The Best Pizza Dough Recipe
My Family LOVES pizza! But lets be honest, who doesn't?!? Where we live it is expensive to buy a pizza and they generally are thick crust and some places are too greasy. This is what got me onto the idea of making our own pizza. It seemed like such a difficult task and I honestly was afraid I'd mess it up. However, the first pizza was a success! It wasn't a thin crust but it held together and tasted good. After making pizza for a couple of years now I have mastered the thin crust and also come up with a recipe that I like.
One thing that I like to add to my dough recipe is Garlic flavoured Olive Oil. Olive Tasting Room has a great selection of different flavoured oils and vinegar's which I also use to make great tasting salad dressings as well. Adding the Garlic oil to the pizza dough gives it a great garlic taste and to be honest, that oil is so over powering that you can't really use it for anything else. If you are using it for a salad dressing be cautions as to how much you add as it really can be too much for even a Caesar salad dressing. I've also considered adding the Italian Herb, Basil, or Rosemary flavoured oil to the dough instead of the garlic. But to be honest the hint of garlic just makes the dough taste so good I can't not add it. But I am also a garlic person! When a recipe calls for 2-4 cloves of garlic I usually add 6-8 cloves.
I use my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer with the dough hook to mix ingredients into the yeast mixture as well as when kneading the dough. If the dough doesn't look like it has come together enough or like it is too sticky, I will add flour to the counter and finish kneading it by hand to make sure it isn't too sticky and has come together just right. If you don't have a stand mixer you can definitely knead it by hand, it will just take a little more muscle power :)
Another helpful tip: I recently found out my oven has a proofing option. This keeps the oven at an ideal temperature for rising bread and dough. This has helped my dough rise perfectly! Also when rising dough in the oven you do not need to cover it. I've only used the proofing option when rising the dough the first time in a large bowl as I start to heat the oven and the pizza stones when the dough is rising in its smaller balls on the counter (the second time it rises). Pizza stones are another important part of getting that perfect crispy thin crust as it heats the dough so well and gives it a nice crust. Make sure to sprinkle cornmeal on your pizza stone before putting the crust on it or you could be scraping the pizza off in pieces with a spatula as it tends to stick to the stone.
Once dough has risen the second time (45 min - 1 hr), roll it out on a floured surface. Make sure to add a little flour to the top as well, otherwise your rolling pin may stick. I had the best rolling pin as it really let you dig down and roll out the dough and the dough rarely stuck to it. It was very similar to the Mrs Anderson's Baking Pastry and Pizza Roller but with the amount of pizza we eat and my extremely strong muscles... it broke. Now that I am writing this post it gave me the idea to google the rolling pin (funny it took me to write this post to actually look it up). I will be ordering another one!!! It was honestly the best pizza roller ever! I was so sad when it broke and was trying to find a way to fix it with my husband... no luck.
Once the dough is rolled out. Sprinkle the cornmeal onto the heated stones. Add the dough on top and fold over and edges that are hanging over into a crust shape. This will prevent toppings from falling off into the bottom of the oven or BBQ. Add your pizza sauce, toppings and cheese and then bake. As stated before we are a family that likes to eat meat so we generally have 2-3 different types of meat on our pizza and then my husband and I will add other vegetables to ours. The boys just like meat and cheese. I have found that the Cracker barrel Pizza cheese is the best pre shredded mozzarella cheese as it's not too greasy and melts nicely. Obviously getting nice fresh mozzarella is the best but where we live that's not always an option. Another great pizza option is the margarita pizza. I like to make this one in the summer when I can pick the basil fresh off the plant and use our homegrown tomatoes to make the sauce.
As you can see I always make the thin crust option (4 dough balls). I have two different sized pizza stones so I make the balls the size I will need according to the size of my stones. You can then choose to cook the pizza either in the oven or on the BBQ. We love the extra flavours that tend to come when cooking the Pizza on the BBQ. It was also a beautiful weekend this weekend and took full advantage of the beautiful weather outside! The pictures below are of the pizzas cooked on the BBQ.
