Basic Pizza Dough 1

It's time!

It's time to find the best homemade pizza dough recipe EVER!!! :) 

Pizza is my favorite of all favorite foods.  I think I was supposed to "grow out of that" about 15 years ago (I'm 30), but I never did.  When I was a kid my parents just kind of got used to making a lot of stops at Pizza Hut on our vacations.  Now Josh knows that if he doesn't speak up early about where he wants to go for our Friday date nights I will probably be suggesting Fireside Pies. :)

It's difficult to make a really good pizza at home, though.  I've decided that when I become a millionaire the first thing I will buy is a  real pizza oven.  But I might be waiting for a while for that so in the mean time I need to have a recipe that will meet my sky-high pizza standards even when baked in a regular old oven.

I've tried a lot of pizza dough recipes that didn't really do it for me...they were too soggy, too bread-y, too yeasty, too hard to stretch out onto a pizza pan...I knew there was something better out there.

So I turned to my favorite two cookbooks to see what they could produce.  These cookbooks haven't let me down yet...let's see what they can do with pizza.

It's a battle between The Gourmet and King Arthur.

We've made the Gourmet recipe many times before, and it's amazing.  Definitely the best homemade pizza crust I've ever made.  The crust is thin and perfectly crispy and chewy at the same time.  You can actually taste the salt in it just a bit, which I love; it makes for a very flavorful crust.

But I've been eyeing the pizza crust recipe in the King Arthur Cookbook for some time.  This book is my baking Bible...what if this recipe is even better than the Gourmet one?!  I have to find out.

As I type this paragraph the King Arthur batch is rising in a bowl on my stove.  And I'll let you know tomorrow how it compares. 

But I'll tell you right now:

Iit's going to have to be absolutely brilliant to beat this Gourmet recipe.   We love this pizza!!!

 Basic Pizza Dough 1

1 package (about 2 1/4 tsp.) active dry yeast

3/4 cups very warm water*

1 1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. olive oil

Stir together yeast, 1 tablespoon flour and 1/4 cup warm water in a measuring cup and let stand until surface appears creamy, 3-5 minutes.  (If mixture doesn't appear creamy, discard and start over with new yeast.)

Stir together 1 1/4 cups flour and salt in a large bowl.  Add yeast mixture, oil, and remaining 1/2 cup warm water and stir until smooth.  Stir in enough remaining flour (about 1/2 cup) so that dough comes away from sides of bowl.  (The dough will be wetter than other pizza doughs you may have made.)

Knead dough on dry surface with lightly floured hands (or with dough hook in Kitchenaid) for 8 minutes.  Put on a lightly floured surface and generously dust with flour.  Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/4 hours.

***Do not punch down dough.*** Carefully dredge dough in a bowl of flour to coat and transfer to dry work surface.  Gently move hands around edge of dough (like turning a steering wheel), allowing weight of dough to stretch to roughly 10 inches.  Place on baking sheet and continue to work edges with fingers, stretching to size of pizza pan.

Top with favorite toppings and bake at 500 for 15-20 minutes.

*Hint: Water should be just at the temperature where it is almost too hot to touch, but you can still stand to keep your fingers in it.