An Italian's Classic Pizza Dough

Submitted by Country Chef

"Cooking for a couple of decades you are always tweaking. I have several dough recipes, but this is the one that consistently gets the high marks from my guest. A hot pizza stone works best, but a good hot oven is the key."

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 8
• Yields: 2 pies
• Serves: 4-6

ingredients

• 4.92 ml salt
• 14.79 ml honey
• 29.58 ml olive oil
• 177.44 ml cool water
• 7.08 g envelope active dry yeast
• 59.14 ml warm water
• 709.77 ml flour
• 29.58 ml butter

directions

1. In a small bowl combine salt, honey, olive oil, and cool water.
2. Mix well and set aside.
3. In a separate bowl, combine warm water and yeast. Allow to proof for ten minutes.
4. After proofing combine honey mixture and yeast in one large mixing bowl.
5. Add flour, one cup at a time, into the combined liquid mixture. Dough is an art - depending on your paradigm you may want to work this with your hands, add a T of water if it is dry.
6. Place dough ball on lightly floured surface and knead until smooth.
7. Place dough in covered buttered (melted) bowl and allow dough to rest for 30 minutes. A slightly warmed oven (90 degree) is great.
8. Divide into two equal sized dough balls.
9. If using a pizza stone, place stone in oven and preheat oven to 450 for at least ten minutes.
10. Roll out into two pies and add your favorite sauce and topping combinations.

Reviews

[Anna G.]

So, a few notes: first, the recipe is a bit vague, which can lead to some confusion. It doesn't specify the type of flour to use, so I used bread flour instead of all purpose flour. I'm not sure if bread flour is denser, but I only needed two cups of flour, and it most definitely wouldn't have been able to absorb any more. Then, it says to prove the dough, but I am not sure if it is supposed to rise or not? I let it sit a bit longer than it said or it wouldn't have risen at all. I did divide the dough, but the pizzas were about 9" each in diameter. They tasted pretty good, but definitely were not authentic Italian (from someone who has been to Italy a few times). Finally, the recipe did not specify bake times, so I just guessed. First was probably a bit over-baked, second was fine. Ultimately, they turned out fine, and it's a decent recipe for a rainy day.

 

[Robin M.]

Tip Top????

 

[Silvano]

Awesome! Added 1 tsp of italian seasoning and came out great.

 

[anonymous]

WOW WOW WOW--thank you so much!! This was my 1st attempt and it tasted like a pro. We were from Ohio and initially preferred the hand tossed pizza and now moved to Illinois and have become accoustomed to the best thin crust and this is in between. I actually ate all the crust - it was incredible! Buttery, crunchy and chewy, just fabulous! I can not believe there are no photos or add'l posts. My husband raved about his ex-wife's pizza and I am sooooo proud to say he said this was an 11 out of 10. Thank you thank you thank you! I rolled out the dough (1st time I used my rolling pin!--I cook a lot, not bake) and dusted with olive oil spray and cornmeal. I used Kittencal's pizza sauce (thought it would be too salty, and added almost the full can of tomato paste-but it worked out fabulous!). I spread freshly grated provolone and shredded mozzerella, with a dash of shredded parmesean. Just perfect!!!

 

[laravirginia]

I followed every instruction...but I did use a mix of flour and polenta for the surface when I rolled it out. Great recipe!