Homemade Pizza
Pizza Dough
Makes 2 (12-ounce) balls of dough for two 10 to 12-inch pies
Ingredients:
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon lukewarm water (95-110ºF), divided
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 ½ cups (180g) OO flour
1 ½ cups (205g) all-purpose flour, plus additional for dusting
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Semolina flour, for dusting
Special equipment:
Pizza stone
Pizza peel
Quarter sheet pan (if you don’t have a pizza stone)
Instructions:
•In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the bread hook attachment, add 1 cup water and sprinkle the yeast over the top. Mix the yeast gently with the prongs of a fork then allow the yeast to bloom for 5 minutes—you should see the yeast look like murky, smoky water after 5 minutes and even bubble! If you don’t see your yeast doing this, check the expiration date, you may have dead yeast. Be sure you also didn’t bloom the yeast in too cold or too hot of water, too cold doesn’t activate the yeast and too hot kills it!
•Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the OO flour, all-purpose flour and salt. Pour into the stand mixer with the olive oil and turn the stand mixer to medium speed. Allow the mixer to mix the dough, for 3 to 4 minutes, scraping the sides of the bowl halfway through the kneading process. If the dough looks a little dry and there are flour bits still at the bottom halfway through kneading, add the remaining 1 tablespoon water and continue on medium speed. At the end of the kneading process the dough should be nicely smooth and elastic feeling. Set the dough aside to rest for 15 minutes covered with a towel—when you knead the dough this builds up a lot of gluten which is essential to build the structure of a chewy and delicious pizza crust. We will knead a second time after the 15 minutes, but we need to allow the gluten to rest for a few minutes first to make our kneading easier.
•After letting the dough rest for 15 minutes, remove to a dry surface and continue kneading, no flour necessary, for another 3 to 4 minutes until the dough is again soft, smooth and nicely elastic—we are kneading again just to build up even more gluten to make sure our pizza crust has great structure, crunchy bottom with a hint of chew that can hold up our delicious toppings.
•Alternatively, you can mix the pizza dough by hand, this takes more patience. Bloom the yeast and water in a small bowl for 5 minutes. Place the flours and salt in a large bowl, make a well, then pour in the bloomed yeast and olive oil. Stir the dough with a wooden spoon until it begins to come together, adding a tablespoon of water if necessary. Knead the dough for 3 minutes or so until smooth and elastic. Allow to rest for 15 minutes then knead again for 3 to 4 minutes until supple, smooth and elastic again before resting to double in size.
•Place the dough into a bowl greased with olive oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place into the fridge to proof overnight for 12 hours to 24 hours. A slow proof is beneficial in this situation, it actually allows the yeast to create a richer, deeper flavor and better structure by slowing the fermentation allowing the yeast to work with the sugars in the flour for a longer time. When ready to bake, divide the dough into two balls and place each again in it’s own bowl greased with olive oil and covered with plastic wrap. Allow both balls of dough to sit out on the counter at room temperature to rise again for 1 hour to 1 ½ hours, until proofed and doubled in size (they should be room temperature).
•If you need to use your pizza dough that day and don’t have time to proof overnight, no fear, the dough is still great. Divide the dough into two 12-ounce balls and place each individually in a greased bowl. Cover the bowls with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free place to rise until it has doubled in size, about 2 to 3 hours. This dough will just be a little less rich in flavor, but still works well.
•One last storage option, if you want to save your pizza dough for another day in the future, wrap the dough ball tightly in plastic wrap after kneading and place into the freezer. The dough will keep for 1 to 2 months. Before baking, defrost the dough in the fridge overnight or on the counter until fully room temperature and doubled in size, this can take a 2 to 4 hours depending on the temperature of your room, just keep an eye on it! If you defrosted overnight in the fridge, be sure to let the dough sit out for 1 to 2 hours to proof at room temperature and doubled in size.
•When ready to bake, place your pizza stone on the bottom rack of the oven and preheat the oven to 450ºF. The bottom rack is important here since it is the hottest place in the oven and will help to mimic a real pizza oven.
•Generously dust semolina flour onto the pizza peel to prevent the dough from sticking. Carefully (not using a rolling pin! This deflates your beautifully risen dough and makes the dough tough) shape the dough into a 10 to 12-inch in diameter round by first forming into a thin disk on the peel then gently stretching the dough with your hands. You can carefully lift the dough too and allow gravity to help make the round shape, be sure to make an even thickness with a thinner bottom and thicker edges—this can be tricky to get the hang of but guess what! You have two dough balls to practice with if the first one doesn’t work so well.
•Place the dough onto the pizza peel. Spread on your favorite toppings and place the pizza dough onto the pizza stone. Allow to bake for 14 to 18 minutes, rotating halfway through if possible, until the crust and toppings are golden brown and bubbling. Remove to a cutting board, allow to rest for 5 minutes then slice and serve.
•If you don’t have a pizza stone, pull out a heavy quarter sheet pan or a half sheet pan as other options. For the quarter sheetpan, preheat the sheetpan in the bottom third of the oven. You can then stretch the dough into a rectangle shape on a second upside down sheet pa. Remove the quarter sheetpan carefully from the oven, add the dough and return to the oven to bake. For the half sheet pan, place upside on the middle rack to prevent warping to preheat, to have the sheetpan act as a pizza stone. Carefully slide the pizza onto the sheet pan to continue baking.
•If you don’t have a pizza peel, use an upside down half sheet pan as your peel.
