Sunday, May 29, 2011

Cheap and easy pizza dough

[post by Holly]
I couldn't believe how quick and easy it was to make my own pizza dough. This stuff is really easy to work with and freezes perfectly. My recipe makes 4 thin crust pizzas. You can also use it to make panzerottis or bread sticks. We made a giant pizza roll with it the other day to use up some deli meat that we had.


If you don't have a stand mixer you're going to have to do this with a wooden/plastic spoon and a big bowl and then knead by hand but it's not too difficult to work with, it's not as thick as bread dough.




Ingredients:
  • 1 3/4 cups warm water
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons of instant yeast
  • 2 tablespoons oil (I use olive oil)
  • 4 cups flour (I use 3 1/2 cup all purpose, 1/2 cup whole wheat)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
Start by measuring out your warm water and adding your yeast right into the measuring cup. This will have to sit for a couple of minutes to get all gooey. While you're waiting put your flour and salt into your mixer bowl,  I added about a teaspoon of pizza spice right in there this time as well.

Measure out 2 tablespoons of oil and stir into your water yeast mixture. Start your mixer and slowly pour the yeasty stuff in, you just want to drizzle in a bit at a time. You might have to give the mix a bit of a stir as you pour when you get down to the last half cup or so to dislodge any sunken yeast clumps. It should start to form a smooth, elastic looking dough ball. If it looks too thick or crumbly and still has flour that hasn't mixed in then add more warm water just a tablespoon at a time. Mix for 5 minutes.

Grease up a large bowl, I like to use this canola oil spray, it makes my life easier. Take your finished dough out of the mixer and pat it into a nice round ball. Plop it into the bowl and give it another spritz of canola oil and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit for an hour or two until it's doubled in size. If you're using it tonight go get your cheese and topping ready, if you want to freeze it for later use then grab 2 large ziploc bags and label them with the date and whatnot.

When your dough has plumped up to an enormous size dump it out onto a lightly floured table and punch it down a bit.  Cut it into 4. If you are going to use it now then let it sit for another 10 minutes before you start to stretch it out.

Mine went right into the freezer, 2 dough balls per bag since 2 pizzas is all we can handle at once.










1 comment:

  1. I *love* homemade pizza dough! It's a freezer staple at our house. I use it for tons of other meals, as well: calzones/stuffed pizza, sandwich pockets, focaccia bread, pasties, empanadas...

    I'm glad you found my blog! I love the premise of yours. :) Keep it up. Off to check out your etsy shop.

    ReplyDelete