HOMEMADE PIZZA CRUST

HOMEMADE PIZZA CRUST image

Categories Cheese

Number Of Ingredients 11

Ingredients

Instructions
Recipe created by Sally's Baking Addiction.
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a hook attachment, combine the yeast and warm water. Stir it around and let sit for 5 minutes or until the yeast is foamy and dissolved. This is called "proofing" the yeast. If the yeast doesn't dissolve, your yeast is dead. Start again with active yeast. Add flour, olive oil, salt, and sugar. Mix by hand with wooden spoon or dough whisk, or with the dough hook on low speed for 1 minute.
Once all of the ingredients are mixed, knead for 7 minutes by hand or with your dough hook on low-medium speed. If your dough is too wet, add up to ¼ cup more flour. After kneading, your dough should be smooth and elastic. Poke it with your finger - if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading.
Shape the dough into a ball and place in a large mixing bowl that has been coated lightly with olive oil. Turn it over to coat all sides. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm environment (about 80°F) until doubled in size (1-2 hours).
Punch the dough down to release the air.
Divide the dough into two halves. Roll each half into a ball and let rest in two separate bowls lightly covered for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 475°F. Allow to heat for at least 30 full minutes. Every inch of your oven needs to be very, very hot. Grease and dust 2 baking sheets with nonstick spray or with olive oil.
Sprinkle with cornmeal (optional, preferred for flavor and texture).
Prepare your favorite toppings.
After 15 minutes, flatten each ball of dough 1 at a time on a lightly floured surface or on a silicone baking mat. You could also do this directly on your cornmeal lined pizza pan. Flatten into a 12-inch round circle, flattening and stretching the dough. If using a pizza stone, place the dough directly on baker's peels dusted with cornmeal.

Steps:

Lift the edge of the dough up to create a lip around the edges. (Simply pinch the edges up to create the rim.) To prevent the filling from making your pizza crust soggy, brush the top lightly with olive oil. Using your fingers, push dents into the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling, or use a docker if you have one. Let rest for 15 minutes before topping. Top with your favorite toppings and bake for 12-15 minutes. (Optional: For the last minute, move the oven rack to the top rack to really brown the edges.) Slice hot pizza and serve immediately. Store leftover pizza covered tightly in the refrigerator and reheat as you prefer. Baked pizza slices may be frozen up to 1 month. Note: This recipe is enough to make two 12-inch pizzas. If you do not need two pizzas, here are the Freezing Instructions: After the pizza dough has risen and you divide the dough in half to form into two pizzas (step 5), you may freeze one of the balls of dough to make a pizza at a later time. Or you may simply freeze both balls of dough, separately. Lightly spray all sides of the dough ball(s) with nonstick spray or lightly coat all sides with olive oil. Place the dough ball(s) into individual zipped-top bag(s) and seal tightly, squeezing out all the air. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thawing Instructions: Put your frozen pizza dough ball(s) in the fridge overnight or for about 12 hours to thaw. When ready to make the pizza(s), remove the dough from the refrigerator and set out on the counter to rest for 30 minutes and come to room temperature. Continue with step 6.

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