Fail-Proof Pizza Dough

We love making homemade pizza; we used to make it almost every week when we were engaged/dating/in Rexburg.  We don't make it as often now, but it's always fun.  We have almost always used Zak's mom's recipe (they have a Pizza Friday tradition since forever), which is awesome and we love.  But I saw this recipe online and thought I'd like to give it a try.  The gal talked about how the crust was chewier, thinner and like restaurant pizza, and the only major difference was using bread flour vs. regular flour.  Zak was in charge of the dough and when I came home for work, we made two pizzas: one just cheese, and one with pineapple, tomatoes and basil.  It was delicious.  I really liked this recipe, the crust was awesome!  Zak liked it too, but he naturally loves his mom's recipe.  So I think we'll use this one from time to time, depending on our stock of bread or regular flour.  

Crust
1 c. warm water
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1 Tbl. honey (or sugar)
2 tsp. salt
2 Tbl. olive or canola oil
3 c. bread flour

Sauce
6 oz. tomato sauce
6 oz. tomato paste
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. basil
1/2 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. garlic
1/2 tsp. minced onion


~4 c. cheese
toppings

1.  In a large mixing bowl, stir together yeast and honey (or sugar) into warm water.  Let sit for 5 - 10 minutes or until bubbles form and mixture starts to foam.
2.  Pour in salt, oil and half the flour and mix on low.
3.  Once that flour is incorporated, start adding rest of flour slowly until dough is slightly tacky, but doesn't stick to hands when you touch it.
4.  Turn the mixer to medium - high to high speed, set a timer for 6 minutes and walk away.
5.  Lightly grease bowl and dough, cover with plastic wrap and let rise 1 - 2 hours.
6.  Once dough has doubled in size, punch down, separate into two pieces and roll into circle.  Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
7.  Mix sauce ingredients, adding other spices to taste.
8.  Add sauce, cheese and toppings to pizza.
9.  Cook pizza about 8 - 10 minutes, until crust has turned a beautiful golden brown color.

at first, I was skeptic of pineapple w/basil & tomatoes, but it was so yummy!

beautiful and delicious

Pizza! (+ dessert pizza)

If you were around me and Zak last year before we were engaged, you'd know about our fabulous Pizza Fridays. The dough recipe is Zak's mother's recipe (he grew up having Pizza Fridays); the sauce recipe comes from my family's huge cookbook...Although we have tweaked it, per usual.

Dough
5 c. flour (the last time I made the dough, I did about 3 c. white flour, 2 c. whole wheat..it worked alright, but I think I shouldn't have added so much wheat dough--I need to work on it)
2 tsp. salt
2 Tbl. yeast (1 packet is a little less than 1 Tbl.)
2 c. water
5 Tbl. olive oil
*sometimes we add a few Tbls. of honey

Sauce
1 6-oz. can tomato sauce (most are 8 oz.)
1 6-oz. can tomato paste
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. basil
*this is the base, we usually add all or any of the following, until it tastes perfect:
-minced garlic (fresh or other)
-garlic salt (instead of normal salt)
-onion salt (ditto)
-black pepper
-garlic powder

All you have to do is mix the dough ingredients together and let it rise in a warm place, about 45 - 60 minutes, or until it looks like it's doubled. Punch it down and then roll it on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin. This recipe makes 2 - 3 pizzas, depending on how big your pizza pans are. We have a HUGE pan, so we usually make one huge pizza and a normal 9" one.

Then mix up the sauce until it tastes perfect to you. Some toppings we use include:

-pineapple
-red onion (good on our BBQ chicken pizza)
-black olives
-tomato slices
-red pepper
-green pepper
-ham
-bacon
-pepperoni
-onion
-sausage
-chicken marinated in BBQ sauce

We use a pizza three-blend of cheese, which we've found works better than just straight up mozzarella. Make the pizzas with whatever combination you see fit and bake at 550 or 500 degrees (however high your oven will go) for about 8 minutes. The important thing is to make sure the crust is a golden brown and that it's cooked underneath. With our huge pan, that's hard to determine; we've taken it out of the oven and cut it up, only to discover it wasn't as cooked as we would have liked.

Some other fun hints: if you want to make a stuffed-crust pizza, buy 4 or 5 string cheese sticks and quarter them. Make the dough a little bigger than the pan, place the cheese around the edge and fold the crust over. It works so much better than shredded cheese.

Also, running a stream of honey around the edges makes the crust very tasty. We have done that with our BBQ chicken pizza, yum!

our first time making pizza, the crust was huge

our BBQ chicken pizza we made when my best friends visited

the way I like Hawaiian pizza: with LOTS of pineapple and the ham barely visible 

 

pepperoni, black olives and chopped onion

Dessert Pizza

Crumb topping

1/2 c. flour

1/2 c. brown sugar

1/2 c. quick oats

1/2 c. firm butter

1 tsp. cinnamon

Vanilla glaze

2 c. powdered sugar

3 Tbl. milk

1 Tbl. melted butter

1 tsp. vanilla

1 can apple, cherry, or blueberry pie filling.

1. Using a portion of the dough (since it makes 2 - 3 pizzas), roll it out.

2. Spread pie filling over it.

3. Mix crumb topping well and spoon over filling.

4. Bake 10 - 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown (at 550-degrees, it was about 5 minutes)

5. Once removed out of oven, drizzle with glaze.