Pizza Dough

For the last six years our so we have been really into making our own pizza. However, we were not so ambitious as to make our own crust until very recently. We found a recipe and thought we would give it a shot but had little expectations it would turn out well on our first try. It ended up turning out so well and was surprisingly easy to make. I don't think we will be able to go back to making pizza using Trader Joe's premade crust. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups water

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

In a large bowl, dissolve the yeast in 1/2 cup water. Stir in a 1/2 cup of flour and mix well. Cover the bowl in plastic wrap and let it rise until it's foamy, about an hour.

Mix in the remaining water, flour, and salt and beat well.

When the dough starts to form as you're mixing, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and supple, about 15 minutes.

Place the dough in a large bowl, dusted with flour, and cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise until doubled, about 2 or 3 hours.

Deflate the dough and separate it out into two equal pieces. Bring one piece out to a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough out to half of its final size. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Stretch out the dough with your hands or a rolling pin until it is slightly larger than your pizza pan (room for the crust). Put dough on the pan, evenly spread some tomato sauce around, and form the crust. Add desired toppings, and bake for about 10 or 15 minutes, or until the crust becomes crispy.

For an even tastier crust, once it has been formed but before you put pizza in the oven, brush some olive oil and sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on the crust. It's super easy but really brings the pizza up a notch. 

Side note - we often play around with different toppings but our favorite toppings are normally goat cheese and olives.

Enjoy!