Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Pizza Pizza!: Pizza Dough From Scratch

Pizza has to be the number one favorite food in America, and there is a never-ending list of places to buy it and ways to fix it. However, no matter whether it's Domino's or DiGiorno, there's a plethora of yucky preservatives and food additives in the ingredients, so when the opportunity came to make my own, I gave it a try!

Lucky for me, my husband came home a couple weeks ago with almost two whole blocks of smoked mozzarella cheese that he got for free from his work. What are we going to do with that? I thought, as I pondered the sheer amount of cheese. The answer turned out to be make my own dough and have some pizza!

I found that pizza dough is extremely easy to make, and you can add whichever herbs and spices you want. I actually tried two different recipes in the last couple weeks, and while one turned out good, the other was a disaster. I found that you absolutely must have a recipe with yeast --- non-yeast recipes just do not work well at all.



I used this recipe, which contains the following: 

3 cups flour (I used all-purpose, but you can use unbleached, whole wheat, etc.)
1 package (.25 ounce) of active dry yeast (the original kind)
2 tablespoons oil (calls for vegetable, but I used Extra Virgin Olive Oil and it was much better)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 cup warm water (110 degrees)

I also added 1 teaspoon garlic powder and 1 pinch of oregano.


pizza, pizza dough and toppings, unbaked
Uncooked pizza toppings on slightly cooked dough.

Steps:


  • Mix dry ingredients.
  • Measure the cup of water. It's very important to make sure it is warm, but not hot. I had mine comfortably warm, a little warmer than lukewarm. You have to be cautious with this, because if the water is cold or too hot, the yeast can be destroyed.
  • Pour the oil and water into the dry ingredients, and mix thoroughly. 
  • Let dough sit in the bowl on the counter, covered by a towel, for 15-30 minutes. According to the original recipe, this is not necessary, but I found the dough much easier to work with when I let it rest a bit before rolling it.
  • Roll or hand-toss dough to fit your pizza pan. I found it to work best if I rolled it out a bit first, and then hand-stretched it the rest of the way. This makes enough dough for an extra large pizza, so if your pan is smaller you may want to divide your dough in half and do two of them.
  • Pre-bake crust only at 375 degrees for 7-10 minutes. Again, the recipe does not say to do this, but when I didn't pre-bake it on my first try, the toppings were done way before the crust was.
  • Take crust out of the oven, and spread sauce and choice of toppings.
  • Bake an additional 15-18 minutes, check your pizza and add more time if necessary. 

My pizza turned out delicious! It was all bubbly and smelled so much better than delivery!

baked pizza, fresh pizza
Mmm... delicious! 

I will definitely use this recipe again and again. I have to stress that the olive oil and garlic are very important to add, because otherwise the dough is very bland and plain. Doctor it up however you like to have a very flavorful pizza!

What is your favorite kind of pizza? Do you make your own at home? Let me know what you think!

As always, thanks so much for reading!

Until next time,

8 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Hi there! Thank you so much for your comment. I hope you enjoy your pizza!

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  2. Hello dear, I just nominated you for the Liebster award.

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    ReplyDelete
  3. I make my own with pita bread, some low-sodium, no-sugar spaghetti sauce, some low fat/sodium cheese, some chredded chicken, mushrooms, onions and peppers..popped in the oven YUMMY

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks for your comment! That sounds delicious, as I love chicken and mushrooms!

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  4. This is exactly my kind of dish. Pizza Looks delicious. I will surely make it.

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  5. yuuuuuumy pizzzzaaa.......delicious :)

    ReplyDelete