Recipe – Pizza Dough

This post was written back in January-2013, when I was using a different platform.

This is still one of my favorite recipes/activities to do with the kids to this day. It’s delicious, and fun to make!

Enjoy a blast from the past!

Made my own pizza dough today!! A success!! It was great, and everyone ( seven people all eat here ) loved being able to pick their own toppings!! 

The recipe was from food network, but I made a couple changes… 

Ingredients
2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (about 110 degrees F)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for rolling dough
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon sugar
extra-virgin olive oil for coating the bowl

Directions
In a large bowl, combine the yeast and warm water. Stir to dissolve the yeast and allow it to rest for 5 minutes.

Using a sieve or strainer, “sift” about half of the flour over the yeast mixture and blend until smooth with a wooden spoon. 

Add the salt, pepper, Italian seasoning, basil and sugar and mix to blend. Sift in the remaining flour and mix to blend.

Lightly flour a cutting board or flat surface (i used a cookie sheet because we have very little counter space. Turn the pizza dough onto the floured area and knead for 3 to 5 minutes. The flour should feel smooth and the ingredients fully integrated. Place the dough inside a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with towel and let rest in a warm place (i turned my oven to 200 degrees and placed the bowl on top. its winter now and the kitchen doesn’t stay warm unless an oven is on) about 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in volume.

Press gently on the dough and turn it onto a floured surface (again with the cookie sheet!) Divide the dough into 4 equal parts, rolling each quarter into a loose ball. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow the dough to rest for an additional 15 minutes. Flatten each ball, 1at a time, and roll into a round (if you like it thinner/crispy, poke holes and roll out thin, if you like a thicker crust, keep it smaller and thicker and forego the poking of holes). Place each round in a single layer on a lightly greased baking sheet.

We preheated the oven to 425 degrees and once we topped our pizza cooked them for about 10 minutes… Watch them close tho!! 

Tip for topping the pizza: Brushing the dough with olive oil can create a barrier that will help to prevent the topping from making the crust soggy. I did this both ways and either way was tasty 🙂 

The beauty of this recipe is your entire family gets exactly the pizza they want! And you can choose healthier options to make it a healthy choice.