Ingredients:
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 packet Fleischmann's Quick-Rise Instant Yeast
1 Tbsp Garlic flavoured Olive Oil (personally I use Olive Tasting Room Oil)
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups flour (more for kneading)
Directions:
- Add sugar and water into the mixer and mix until sugar has dissolved. Add yeast and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Add oil and salt into the mixer and mix into mixture.
- Add Flour and give a little mix after each cup has been added. Mix for approximately 5 - 10 minutes. This is where you can take it our and finish kneading it on the counter if it doesn't look like the mixer is getting it all together or if it looks too sticky. Just add small amounts of flour at a time to the counter and knead until you get a good smooth dough.
- Place dough into a greased bowl (I just spray a bowl with Pam before adding the dough into it to rise) Either cover the dough and let it rise on your counter OR place dough into the oven when set to Proof. Let dough rise 1 - 1.5 hours.
- Divide dough - Thick Crust (2 dough balls); Thin Crust (4 dough balls) - and let rest on floured surface and cover. Let rise for 45 min - 1 hour.
- Preheat oven or BBQ to 425 and preheat stones at this time.
- make sure when rolling out your dough it is on a floured surface and that you add flour to the top of the dough as well. This will stop it from sticking to your rolling pin.
- Once dough is rolled out, sprinkle cornmeal onto heated pizza stone and place dough on top. Fold over any hanging edges. Add desired topping and Bake :)
- Bake Pizza 16 - 20 minutes in the oven OR 11 - 13 minutes on the BBQ (our BBQ tends to cook the pizzas quicker than in the oven even though the temperature is roughly the same)
**None of these links are ads and just links to items I like and used**
One thing that I like to add to my dough recipe is Garlic flavoured Olive Oil. Olive Tasting Room has a great selection of different flavoured oils and vinegar's which I also use to make great tasting salad dressings as well. Adding the Garlic oil to the pizza dough gives it a great garlic taste and to be honest, that oil is so over powering that you can't really use it for anything else. If you are using it for a salad dressing be cautions as to how much you add as it really can be too much for even a Caesar salad dressing. I've also considered adding the Italian Herb, Basil, or Rosemary flavoured oil to the dough instead of the garlic. But to be honest the hint of garlic just makes the dough taste so good I can't not add it. But I am also a garlic person! When a recipe calls for 2-4 cloves of garlic I usually add 6-8 cloves.
I use my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer with the dough hook to mix ingredients into the yeast mixture as well as when kneading the dough. If the dough doesn't look like it has come together enough or like it is too sticky, I will add flour to the counter and finish kneading it by hand to make sure it isn't too sticky and has come together just right. If you don't have a stand mixer you can definitely knead it by hand, it will just take a little more muscle power :)
Another helpful tip: I recently found out my oven has a proofing option. This keeps the oven at an ideal temperature for rising bread and dough. This has helped my dough rise perfectly! Also when rising dough in the oven you do not need to cover it. I've only used the proofing option when rising the dough the first time in a large bowl as I start to heat the oven and the pizza stones when the dough is rising in its smaller balls on the counter (the second time it rises). Pizza stones are another important part of getting that perfect crispy thin crust as it heats the dough so well and gives it a nice crust. Make sure to sprinkle cornmeal on your pizza stone before putting the crust on it or you could be scraping the pizza off in pieces with a spatula as it tends to stick to the stone.
Once dough has risen the second time (45 min - 1 hr), roll it out on a floured surface. Make sure to add a little flour to the top as well, otherwise your rolling pin may stick. I had the best rolling pin as it really let you dig down and roll out the dough and the dough rarely stuck to it. It was very similar to the Mrs Anderson's Baking Pastry and Pizza Roller but with the amount of pizza we eat and my extremely strong muscles... it broke. Now that I am writing this post it gave me the idea to google the rolling pin (funny it took me to write this post to actually look it up). I will be ordering another one!!! It was honestly the best pizza roller ever! I was so sad when it broke and was trying to find a way to fix it with my husband... no luck.
