Thursday, January 31, 2008

Pizza Dough

Everything with me lately has been dough, dough, dough. I'm trying to perfect my pizza dough for no apparent reason other than that I need a project...and pizza dough led me back to foccacia, which I was obsessed with baking quite a few years ago. As I type this I have some dough proofing in the warm draft-free confines of my oven. Book club ladies beware, sun-dried tomato foccacia is on the menu for tonight.

We ended up with a beautiful pizza the other night thanks to Giada DeLaurentiis and her terrifically easy pizza dough. It was crisp and slightly chewy and fit my needs perfectly, as I did not have instant rapid-rise yeast on hand. You can top it with just about anything, but I kept ours simple: a light coating of homemade tomato sauce, parmesan, fresh basil, and turkey pepperoni.

Pizza Dough
3/4 c. warm water (105°F to 115°F)
1 envelope active dry yeast
2 c. (or more) all purpose flour
1 tsp. sugar

3/4 tsp. salt
3 T. olive oil

Pour 3/4 cup warm water into small bowl; stir in yeast. Let stand until yeast dissolves, about 5 minutes.

Brush large bowl lightly with olive oil. Mix 2 cups flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add yeast mixture and 3 tablespoons oil; process until dough forms a sticky ball. Transfer to lightly floured surface. Knead dough until smooth, adding more flour by tablespoonfuls if dough is very sticky, about 1 minute. Transfer to prepared bowl; turn dough in bowl to coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Punch down dough. Roll out dough according to recipe instructions. (Start in center of dough, working outward toward edges but not rolling over them.)

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a delicious looking pizza! I will have to give that recipe a try.

Spyder said...

Looks yummy! If you want a thin crust (kinda like Waldo Pizza thin)don't let your dough rise. Roll it out, top it & bake. Less time waiting for supper. We've been doing that for a few years now.

k said...

so glad i found your blog! this is great. i go out to lunch a lot & am always looking for new ideas & places. thanks!

Dan said...

Check this pizza obsession out: http://slice.seriouseats.com/jvpizza/

Sara said...

dan!! SIX years??
that looks like awesome pizza - it had better, after that much work.

Dan said...

I've been eating mediocre frozen pizzas for more than 6 years - this guy set out to change his world. My hat's off to him!

Anonymous said...

oh sara,
why wasn't i invited for dinner too! yum!