My Favourite Pizza Dough

Submitted by Chef Gorete

"The dough forms a nice crust that is both crunchy & chewy...delicious. I make 2 large thick crust pizzas."

 

• Ready In: 37mins
• Ingredients: 14
• Yields: 2-3 Pizzas
• Serves: 6-8

ingredients

• 4 1⁄2 cups bread flour
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons sugar
• 1 1⁄2 teaspoons salt
• 2 1⁄4 teaspoons instant yeast
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 3⁄4 cups warm water (approx. 105 degrees)

• Suggested Toppings

• pizza sauce
• fresh basil
• italian seasoning
• parmesan cheese (optional)
• mozzarella cheese, shredded
• bell pepper
• mushroom
• pepperoni

directions

1. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a bowl. and whisk to blend.  Add the remaking ingredients to the bowl, and using a dough hook, blend the dough until everything is incorporated.  Knead the dough with the hook for 5 minutes.
2. Grease a large bowl.  Shape the dough into a ball and place in the greased bowl. Grease the dough, cover with plastic then place in the fridge  overnight.  At this point, you can freeze it, well wrapped, if you like.
3. Remove from the refrigerator and divide the dough into 2 or 3 parts, depending on whether you want thin or thick crust pizzas. Shape into balls and let rest for about 2 hours before baking.
4. Shape the pizzas using your hands and place on parchment paper, then on the pizza pan. Add your preferred pizza sauce and top with desired toppings. *I prefer not to use too much sauce, and I like to sprinkle some italian seasoning and Parmesan cheese prior to adding the mozzarella cheese and toppings.
5. Preheat the oven to 500°F If using a pizza stone, place it in the oven prior to heating the oven.
6. Using the pizza pan, slide just the pizza and the parchment paper, onto the hot stone. Bake for approximately 7 minutes, or until desired colour is reached.
7. To remove from the oven, slide the cooked pizza using the parchment paper, back onto the pizza pan. Let cool several minutes before slicing. Enjoy.
8. *If you make a margarita pizza, put the fresh basil underneath the cheese instead of on top, the pizza is so much more flavorful. I also skip the parmesan cheese when I make the margharita pizza.
9. **Try my fresh uncooked pizza sauce recipe.