Once the dough is rolled out. Sprinkle the cornmeal onto the heated stones. Add the dough on top and fold over and edges that are hanging over into a crust shape. This will prevent toppings from falling off into the bottom of the oven or BBQ. Add your pizza sauce, toppings and cheese and then bake. As stated before we are a family that likes to eat meat so we generally have 2-3 different types of meat on our pizza and then my husband and I will add other vegetables to ours. The boys just like meat and cheese. I have found that the Cracker barrel Pizza cheese is the best pre shredded mozzarella cheese as it's not too greasy and melts nicely. Obviously getting nice fresh mozzarella is the best but where we live that's not always an option. Another great pizza option is the margarita pizza. I like to make this one in the summer when I can pick the basil fresh off the plant and use our homegrown tomatoes to make the sauce.
As you can see I always make the thin crust option (4 dough balls). I have two different sized pizza stones so I make the balls the size I will need according to the size of my stones. You can then choose to cook the pizza either in the oven or on the BBQ. We love the extra flavours that tend to come when cooking the Pizza on the BBQ. It was also a beautiful weekend this weekend and took full advantage of the beautiful weather outside! The pictures below are of the pizzas cooked on the BBQ.
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 packet Fleischmann's Quick-Rise Instant Yeast
1 Tbsp Garlic flavoured Olive Oil (personally I use Olive Tasting Room Oil)
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups flour (more for kneading)
Directions:
- Add sugar and water into the mixer and mix until sugar has dissolved. Add yeast and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Add oil and salt into the mixer and mix into mixture.
- Add Flour and give a little mix after each cup has been added. Mix for approximately 5 - 10 minutes. This is where you can take it our and finish kneading it on the counter if it doesn't look like the mixer is getting it all together or if it looks too sticky. Just add small amounts of flour at a time to the counter and knead until you get a good smooth dough.
- Place dough into a greased bowl (I just spray a bowl with Pam before adding the dough into it to rise) Either cover the dough and let it rise on your counter OR place dough into the oven when set to Proof. Let dough rise 1 - 1.5 hours.
- Divide dough - Thick Crust (2 dough balls); Thin Crust (4 dough balls) - and let rest on floured surface and cover. Let rise for 45 min - 1 hour.
- Preheat oven or BBQ to 425 and preheat stones at this time.
- make sure when rolling out your dough it is on a floured surface and that you add flour to the top of the dough as well. This will stop it from sticking to your rolling pin.
- Once dough is rolled out, sprinkle cornmeal onto heated pizza stone and place dough on top. Fold over any hanging edges. Add desired topping and Bake :)
- Bake Pizza 16 - 20 minutes in the oven OR 11 - 13 minutes on the BBQ (our BBQ tends to cook the pizzas quicker than in the oven even though the temperature is roughly the same)
Other Pizza Options:
1. This dough recipe can also be used for making homemade calzones (pizza pops) prepare the dough the same way except when its time to split it I usually split the dough into 8-12 dough balls (depending on the size of calzone you are looking for). Let rise for 45 min - 1 hour and fill with your favourite pizza toppings. Cook them for approximately 14 - 16 minutes at 425.
2. I have also used this recipe to make mini pizzas. Just like with the calzones, split the dough into 8-12 dough balls and let rise again for 45 min - 1 hr. Roll out dough and put onto heated mini pizza stones. Make sure you remember the cornmeal for the stones or the dough will stick. Add your favourite toppings and cook for approximately 14 - 16 minutes at 425. The mini pizzas are fun as they boys feel special getting their own pizza.
3. The last pizza version that I have used this recipe for is pizza buns. Picture a cinnamon bun but filled with pizza sauce and ingredients. The difference with this is after you've had the dough rise for the first 1 hr. You split it into 2 . Once you've done that roll the dough out onto a floured surface. Spread out pizza sauce and ingredients (meat, cheese, veggies, etc). Leave a little edge on one side (this will help prevent the ingredients from falling out when rolling it up). Roll the dough to make a pizza log (because you split the dough into two you will have 2 pizza logs). Cut the log into small rounds. I then put the rounds into sprayed muffin tins. Once in the tins I put them back in the oven to proof for another hour. Bake at 425 for 14 - 16 minutes.
**None of these links are ads and just links to items I like and used**
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