Best Homemade Pizza Dough
It feels like years have passed in the months since the dream team came together to create these masterpieces. Between the dreary return to work and grinding down homework notes, my daughter just recently auditioned for her school's version of Roger and Hammerstein’s Cinderella. I was shocked when she told me that she and her friends wanted to be the three mice. We were nerdy about the play and searched for recordings of the play to give her an idea of what the mice's parts entailed. She quickly changed her mind once she saw the mice performing ballet. I’m thankful she is excited about something new. In the spirit of mice and cheese, let’s get back to the pizza.. Any time I come across this recipe, it is always a good time to share it. I must have made 6 or 7 dough recipes before getting to this one. Yet once I did, I haven’t changed a thing. Depending on the amount of time you're willing to let the dough rise, it will bake as a flatbread given 20 minutes rest or like a Papa John's original crust, light and airy (more like 6-12 hours rest). I usually make just enough for everyone to make a personalized pizza. After all, that is exactly how pizza is intended in Italy, is it not? Once you make the dough, you roll it out, prebake on a pizza stone or cookie sheet for 5 minutes, add desired toppings, and bake an additional 7-9 minutes. It really is one of the most fun recipes that my teenagers still like to make today. Make them with your favorite sauce and toppings. I recommend making this recipe with my jalapeño popper recipe linked below, and share your renditions in the comments!
Ingredients
2 1⁄2 cups of flour
2tablespoons of sugar
2 1⁄4teaspoons of instant yeast
1⁄2teaspoon of salt
1 cup warm water
2 tablespoons oil
Directions
In a large bowl, combine 1 cup flour, sugar, undissolved yeast, and salt; mix well.
Gradually add water and oil to mixture. Blend at low speed until moistened, then beat for 2 minutes at medium speed. By hand, add 1 1/2 to 2 cups of flour until dough pulls away from sides of bowl.
On floured surface, knead in 1/4 to 1/2 cup flour until dough is smooth and elastic. Cover loosely with plastic and let rest in a warm place for about 6 hours. (If you prefer a flatbread crust, you only have to let the dough rest for 20 minutes.)
Press out dough onto (2) 12-inch pizza pans. Prick randomly with a fork. Let rest again in a warm place for 10-15 minutes.
Brush crusts lightly with oil then prebake them in a 450-degree oven for 5 minutes.
Top as desired, then bake again in a 450-degree oven for 5-7 minutes, until the cheese melts.
You can find the pizza boxes and paint markers used below :
Pizza Box (Left): Paint Markers (Right):