Pizza Dough

This pizza dough is sure to be a crowd pleaser! Trust me. I’ve made this dough many times and people keep telling me that it’s the best pizza they’ve ever had. The dough is so light and chewy and is the perfect base to whatever creation you decide to put on top.

You can find inspiration for different pizza toppings at the bottom of the page. If you need a tomato pizza sauce recipe, you can follow the link here: Homemade Pizza Sauce.

PIZZA DOUGH

Prep Time: 3.5 – 4 hours

Cook Time: 10 min.

Makes: 2 – 14” pizzas or 3 – 12” pizzas

Ingredients

2 tsp yeast
1 cup + 2 tbsp warm water (105°-110°F)
3 cups flour
4 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Instructions

Start by dissolving the yeast in the warm water and let sit for 5 minutes.
Using a stand-up mixer with the dough hook attachment, combine all ingredients except yeast-water mixture. Mix together until all is evenly combined. Then, on slow, add in the yeast-water mixture.
Knead dough for 2-3 minutes until smooth and elastic. Don’t over mix as this will cause the dough to rise improperly.
Oil the inside of a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place in a warm area to rise for between 1½ to 2 hours.
Once the dough has doubled, punch the dough down.
Separate into two portions (if you want larger pizzas) or three portions (if you want medium pizzas).
Roll each portion into a ball, making sure to pinch up any holes.
Place the new dough balls into a glass dish (I use a casserole dish or two pie plates usually) and cover with plastic wrap to rise again for 2 hours.
1 hour before you’re ready to cook your pizza, place your pizza stone in the oven at 500°F.
To stretch your dough, place one of the nicely risen dough balls on a floured surface and, using a rolling pin or your hands, flatten into a nice circle and then begin to stretch the dough outwards by either using the fun ‘spin in the air’ pizza method (Yes, that is the technical term) or lift an edge and, allowing the dough to hang down, move along the edge of the dough to have gravity do the work of pulling your dough down and stretched into a circle.
When you have the size you’re happy with, add all the sauce and toppings you want and transfer to your pizza stone. Most pizzas will take about 10 minutes to cook.

Hannah’s Hints:

Step 3: If kneading dough by hand, mix the wet into the dry mixture using a spoon, then knead for about 5 minutes.

Step 4: Use a glass or metal bowl for your dough to rise in, something that it won’t stick to.

Step 5: If you prefer to make the dough ahead of time, you can reshape the dough into a new ball after punching down and place the dough in the fridge overnight. The next day, remove the dough from the fridge two hours before it’s time to bake and continue with the next steps.

Step 11: You’ll want to prepare you pizza on something like a wooden cutting board or pizza peel that you can easily slide your pizza off onto your pizza stone. Make sure you’ve floured the bottom of your dough enough. If the dough is too sticky, it won’t slide off your surface and will create a mess when trying to get it on the stone. Adding a bit of cornmeal to your pizza peel is also helpful.