Senscrumptional

I tried a lot of recipes and mixes in my search for a good pizza dough.  Now, I’ve come up with a recipe of my own that I think works the best, based on a bit of trial and error (yes, we ate all the of the errors, but it wasn’t always pleasant).  The sauce is up to you.  If you want to just buy a premade sauce, as there are a lot of great options there.  If not, try my Simple Pizza Sauce recipe.

Ingredients:

Topped with my simple pizza sauce, feta, provolone, mozzarella, and chicken sausage

• ¾ cup warm water
• 1 teaspoon yeast
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2¼ cups bread flour (not all purpose!)
• 2 dashes salt
• 1½ tablespoons olive oil

Yield:

4-6 slices, 15″-16″ pizza

Directions:

First, add the warm water (as hot as your tap will get) to the sugar and yeast in a small cup.  Mix until the sugar and yeast are completely dissolved.  Let sit for about five minutes.  You should see a few tiny bubbles form near the surface at the middle of the container.

In a mixing bowl, combine the salt and flour.  Form a depression in the center of the bowl.  Add your yeast mixture, followed by the olive oil.  Using a fork, mix the ingredients by slowly drawing in more flour.  When the mixture becomes too thick to mix with the fork, use your hands.  When the dough is completely mixed (you may have a very small amount of unmixed flour in the bowl; this is fine–it will aid in rolling the dough out later), press it out flat in the bowl, as if you were rolling your dough.  Cover the bowl tightly, and place in a warm place to rise for two to three hours.

Preheat oven to 475° F.  Grease a pan, and roll the dough out to about ½ inch thickness, or a little less.  Your dough should be just a little thicker on the edges, to make a nice crust for gripping.  Optionally, you can spread a thin coat of olive oil over the rolled dough.  Next, spread your sauce (not too thickly!) over the dough, stopping about an inch from the edges (to allow the cheese to bond with the crust).  If you have any non-meat toppings, you’ll want to add those next.  Followed by cheese, loaded to your preference (I like to cover it so that you can just barely see the red sauce below).  Finally, add your meat toppings, if you have them.

Bake for 12-15 minutes.

Allow the pizza to cool for three minutes before cutting.

Now that I’ve got this one mastered, my next conquest is going to be a good thin crust!

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