Home Made Pizza Dough

by Mike Case

Ingredients 

  • 1/2 teaspoon honey 
  • 1/2 - 3/4 cup warm water about 110 - 115 degrees (about the temp of a baby’s bath water)
  • 1 packet 2-1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast (8 grams) 
  • 1/2 teaspoon olive oil plus 1 teaspoon for oiling the bowl 
  • 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt 
  • 2½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus more if needed (see tip 1) 

Instructions 

  1. In the bowl of your stand mixer add the 1/2 teaspoon of honey. 
  2. Pour in warm water. Sprinkle in the packet of yeast, and whisk and let it sit and get all puffy (about 10 min). 
  3. Pour in a half teaspoon of olive oil, 3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt and a cup of the flour, using a dough hook mix well then add the rest of the flour. 
  4. Keep mixing until the dough pulls easily from the sides of the bowl (8-10 mins). Add more flour if too wet or more water if too dry, a couple tablespoons at a time. Dough should be soft and a little bit tacky.
  5. Add a splash of olive oil to a large, clean bowl. 
  6. Form the dough into a ball and place it into the bowl. Toss the dough ball around and up the sides of the bowl to coat. 
  7. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let the dough rise for an hour or until doubled in size (see tip 2) 
  8. Preheat your oven to 450F and place the oven rack to the lowest position above the bottom of your oven. 
  9. Once the dough has risen, punch the dough down until deflated. Lightly flour a work surface and reshape it into a ball. 
  10. Grease your pan with our Awesome EVOO or you can use our Garlic or Basil infused EVOO. 
  11. Using the palm of your hand and your fingers press the dough out into your desired size to fit your pan (see tip 3).   
  12. Now start building your pizza, start with a thin layer of your favourite tomato sauce, then shredded mozzarella cheese, your favourite toppings, ending with a small amount of shredded cheese if desired. 
  13. Bake for 12 – 15 min or until crust is a golden brown and cheese is bubbling (see tip 4). 
Tips:  
  1. I like to use a combination of 1 cup of bread flour and 1 1/2 cups of all purpose (makes for a crisper crust). 
  2. Use the heat of your oven light to help the dough to rise. 
  3. This amount of dough makes a thicker crust, if you like a thinner crust (like I do) use less dough, just make sure it's not so thin that it tears. If you're finding the dough retracting a lot, let it rest for a minute or two and then continue to press it out.  
  4. If you can find one, get a pizza pan with holes in it as this helps the bottom crust. 
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