Easy Pizza Dough
ingredients
1 package (2-1/4 tsp.) active-dry yeast
1-1/2 cups very warm water (110°F)
18 oz. (4 cups) all-purpose flour; more for dusting
1-1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. olive oil
how to make
Making and dividing the dough
Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and set aside (a Pyrex 2-cup measure makes for easy pouring; be sure the cup isn't cold). Meanwhile, put the flour and salt in a food processor fitted with the steel blade; process briefly to mix. With the machine running, add the water-yeast mixture in a steady stream. Turn the processor off and add the oil. Pulse a few times to mix in the oil.
Scrape the soft dough out of the processor and onto a lightly floured surface. With lightly floured hands, quickly knead the dough into a mass, incorporating any bits of flour or dough from the processor bowl that weren't mixed in. Cut the dough into four equal pieces with a knife or a dough scraper. Roll each piece into a tight, smooth ball, kneading to push the air out.
Rising and storing the dough
What you do next depends on whether you want to make pizza right way or at a later date.
If you want to bake the pizzas as soon as possible, put the dough balls on a lightly floured surface, cover them with a clean dishtowel, and let them rise until they almost double in size, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, turn your oven on, with the baking stone in it, to let the stone fully heat.
If you want to bake the pizzas tomorrow, line a baking sheet with a floured dishtowel, put the dough balls on it, and cover them with plastic wrap, giving them room to expand (they'll almost double in size), and let them rise in the refrigerator overnight.
To use dough that has been refrigerated overnight, simply pull it out of the refrigerator about 15 minutes before shaping the dough into a pizza.
To freeze the dough balls, dust each one generously with flour as soon as you've made it, and put each one in a separate zip-top bag. Freeze for up to a month.
It's best to transfer frozen dough from the freezer to the refrigerator the night before (or 10 to 12 hours before) you want to use it. But I've found that dough balls pulled straight from the freezer and left to warm up on the counter will be completely defrosted in about 1-1/2 hours. The dough is practically indestructible.
Shaping your pizza
Put the proofed or thawed ball of dough on a lightly floured wooden board. Sprinkle a little more flour on top of the ball. Using your fingertips, press the ball down into a flat cake about 1/2 inch thick.
Lift the dough and lay it over the back of the fist of one hand. Put your other fist under the dough, right next to your first fist. Now gently stretch the dough by moving your fists away from each other (see Video). Each time you do this stretch, rotate the dough. Continue stretching and rotating until the dough is thin, about 1/4 inch, and measures about 9 inches across. Unless your dough is still cold from the freezer, it will be so soft that its own weight will stretch it out. Alternatively, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough thinly on a floured board. If you like a very thin pizza, roll the dough out to a 10-inch round. Be careful not to make it too thin, and remember that the thinner the pizza, the less topping it can handle.
Rub a bit of flour onto a wooden pizza peel (or the back of a baking sheet). Gently lift the stretched dough onto the floured peel. Top the pizza, scattering the ingredients around to within 1/2 inch of the border.
Topping your pizza
For some people, pizza isn't pizza without the scarlet of tomatoes peeking through the cheese, but there are many delicious savory combinations that show off fresh seasonal produce. It's better to use winter vegetables like greens or even canned tomatoes when fresh tomatoes are out of season.
To get you started, here are two of my favorite ways to top a pizza -- plus lots of suggestions for combinations to inspire your own designs.
To make the Angeli Caffé's favorite, Pizza al Caprino -- Over the shaped pizza, scatter 10 to 15 cloves roasted or slow-cooked garlic, 5 to 6 oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes (drained and sliced), 3 ounces crumbled goat cheese, a few capers, and a pinch of oregano. Drizzle with extra-virgin olive oil.
To make a simple flatbread -- Scatter sliced garlic (3 to 4 cloves), minced fresh rosemary (from 1 small sprig), and coarse salt over the dough. Make several 1/2-inch slashes to keep the dough from puffing up. Drizzle with lots of extra-virgin olive oil before baking, and garnish with Parmesan. Serve this delicious "Pizza Aglio e Olio" with a salad or cheese.
To design your own pizza -- Use any of these topping combinations to inspire your own creation. A generous drizzle of olive oil is a great addition to just about any pizza.
Sautéed onions, fresh sage leaves, grated pecorino romano, grated Parmesan.
