Pizza Revisited

A few years ago when this blog first began, I posted a pizza dough recipe. Since then, I've tweaked it. Here's the latest version:

Ingredients:

• 3 cups bread flour - not to be confused with all purpose flour or self rising flour. bread flour is readily available in the baking aisle of any grocery store.
• 1 package active dry yeast - I use the rapid/quick rise yeast, not the slow rising one
• 1 tbsp brown sugar or honey
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup warm water - make sure it's not HOT, because that can kill the yeast
• 3/4 cup (or more) of olive oil (substituting vegetable oil will not really work out as well).

Method:

In a mug, mix honey/brown sugar and water. Add yeast and let it sit for 5 minutes. 

In a separate bowl, sift together flour and salt.

If you plan to use a dough mixer (I use the Ninja Pulse System, it's great!) combine olive oil, water/honey/yeast mixture and pulse it. Add a cup of flour and blend with the dough paddle. Continue adding a cup at a time. Keep kneading in the machine for a few minutes afterwards. If the dough doesn't feel soft, add more olive oil and warm water (alternating) 1/4 cup at a time to get the right consistency. 

If you plan to knead with your hands combine olive oil, water/honey/yeast mixture in a large bowl. Add half a cup of flour at a time and knead thoroughly. If the dough doesn't feel soft, add more olive oil and warm water (alternating) 1/4 cup at a time to get the right consistency. 

Oil a large bowl and let the dough sit in it in a warm area for an hour. Cover lightly with kitchen cloth. 

After an hour has passed, knead a bit more with your hands, and let the dough rise for an additional hour or two at which point it's ready to be rolled out and baked. i split the dough into two portions for thin to medium crust pizza. for a thick/pan crust i'd go for 2/3rds of the dough.  

I use this pizza roller instead of a regular rolling pin and this perforated pizza pan (helps the bottom cook better/crispier). I cover the pan with a foil, lightly oil it, and use it as a mould to shape the dough with the roller.  

I either half bake my crust (8 minutes) on 400 F (on the foil over the pan) before pulling it out of the oven, cooling it, adding toppings, then rebaking (without the foil over the pan) until the cheese is bubbly. 

OR I half bake, add toppings, and freeze the whole thing for a day or more to bake it right before serving. I really liked the results of the freezing technique and will be sticking to that for the future. It also cuts 'day of' prep time by a LOT!

To avoid the veggie toppings from getting watery in the oven, saute your veggies in a pan on the stove before adding to the pizza. 

For a flavored crust, I add 1 tbsp of minced garlic and 1 tsp of italian seasoning to the wet ingredients before the kneading process.