Homemade pizza is one of my quick weekday staples. It can be made the night before and pulled out shortly before cooking. This dough is perfet for a home oven or a pizza oven!
I much prefer to weigh out my dough in grams. It makes geting the perfect dough much easier, especially if you aren’t familiar with the texutre you are loooking for.
To use a pizza stone or not. That is a question a get asked a lot. It really comes down to your oven. For me, I can’t get a brown crust with a stone but that doesn’t mean they are not worth it. I would suggest giving them a try if you are interested. What works amazingly for me is a stainless steel 14″ skillet. I start the dough on the stove on high then transfer into an oven (on broil) once the bottom starts to brown.
Check out our Margherita Pizza recipe here!
Pizza Dough
Description
The perfect pizza dough, great for home ovens or a brick oven!
Ingredients
Instructions
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Mix the dough
Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Knead for 10 minutes or until elastic.
If using a Kitchenaid knead for 8 minutes on 4. -
Resting the dough
After kneading, lightly dust the a bowl with flour. Fold the into a bowl ,tucking in the bottom into it self. Let rest in the bowl covered for an hour or until doubled in size.
Once doubled, punch the dough down and form into another tight ball. Let rise another hour or until doubled.
If you are making the dough ahead of time, you can place the dough into the fridge for the second rise. You can leave overnight or for a couple days. -
Shape the pizza
Flour your working area with semolina or pizza flour. Take the dough out and place onto the flour.
Start in the center of the dough and press with your fingertips outward. Gently pres the dough in a circle. Be careful not to pop air at the crust.
Gently pick the dough up my the edge and stretch to shape. Use the back of your hands to avoid piercing the dough.
Continue until rolled out to 14".
While you can use a rollig pin, it will knock all the air out of the crust and it won't have that wonderful rised crust. -
Bake
Place your toppings on the dough then bake.
If using a pizza pan, place into into an oven pre-heated to 500 (450 if your oven doesn't go that high). Bake for 10 minutes or until crust is brown and cheese browned. Be careful not to burn.
If using a stainless steel skillet (method I mention above and my preferred) make sure the oven is pre-heated to 450. Place the pizza into the skillet then place on a medium-high burner for 3 -5 minutes or until the bottom of the crust starts to brown. Turn oven on broil and place pizza in oven for 5 minutes or until cheese is browned and the crust is dark. One reason I love this method is it taste as close to a brick oven as you can get with a home oven!