Here’s my basic dough recipe for making pizzas, calzone, or any stuffed rolls. On some weekends, we would have pizza night where I’d go to the trouble of making homemade pizza (totally worth it). And while I have the whole mess out, I usually make calzones or pizza rolls which make great lunch packs for the weekdays lending some variety to the regular old sandwiches.
Ingredients:
- 4 cps bread flour
- 1 tbsp salt
- 2 tsps sugar
- 1 tbsp yeast
- 2 tbsps olive oil
- 1 2⁄3 cups warm water
Directions:
- Mix all dry ingredients, sugar and yeast last, in stand mixer with dough hook.
- Add wet ingredients.
- Knead for a minute. Rest about 5 minutes.
- Knead for about 5 – 10 minutes until dough looks smooth.
- Oil bowl and dough and cover with hot, damp towel. Let rest at least 1 ½ hours.
- Preheat at 500° with pizza stone in oven for at least half hour before baking.
- Dust a wooden board with flour.
- Use a plastic dough scraper (or equivalent) to break off a small chunk of dough.
- Roll the dough out onto the flour dusted board. Or, stretch the dough with your hands, fingers, and gravity. There are so many ways to do this; experiment and use what’s easiest for you.
- Generously dust pizza peel with flour and cornmeal. Assemble pizza and ingredients on top.
- Slide on pizza stone and bake for about 10 minutes.
Pizza dough is very forgiving. It doesn’t have to rise for a full 1 &fract12; hours; it’s just a ballpark as temperature affects how quickly your dough will rise. You can also store the dough in the refrigerator to be used within a few days.
Also, if you feel the need to ‘proof’ yeast, then combine the sugar and yeast in a glass measuring cup. Add the warm water and wait about 5 minutes. If it’s bubbly, then add to the flour/salt mixture. But what I typically do is add the sugar and yeast last, on top and in the middle of the flour/salt mixture. Then, I pour the warm water over top and let sit for a minute. If it bubbles, then I add the oil and start mixing.
If using pizza sauce, brush crust with olive oil first and bake for about 5 minutes. I don’t do this as I like my pizzas thin and crispy but I usually serve the marinara or pizza sauce on the side. More details in a later post…
