I don't think our family is alone in kicking off the weekend with a build your own pizza night. When I need a shortcut, Trader Joe's fresh pizza dough can't be beat. It's 99 cents for goodness sakes--and they offer white or whole wheat. But much more often than not, I make up our dough from scratch as it's often faster than running to the store.
We have a lot of fun making these pizzas. I love seeing the funny shapes of the boys' hand-stretched crusts, as well as their topping combos (though lately they're playing it safe with pineapple and ham). Will just loves to pound and play with a bit of the scrap dough--I give him some playdoh tools and he has a ball.
I sometimes use a recipe that calls for hand kneading. But here's the Chowhound recipe I use when I want my stand mixer to do all of the work.
Basic Pizza Dough
Ingredients
- 2 - 2.5 cups flour (*spoon into your measuring cup so you don't pack it)
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1-2 Tbl olive oil
- 1 cup warm water
- 2 tsp yeast (*a packet equals approximately 2 1/2 tsp)
Directions
Proof the yeast in 1/2 cup of warm water for about 5 minutes--it should be bubbly. If not, discard and try again. To begin with, place only 2 cups of the flour in the mixing bowl, adding the salt, yeast water, other 1/2 cup of water, and 1 Tablespoon oil. Stir a couple times by hand until just blended, then knead with dough hook on speed 2 for 8-10 minutes.
You should check after about 2 minutes and adjust the flour ratio, if necessary (due to humidity levels, you will use more flour in the summer, less in the winter). The dough should ride up the hook and be in one piece. If it's sticking to the walls or resting toward the bottom, add a bit more flour. When the kneading is finished, pull dough from hook and shape into a ball. Roll in well oiled bowl, cover, and allow to rise for 1 to 1.5 hours. Punch down, let rise again for 30 minutes.
Roll or hand stretch into pizza crusts, and let it rest for 10-15 minutes while preparing the toppings. I bake the topped pizza at 475 on a preheated pizza stone for about 10-13 minutes. Tip: the dough is pretty wet and so can be hard to transport if you don't have a pizza peel. Try putting your crust on a piece of parchment before topping, so you can slide the entire thing (on the parchment) into the hot oven.
Happy Friday!
