2 sizes. They work great!

Before I figured out you can freeze the ball of dough, I would use the left over and make an olive oil and salt focaccia bread. I'd take the lump of dough, kind of flatten it out, brush with a little olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Bake at 500 until done. It turns out to be rather dense, but a good bread to serve with pasta.