Super Thin Pizza Dough

Terri Crooks's Note:

I experimented with a great recipe for dough, #70165, I use both now because sometimes I want my pizza "super" thin and other times just thin. Special note, I learned that when dealing with yeast it is important to have everything at room temperature, or slightly warm. This includes all ingredients, utensils, and bowls. I also use a great pizza sauce recipe, #114392. (It calls for tomato paste but I sometimes use just all tomato sauce. I like my pizza saucy!)

• Total Time: 1 hrs 10 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs
• Cook Time: 10 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 2-4

Yield: 2.0 pizzas

• 1/4 ounce active dry yeast
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• 1 cup warm water (110 - 115 degrees)
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour
• 4 tablespoons cornmeal (plus some to sprinkle on greased pizza pan)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

1. Mix sugar & warm water, (I use a warm glass measuring cup) add yeast, stir, wait 10 minutes til a foam forms on top. Pour into large warm bowl, (rinse outside of bowl with warm water first).
2. Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour, salt, and olive oil. Stir with wooden spoon until smooth and still a bit sticky. (Add flour only as needed to get a smooth dough that is still a bit sticky.) Put some flour on hands and spread rest on a wooden cutting board. Put dough on board and knead. I didn't know how to knead bread so I went to u-tube, the proper way is to use the heel of your hand to push the dough forward, then fold it over, rotate it a 1/4 turn and repeat. It also says to do this as quickly as possible, and DO NOT over knead it. 5 - 8 minutes is the most it ever takes. You will need to add flour, from the board, every so often because the dough is still a bit sticky, but again only as needed. You want to achive a moderately stiff dough, that is smooth and elastic.
3. Put dough in a warm, greased bowl, cover with warm towel,and let rise 30 minutes. In the winter I put the whole bowl in my sink with some warm water because the air is chilly. After 30 minutes, remove the dough, divide it in half. Grease a pizza pan, and sprinkle with corn meal. Smooth the 1/2 dough ball onto your greased pizza pan, be patient you have to spread it really thin! , add sauce, mozzerella and toppings of your choice. Bake at 450 degrees 10 - 15 minutes. I actually use a Pizzaz pizza cooker and it works great. If you don't make 2 pizzas you can freeze the other in a ziploc bag. Be sure to grease it first, to keep it from sticking to the bag. It thaws quickly, with an hour or so.

Reviews

[diner524]

Great thin pizza crust. I love super thin crispy crusts and this was thin but not real crisp, so next time may pre-cook crust and then add topping to get the texture I want. I made the dough as written and made one to eat right then and then divided the rest of the dough in two balls and put them in the freezer. The ingredients didn't include the salt, so I looked at the recipe in your description and added the 1/4 teaspoon of salt. I goofed, by reading directions too quickly and only used the cornmeal for coating the pan. Thanks for sharing the recipe. Made for Spring PAC 2010.