Pizza Dough
Pizza Dough
Author: The Blue Jean Chef, Meredith Laurence
Serves: 6
Ingredients
- 4 cups bread flour, pizza (“00”) flour or all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1½ cups water
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
- Combine the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the olive oil to the flour mixture and start to mix using the dough hook attachment. As you’re mixing, add the 1¼ cup of the water, mixing until the dough comes together. Continue to knead the dough with the dough hook for another 10 minutes, adding enough water to a dough to get it to the right consistency.
- Transfer the dough to a floured counter and divide it into 6 equal portions. Roll each portion into a ball. Lightly coat each dough ball with oil and transfer to the refrigerator, covered with plastic wrap. You can place them all on a baking sheet, or place each dough ball into its own oiled zipper sealable plastic bag or container. (You can freeze the dough balls at this stage, removing as much air as possible from the oiled bag.) Keep in the refrigerator for at least one day, or as long as five days.
- When you’re ready to make your pizza, remove your pizza dough from the refrigerator at least 1 hour prior to baking and let it sit on the counter, covered gently with plastic wrap.
- Pre-heat the oven to 500ºF with a pizza stone or steel in the middle of the oven for at least 30 minutes prior to baking. Make one pizza at a time. Place a piece of parchment paper on your pizza peel. Press the dough into a flat disk and then pinch around the rim of the dough to create a crust. Use the back of your hands to pull the dough into a circle, rotating the dough as you do so. Place the dough on the parchment paper peel and top with your desired toppings. Cut the parchment around the pizza so that it just a little bigger than the pizza. Then slide the pizza onto the pizza stone or peel. Close the oven door and watch as the crust rises and the toppings brown and melt. The pizza should take 5 to 8 minutes.
