Pizza Dough

Pizza. Probably my most favorite food. I eat a lot of it. Most of the pizza we eat in my household I make myself. It’s cheaper, tastes better, and is actually quite easy to do.
Through some trial and error I found a recipe that works the best for the basic home oven.

A couple of important items I feel you must have to make the dough a success.

1. Pizza Stone
2. Wheat Gluten

What’s the big deal with wheat gluten?

It is used as a dough conditioner that turns regular flour into a high gluten flour just like what the good pizzerias use.

Available at most health food stores or online.

Lot easier to use this than try and find a store that sells high gluten flour.

Here’s the dough recipe.

Ingredients Needed:

* 3/4 cup of warm water
* 2-3 Cups of All Purpose Flour
* 3 tsp of Sugar
* Olive Oil
* Salt
* 1 pkg of Yeast
* Wheat Gluten Flour

Place the pizza stone in the oven on the lowest rack. Pre-heat the oven to 550 degrees
Heat the water until it feels warm but not hot in a small bowl or measuring cup.
Add the packet of yeast and sugar to the bowl and mix with a spoon. Set this aside for about 5 min.*

*I usually put it in the oven using the oven light as the heat source while it rest for the 5 min. Just enough heat to give you a nice proofing.

I use an automatic mixer such as a kitchen aid for the mixing and kneading of the dough. Makes it easier but the following can be done by hand also.

Start with about 2 cups of flour and add it to the mixing bowl. Add about 3 tsp of wheat gluten flour, sugar, and salt. Mix all the ingredients well.
Add about 2 tbls of olive oil and the yeast mixture to the dry ingredients.

Use a dough hook and run the mixer at a low setting for about 15 min.

Add small amounts of flour to every 2- 3 minutes as needed until the dough is sticky but not enough where it actually sticks to your fingers when you poke it.
After the 15 min the dough should look soft and smooth.

Take a large bowl and lightly grease it with olive oil or spray it with something like Pam.
Place the dough into the bowl and roll the dough in the bowl a couple times to coat it with the oil.

Cover it with plastic wrap and let it rise for about 1.5 hrs.*

*Again I usually put it in the oven with only the oven light on which provides just enough heat to help the dough rise well.

After it has risen for 1.5 hrs, remove the plastic wrap and punch it down. Re-cover it and now place it in the fridge for a min of 4 hours. 6 is best if you can wait. Can even go overnight if you want.
I tend to like the texture better when it sits overnight.

Place the ball of dough onto a lightly floured surface. With your fingers start spreading it out by pushing down and out. Can use a rolling pin also if you prefer.

Lightly sprinkle cornmeal on a pizza peel. Carefully lift up the dough off the floured surface and place onto the pizza peel.

Add another tsp or two of olive oil on the crust and rub it with your fingers to coat the entire crust.

Add your favorite sauce and toppings.

A couple of minutes before the oven is ready lightly sprinkle cornmeal onto the stone. Careful not to burn yourself. Allow the oven to reach up to the final 550 degrees.

When the oven has reached the temperature you are going to grab your pizza peel keeping it almost parallel with the pizza stone, do a quick forward motion to slide the pizza off the peel and onto the stone. Pulling forward and back as needed to get the entire pizza on the stone. This can take a little practice. But you might mess up once in awhile. I know I have. But you will get it.

Once the pizza is set properly on the stone close the oven and drop the temperature to 475 degrees and back the pizza for about 10 minutes. The cooking time will vary so keep an eye on it. Cook it until the crust is golden brown.

When ready use the pizza peel and slide it underneath the pizza to remove it from the oven. Place on a cutting board and cut into slices.

Now eat and enjoy!