I’ve found it!
The best homemade pizza dough recipe EVER.
Not surprisingly, it’s inspired by one of my favourite food blogs – Smitten Kitchen, whose author Deb Pearlman has just released a cookbook. A really really really good cookbook. As in, put it on your Christmas list.
I’ve made a number of pizza doughs in my day. At most, I’ve been mildly satisfied with the results. Jim Lahey of no-knead bread fame has an excellent pizza dough recipe to be sure, but it’s a two day process with all the rising and the waiting time.
Relatively speaking, this is a quickie at less than an hour, with 40 minutes of inactive wine drinking waiting and rising time.
This recipe also requires zero special equipment and get this, it’s 1/2 whole wheat!
Pizza Dough
Serves | Makes one 12" round pizza |
Prep time | 45 minutes |
From book | Adapted from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook |
Ingredients
- 3/4 cups warm water (as warm as a really hot shower)
- 1 and 1/4 teaspoon active or instant dry yeast
- 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- olive oil for coating
Note
This recipe uses 50% white/whole white flour. You can use less whole wheat flour (even none), or a little more (up to 1 cup).
Directions
1. | Turn your oven on to 200 degrees F for 10 minutes and then turn it off |
2. | Pour warm water into a mixing bowl, sprinkle yeast over the surface of the water (do not stir), and let it stand for 5 minutes. |
3. | Add flour and salt and mix with a wooden spoon until a rough, shaggy looking ball forms. Turn dough and any loose bits out onto a lightly floured counter and knead for 5 minutes. |
4. | To knead, push ball down with the palm of your hand to flatten, fold dough over once, turn the dough clockwise 45 degrees and repeat, repeat, repeat. |
5. | In a clean mixing bowl, brush the inside with a coat of olive oil, place dough back in bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in pre-warmed oven for 30 minutes, or until about double in size. |
6. | Remove dough from oven (and preheat it again for your own pizza recipe), turn dough out on to a floured surface and roll, flatten or stretch the dough out to the desired configuration (round, oval, square, trapezoidal) and thickness. |
When I was testing this recipe, I used my mixer with a dough hook for one batch, and my good old fashioned hands for the second – both turned out perfectly. Take that, technology.
After the initial mixing, this is the shaggy looking mass you’re looking for.
If you have work related stress or anger management issues, I recommend therapeutic pizza dough kneading.
Before rising…
and after.
If you don’t have a rolling pin, you can press the dough out with your hands and fingers – which will look impressively rustic and homemade.
I like a nice thin and crispy crust.
I’ve loaded this pizza up with tomato sauce, spinach, goat’s cheese, cremini mushrooms and sundried tomatoes.
Goat’s cheese is a great alternative to the standard mozzarella for pizza. It’s stronger flavour allows you to use less and it is typically lower in fat (%M.F. – which means % milk fat) and calories.
I also used dried sun-dried tomatoes rather than oil-packed. They need to be rehydrated in boiling water for about a minute before slicing them up.
Going meat-free is a good way to save on calories too, and pizza is one of those foods you can get away with not having meat fairly easily if you’re trying to a adopt the meatless Monday trend.
Piping hot from the oven.
I’m lucky enough to have a pizza stone, a handy piece of kitchen equipment that I pre-heat in the oven and slide the pizza on top of to ensure the bottom of my crust will be crispy – but you don’t need one!
You can also use a preheated cookie sheet. Before topping your pizza, transfer the rolled out dough on to the back of a floured cookie sheet (if you have a second cookie sheet, preheat it in the oven at the highest temp possible – usually around 500F). When the pizza is oven-ready, carefully slide it from the back of one cookie sheet the other.
At 500F, my pizzas need about 10-12 minutes to achieve optimal pizza-ness.
If you haven’t yet forayed into homemade pizza territory – I beg of you, start here!
Erin
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Joanne says
I usually use Mark Bittman’s dough recipe but the Lahey recipe has been on my list to try! Your pizza looks awesome!