This pizza dough recipe is my favorite pizza dough that I have made this far. It works great with a number of different pizzas from Pepperoni to White to BBQ Chicken. The dough is not to soft, and not to sticky which makes it easy to work with. Plan ahead when making this pizza dough because it must rise in the fridge for at least 12 hours. That makes it perfect to put together Sunday afternoon, for dinner Monday night. This recipe makes enough for 2 pizzas.
Ingredients
1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 cup ice cold water
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
About 5 1/4 to 5 1/2 cups bread flour
Directions
1. In a small bowl, with a fork, stir yeast into warm water. Let stand until yeast is dissolved, about 5 minutes.
2. In another small bowl mix together cold water, olive oil, salt and sugar and stir until dissolved.
3a.If using a stand mixer with a dough hook, add 5 1/4 cups of flour to the bowl.Stir the yeast mixture again to blend, then add to the flour mixture along with cold-water mixture. Beat with the dough hook on a low speed until the mixture is smooth and not sticky, 14-16 minutes. (Do not let the dough climb up above the dough hook, if it gets to high, stop the mixer and push the dough down.) If the dough remains sticky add 2 more tablespoons of flour and beat 2 minutes longer, continue to do the same until non-sticky and smooth.
3b. To make pizza dough by hard, place 5 1/4 cups of the flour in a large bowl. Make a well in the center of the flour and stir in the yeast mixture along with the cold water mixture. Using a wooden spoon, mix the dough, incorporating as much of the flour as possible. Turn the dough out on a lightly floured work surface and knead until soft and elastic, 10-12 minutes. It will still be a little sticky, but should not stick to your hands. Add only a minimum amount of flour to the work surface to keep the dough from sticking.
4. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut in half. With floured hands, pick up one portion of dough, pull opposite edges together toward center and pinch to seal. Repeat steps with second portion. Place each portion in a 1-gallon plastic bag. Squeeze out air and seal bag allowing enough room for the ball to double. Chill at least 12 hours, or up to 2 days.
5. Allow pizza dough to come to room temperature before stretching to desired shape and thickness.
On Valentine's Day I made a heart shaped
White Pizza with this dough:
Here I made a BBQ Chicken Pizza with the pizza dough:
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
.JPG)
