Homemade Pizza Dough

Busy people need “rescue recipes”. Even on really hectic days when things don’t go as planned or you just have a lot going on, there should be meals that you can make at a moment’s notice. Having pizza dough on hand is a wonderful option for just those occasions. Not only is it really easy to whip up on the day that you plan to have pizza, but you can make it a day in advance and keep it in the refrigerator. Even better – you can store pizza dough in the freezer for up to 3 months! Isn’t that awesome? Make a couple batches of pizza dough, throw them in your freezer, and when you know that you’ll have a really busy day, take out the dough the night before and put it in your refrigerator to thaw. Add the toppings, bake and you have dinner ready in 15-20 minutes. That’s less time than it takes to order a pizza and it will taste incredible too.
Not in a pizza mood? No problem. Pizza dough has many other uses too. How about calzones, stromboli or garlic knots? With tons of different ingredients combinations, you can come up with just about anything that you and your family can enjoy.

I didn’t even talk about this dough yet. It creates the most amazing crisp and chewy crust, just the way pizza dough should be. It’s important to use bread flour if you want that chewy texture. It bakes up to tender and fluffy perfection on the inside and tastes like carb heaven.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup warm water (105-110 degrees Fahrenheit)

2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

pinch of sugar

3 1/2-4 cups bread flour (you can use all purpose flour, but the crust will not be as crispy)

2 teaspoons salt

2 1/2 Tablespoons olive oil, plus 1/2 Tablespoon for coating the dough

Instructions:

Add the yeast and sugar to the warm water. (Honestly, you can just add the yeast into the flour, but I have a habit of always adding yeast to warm water first. This way, I can make sure that the yeast is still fresh and will work. The best way to check if yeast is still fresh is to add it to warm water. If it’s fresh, it will get foamy.)

In a large bowl, combine the flour, salt and olive oil. Bread flour is the best to use, since it will make your crust really chewy. You can use all purpose flour, but the crust will be much softer.

Pour in the yeast mixture. Using a dough hook on a standing mixer, start mixing the dough on low speed and gradually increase the speed, until the dough forms into a ball. Continue mixing for about 5 minutes, until the dough is smooth and firm.

You can also make pizza dough in a food processor. Pulse all the dry ingredients in the food processor first and then add the liquid ingredients until you have a smooth dough.

If the pizza dough seems a little bit too runny, add a Tablespoon of flour at a time until you have the right consistency. Also, if the dough is too tough, add a Tablespoon of water at a time until it’s the right consistency.

Drizzle the pizza dough with the remaining 1/2 Tablespoon of olive oil, turning it over to make sure it’s all coated with the oil. This will help prevent a dry skin from forming on top of the dough as it’s rising.

Place the dough in a large bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Set aside in a warm, draft free place to rise until the dough doubles in size, 1 – 1 1/2 hours.

Cut the dough in half and use to make pizzas, calzone, stromboli, etc.

You can keep the dough refrigerated overnight.

To freeze the pizza dough, have the pizza dough rise, divide the dough in half, cover with olive oil and place in a freezer bag, trying to get as much air out as possible before closing. Freeze up to 3 months.

To use the frozen pizza dough, defrost the pizza dough in the refrigerator overnight. Let the dough come to room temperature for about 30 minutes; there is no need to wait for the dough to rise before using it.