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So everyone else who makes their pizza dough from scratch has weighed in saying it takes forever. This recipe takes about half an hour from "Hey, let's make pizza" to the time that you put the toppings onto the pizza and chuck it into the oven. It's also good if you make it in the morning, stretch it, top it, and leave it in the fridge all day (or even overnight) before you bake it. It could probably also be frozen unbaked, defrosted, and baked, but I've never tried that. (I might.)
I don't know the original source for the recipe, but most of my mom's basic recipes come from an ancient, coverless copy of Fanny Farmer, of late-70s vintage.
Put in a mixing bowl:
1 c warm water (c. 105 degrees)
1 Tbsp (1 package) yeast (such as Fleischmann's Active Dry, etc.)
Let sit 5 min. Stir.
Add 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 T vegetable oil (olive oil), 1 tsp salt, and beat.
Add 3 cups of flour cup by cup. (I have made this with up to half whole wheat flour, but it tastes too dry that way; best with mostly white.)
Dough should not be sticky-- sometimes I add up to 1 cup extra flour, if it's humid, during the kneading process, so it doesn't just wind up all stuck all over me. Prepare your pans/tins/sheets so once your hands are covered in dough you can still proceed.
Knead dough until smooth (~3-5 min).
Stretch dough to cover pan-- one batch covers two small cookie sheets, one large cookie sheet, or three nine-inch cake pans. (Lightly oil pans to avoid sticking-- if sticking turns out to be a problem, dust with cornmeal prior to applying dough.)
Let rest 15 minutes. (I find this an opportune time to prepare the pizza toppings.)
Apply toppings as desired.*
Bake 20 minutes in a 425-F oven. Alternately, grill 15 minutes on a 425-F grill, watching carefully and rotating periodically to avoid hot spots.
Total elapsed time is usually in the neighborhood of an hour for me. Also, watch out for the "pizza haze"-- if your oven's not the cleanest, baking something at 425 usually burns off all the crud in there. Best to do this with a window open. If your oven is clean, bless your little heart.
This pizza winds up thick and doughy if you use smaller pans, with very crunchy edges; on larger pans where it's stretched thinner, it winds up crunchy all the way through. It can be a little dry; I like to dip my crusts in blue cheese dressing so that doesn't bother me. If it bothers you, make sure the crust edges are thinner and apply the toppings closer to the edge.
* The white pizza topping I made:
Into a small bowl of olive oil, grate 4-5 cloves of garlic, and add a dash of salt. Slice 1-2 onions thinly; dice 3-4 cloves garlic, and slice a whole box of grape tomatoes into little chunks. (It's better if you have two or three large tomatoes instead, of course, but I didn't.) Spread garlic-oil over pizza. Spread sliced onions and garlic and tomatoes over pizza in an even, thin layer.
Sprinkle liberally with parmesan. (I also used some feta because I had some.) If you have sliced mozzarella, a few slices wouldn't go amiss, applied thinly over the toppings.
I would love to hear more topping ideas. I don't make pizza nearly enough and it used to be a mainstay of my childhood.
I don't know the original source for the recipe, but most of my mom's basic recipes come from an ancient, coverless copy of Fanny Farmer, of late-70s vintage.
Put in a mixing bowl:
1 c warm water (c. 105 degrees)
1 Tbsp (1 package) yeast (such as Fleischmann's Active Dry, etc.)
Let sit 5 min. Stir.
Add 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 T vegetable oil (olive oil), 1 tsp salt, and beat.
Add 3 cups of flour cup by cup. (I have made this with up to half whole wheat flour, but it tastes too dry that way; best with mostly white.)
Dough should not be sticky-- sometimes I add up to 1 cup extra flour, if it's humid, during the kneading process, so it doesn't just wind up all stuck all over me. Prepare your pans/tins/sheets so once your hands are covered in dough you can still proceed.
Knead dough until smooth (~3-5 min).
Stretch dough to cover pan-- one batch covers two small cookie sheets, one large cookie sheet, or three nine-inch cake pans. (Lightly oil pans to avoid sticking-- if sticking turns out to be a problem, dust with cornmeal prior to applying dough.)
Let rest 15 minutes. (I find this an opportune time to prepare the pizza toppings.)
Apply toppings as desired.*
Bake 20 minutes in a 425-F oven. Alternately, grill 15 minutes on a 425-F grill, watching carefully and rotating periodically to avoid hot spots.
Total elapsed time is usually in the neighborhood of an hour for me. Also, watch out for the "pizza haze"-- if your oven's not the cleanest, baking something at 425 usually burns off all the crud in there. Best to do this with a window open. If your oven is clean, bless your little heart.
This pizza winds up thick and doughy if you use smaller pans, with very crunchy edges; on larger pans where it's stretched thinner, it winds up crunchy all the way through. It can be a little dry; I like to dip my crusts in blue cheese dressing so that doesn't bother me. If it bothers you, make sure the crust edges are thinner and apply the toppings closer to the edge.
* The white pizza topping I made:
Into a small bowl of olive oil, grate 4-5 cloves of garlic, and add a dash of salt. Slice 1-2 onions thinly; dice 3-4 cloves garlic, and slice a whole box of grape tomatoes into little chunks. (It's better if you have two or three large tomatoes instead, of course, but I didn't.) Spread garlic-oil over pizza. Spread sliced onions and garlic and tomatoes over pizza in an even, thin layer.
Sprinkle liberally with parmesan. (I also used some feta because I had some.) If you have sliced mozzarella, a few slices wouldn't go amiss, applied thinly over the toppings.
I would love to hear more topping ideas. I don't make pizza nearly enough and it used to be a mainstay of my childhood.
