Best Pizza Crust
I have tried many
recipes for pizza crust, but this one is my favorite! Of course you can buy a
bag of dough at Trader Joe’s and there’s no shame, we have all done it. This dough
can be put together before you get to the store and back, and for a fraction of
the cost. Here is where the original recipe is from:
california-pizza-kitchen-pizza-dough
I altered this
recipe a bit to make it as simple as possible, which means the least amount of
dishes! So here goes.
Ingredients:
1½ tsp active
dry yeast
¾ cup warm water
(110F)
2 - 2 ¼ cups
bread flour
3 tsp sugar
3 tsp salt
3 tsp olive oil plus
a little more to coat the dough
Directions:
Dissolve the yeast in
the water and let it proof (which means put the yeast and water in the same
bowl and let them hang out for 5-10 minutes). This process is to see if the
yeast activated, if it is it will have little bubbles form on top. If it didn’t
activate you need to try again. If the water is to hot it will kill the yeast
and if it is to cold nothing will happen. I buy my yeast in bulk at Costco and
store it in the fridge. It lasts a long time and I always have extra to try
again.
 |
| Yeast and water having a party with bubbles |
Add the sugar and
salt to the yeast bowl and mix. Then, slowly add the flour and the oil. After
adding the second cup of flour, I get my hands in it and mix, then knead it for
about 5 min on a lightly floured surface.
Some nights I get
help and my 10 year old will knead the dough. The more you get you kids
involved in cooking the more they are willing to try new foods and it’s just
plain productive fun!
If the dough is too
wet add a little flour. Too dry add a little warm water. This just takes
practice but the dough should feel smooth but still a little tacky. Some days,
I think, “man this dough feels great” and other days I think, “what happened?” but
either way, the end results are always tasty.
 |
| Dough with one cup of flour |
Lightly coat the dough with oil, cover it (I use a damp dish towel) and let it
rise. Rise time I like it to rise for two hours but I have let it rise for only
an hour and it was okay. The best is when I am organized and make the dough that
morning or the night before. If I have the time, I let it rise at room temp
covered for 2 hours, punch it down, then I put it in an airtight container and
stick it in the fridge. About 2 hours before you are going to eat take it out
of the fridge punch it down and let it come to room temp.
 |
| This is the dough before it did its rising. Not the best picture I know. |
I like to bake it on
my pizza stone at 450 degrees. It cooks very quickly and time will vary
depending on the thickness of your crust. I always tell people, if it looks
like you want to eat it it’s probably done. Very scientific I know, but it
works.
Make sure to check
out my bread science post. It is a very basic explanation of what does what in
bread.
