Pizza Dough

While I love baking cookies, and have tried my hand at cakes and pies, my experience with baking bread has been limited to quick breads (banana bread is my specialty), a 4-H competition when I was 10, in which my finished bread had little doughy lumps scattered throughout it, and one loaf of Harvest Bread that I made last year (which generally turned out pretty well, with only a few doughy lumps).

I think I would have tried harder in the bread baking arena if my father wasn't such a pro at it (why bake my own when I can just eat the fruits of his labor). I have been meaning to make my own pizza dough though, as I've heard that it's incredibly easy. After making the following recipe last weekend, I can confirm - it's incredibly easy.


Pizza Dough (Bon Appetit, March 2007, by Giada DeLaurentiis)

ingredients

3/4 cup warm water (105 degrees to 115 degrees, F)
1 envelope active dry yeast
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons olive oil

preparation

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 mixer.

Add yeast mixture and 3 tablespoons oil; mix 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.

Can be made 1 day ahead. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.

ROLL out dough according to recipe instructions. (Start in center of dough, working outward toward edges but not rolling over them.)

I rolled out the dough, then broiled it on the pan for 2 minutes. I added pizza sauce, veggies, turkey pepperoni and cheese, then baked it at 475 degrees for 14 minutes.