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Perfect Pizza Dough

Posted on 04/23/2010 by Maura

I’ll be honest.  This is the first time I’ve ever worked with yeast.  It scares me, but I knew I needed to get over my fear to be able to make things like cinnamon rolls, homemade bread, and most importantly, pizza dough.

Pizza.  Who doesn’t love pizza, honestly, because I surely don’t know a single person who doesn’t.  Two of the main ingredients are bread and cheese.  Those two things are enough for me, but then you go adding things like chicken, pepperoni, green peppers, black olives, and dare I say barbecue chicken or pineapple?

This pizza dough was perfect and very, very easy.  There actually was not a single tricky step about it and you only use one bowl and one wooden spoon or spatula.  I think I’ve done enough convincing, now go make this dough and enjoy a delicious homemade pizza tonight!  BBQ Chicken Pizza recipe coming next week!

Perfect Pizza Dough

Makes 1 large pizza

Ingredients

3 cups flour

2 teaspoons salt

1-1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast (check the expiration)

1 cup lukewarm water (may need a few tablespoons more)

2 tablespoons olive oil

Instructions

Stir the dry ingredients in a large bowl, including the yeast.  Add the olive oil and water, stirring the dough into as close of a ball as you can.  Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead into a ball for one or two minutes.

Lightly oil the same large bowl and add the dough.  Toss to coat it lightly in the oil.  Place a damp cloth over the bowl and let the dough rise for a few hours until it is doubled in size (mine took about four).  Either pop it in the fridge until you need it with the towel still on and the dough still in the bowl or dump it back out onto a lightly floured surface if you’re ready for it then.

Press the air out of the dough with the palms of your hand.  Fold it into a ball and place plastic wrap over it for about 20 minutes.

Sprinkle a pizza stone or baking sheet with cornmeal and turn the oven to the top temperature (before broil).

Stretch and pull the pizza into the shape you desire (round or rectangular).  Add toppings and pop into the oven for about 20 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is golden.

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

About Maura

I have a secret: I cannot do anything in moderation. I always have to take things to the extreme, at the expense of my own and my family's sanity and often times my dad’s checkbook. When I started taking horseback riding lessons, I insisted on having a pony. When I ice skated for probably the second time, I made my mom buy me ice skates that were never again worn. When I thought I wanted to be a teacher, I made my parents turn one of the rooms in the basement into a school room, stocked with an overhead projector, pull-down maps and a real, classroom-sized chalkboard and white board. When I discovered cooking I bossed my older sister around in the kitchen for an entire day, forcing her to make dozens of recipes with me against her will and then had her do all the dishes (sorry Cait). And, when I discovered food blogs I bought the biggest binder I could find, printed out 250 recipes in one day and laminated and categorized each one. My dad was not happy about the ink situation. So, what does this tell you about me? For one, you can trust that every recipe I post is more than delicious and has been meticulously tried and tested for you. Also, that I’m an anal freak. Enjoy! View all posts by Maura → This entry was posted in Dinner and tagged bread, dough, pizza. Bookmark the permalink. ← Orange Chicken-Chinese at Home BBQ Chicken Pizza →