Basil pesto, toasted pine nuts, slow-cooked garlic, grated Parmesan.
Sautéed leeks, chopped artichoke hearts, a bit of crushed tomatoes, grated Parmesan.
Italian Fontina, Gorgonzola, sun-dried tomatoes.
Garlic, olives, capers, anchovies, and crushed tomatoes.
Sliced tomatoes, mozzarella, fresh basil.
Thinly sliced prosciutto, ricotta, fresh basil, grated Parmesan.
Cooked Italian sausage, sautéed onions, Italian Fontina, mozzarella.
Sautéed mushrooms, thinly sliced cooked potatoes, Gorgonzola, crumbled cooked bacon or pancetta.
Baking your pizza
Put a pizza stone or unglazed terra-cotta tiles on the lowest rack of the oven and heat the oven to 500°F. Ideally, let the stone heat in the oven for an hour.
Shake the peel (or baking sheet) gently back and forth to make sure the pizza isn't stuck. If it seems stuck, lift the edges up with a spatula and toss a bit of flour under the dough. Quickly slide the pizza onto the hot baking stone. Bake until the edges are golden, about 8 min. Using a peel, a wide spatula, or tongs, remove the pizza from the oven.
Food Processor Pizza Dough
Ingredients
One 1/4-ounce package yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon sugar
2 to 2 1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
Directions
Combine 3/4 cup warm water (105° to 115°F), the yeast, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the chopping blade; let stand five minutes.
Add 1 3/4 cups of the flour, the salt, and oil; process until a soft dough forms. Add as much of the remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time, as necessary to make the dough manageable.
Shape the dough in a ball, place in an oiled bowl, turning so an oiled surface is up.
Cover and let rise in a warm place until double in size, about 35 minutes.
Use as directed in a recipe or refrigerate for use up to one day later. If refrigerated, bring to room temperature before using.
Makes about 4 individual sized pizza crusts.
Easy Pizza Dough
3 1/2 cups unbleached flour
2 packages active dry yeast
1 teaspoon coarse-grained salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
Cornmeal for dusting pizza peel or cookie sheet
Place flour, yeast, salt, and sugar in a mixer fitted with a dough hook. While mixer is running, gradually add water; knead on low speed until dough is firm and smooth, about 10 minutes. Turn mixer off. Pour oil down the side of bowl. Turn mixer on low once more for 15 seconds to coat inside of bowl and all surfaces of dough with the oil.
Alternatively, using a food processor fitted with a metal blade: Place flour, yeast , salt, and sugar in bowl of a food processor and pulse to blend. Pour water through feed tube with machine running. Process until dough forms a ball. Place in oiled bowl.
By hand: In a large bowl, whisk together flour, yeast, salt, and sugar. Stir in water until dough begins to form. Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth, about 10 minutes. Place in oiled bowl.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about 2 hours.
Rolling out the dough and baking the pizza:
Preheat oven to highest setting, 500° or 550°F. If using a pizza stone, place stone in oven on bottom rack and heat oven 1 hour. Punch dough down and cut in half or fourths. On a generously floured work surface, place one piece of dough.
By hand, stretch dough into a circle. For thin pizza, roll dough into a large circle with a floured rolling pin until very thin. Don't worry if your circle isn't perfect, and if you get a hole just pinch edges back together. To prevent dough from sticking to counter, turn dough over; add flour to dough, counter, and rolling pin as needed. Sprinkle a pizza peel or rimless cookie sheet generously with cornmeal. Transfer dough to pizza peel or cookie sheet. Add toppings. Slide dough onto pizza stone or place cookie sheet with pizza on bottom rack. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, or until golden. Remove pizza from oven, using a pizza peel if you used a pizza stone, and serve immediately. Roll out remaining dough, top with desired toppings, and bake or freeze in freezer bags.
Cook's Notes: Make double batches of the dough and divide and freeze leftovers so you've never got an excuse to eat out. Place bag of frozen dough on the counter before you leave for work. By the time you cruise in from your commute, the dough will be ready to roll, top, and bake.
If you don't have a pizza stone, put one on your wish list and get it as soon as you can--preferably one the size of your bottom oven rack, not a round one the size of a pizza, which is just too small. Keep it in your oven at all times. That's a great place to store it, and it'll never bother anyone. Lots of dished love to be cooked on a stone, which provides extra-high heat.
If you are using a pizza stone, have the second pizza ready to go onto the stone immediately after the first pizza comes out. Just left sitting on the stone, the cornmeal burns.
Easy Pizza Dough
1 package dry active yeast (2 1/4 tsp.)
1 1/2 cups very warm water (110°F)
4 cups all-purpose flour, more for dusting (or 18 ounces)
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
To make the dough: Dissolve the yeast in the warm water and set aside (a Pyrex 2-cup measure makes for easy pouring; be sure the cup isn’t cold).
Put the flour and salt in a food processor fitted with the steel blade; process briefly to mix.
With the machine running, add the water-yeast mixture in a steady stream.
Turn the processor off and add the oil.
Pulse a few times to mix in the oil.
Divide the dough: Scrape the soft dough out of the processor and onto a lightly floured surface.
With lightly floured hands, quickly knead the dough into a mass, incorporating any bits of flour or dough from the processor bowl that weren’t mixed in.
Cut the dough into four equal pieces with a knife or a dough scraper.
Roll each piece into a tight, smooth ball, kneading to push the air out.
To use dough that same day: If you want to make pizza as soon as possible, put the dough balls on a lightly floured surface, cover them with a clean dishtowel, and let them rise until they almost double in size, about 45 minutes.
Meanwhile, turn your oven on, preferably with a baking stone in it, to let the stone fully heat.
Pizza the next day: If you want to bake the pizzas the next day, line a baking sheet with a floured dishtowel, put the dough balls on it, and cover them with plastic wrap, giving them room to expand (they’ll almost double in size), and let them rise in the refrigerator overnight.
To use dough that has been refrigerated overnight, simply pull it out of the refrigerator about 15 minutes before shaping the dough into a pizza.
To shape, top, and bake the pizzas, see below.
To freeze dough: Dust each generously with flour as soon as you’ve made it, and put each one in a separate zip-top bag.
Freeze for up to a month.
It’s best to thaw the dough in the refrigerator for at least 10-12 hours before you want to use it-- but in a pinch it'll defrost on the counter in about 1 1/2 hours.
To shape pizzas: Put the proofed or thawed ball of dough on a lightly floured surface.
Dust the top with flour.
Using your fingertips, press the ball down into a flat rounds about 1/2 inch thick.
Lift the dough and lay it over the back of the fist of one hand.
Put your other fist under the dough, right next to your first fist.
Now gently stretch the dough by moving your fists away from each other.
Each time you do this stretch, rotate the dough.
Continue stretching and rotating until the dough is thin, about 1/4 inch, and measures about 9 inches across.
Alternatively, use a rolling pin to roll out the dough thinly on a floured surface.
Rub a bit of flour onto a pizza peel (or the back of a baking sheet).
Gently lift the stretched dough onto the floured peel.
Top the pizza, scattering the ingredients around to within ½ inch of the border.
To bake: Put a pizza stone or unglazed quarry tiles on the lowest rack of the oven and heat the oven to 500°F.
Ideally, let the stone preheat in the oven for an hour.
You should place your pizza on the peel before topping it so that it's ready to slide onto your stone.
Shake the peel (or baking sheet) gently back and forth to make sure the pizza isn’t stuck.
Quickly slide the pizza onto the hot baking stone.
Bake until the edges are golden, about 8 min.
Using a peel, a wide spatula, or tongs, remove the pizza from the oven.
Pizza Dough in Food Processor
1 package fast active dry yeast (2 1/2 tsp.)
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/4 cups hot tap water
2 cups more all-purpose flour
Not the one? See other Pizza Dough in Food Processor Recipes
Food Processor/Blender Yeast Breads
Low Fat Yeast Breads
Put in the food processor, yeast, sugar, the 3/4 cup flour, salt, olive oil and water.
Process for 15 seconds.
Add the next one cup flour, Blend.
Add the last one cup flour, til a ball forms.
Knead approx.
10 times or so.
Let sit 20 minutes in a covered greased bowl.
Roll out.
Makes two pizzas.
October 2004 my food processor bummed out, so I made the recipe using my Kitchen Aide with dough hooks. The recipe worked out very nice.
2006-10-11 01:50:01
·
answer #8
·
answered by croc hunter fan 4
·
0⤊
0⤋