Pizza Dough Delight

google image

Keith loves pizza. He loves it so much, he would love to eat it for every meal, and would never get tired of it. Unfortunately, that is not the truth for me. Especially when that pizza is Little Ceasar's, the equivalent of cardboard with cheese and pepperoni. Yuck!

Because of this massive difference in opinion, something had to be done.

Enter Adrienne!

She makes a mean... well, anything, really. She is a fabulous cook, and I love eating her food, which is nice, because she loves sharing it! She shared her pizza dough recipe with me, and it makes Keith so much happier than not having pizza at all, or having the cardboard imitation.

I haven't felt great in the past, but I am just starting to get my mojo back, so homemade pizza is on the docket for tonight. And this is Adrienne's recipe.

Pizza Dough

Ingredients

1 3⁄4 c warm water

2 tsp sugar

1 Tbs active dry yeast

2 tsp garlic salt (or less)

Dash of oregano

Dash of basil

4 1⁄2 ­ 5 cups flour

3 tablespoons olive oil, plus more for bowl (I use butter)

Cornmeal, for pan (optional)

Directions

Measure out 1 3⁄4 cups warm water (it should be pleasantly warm on your wrist). Sprinkle the yeast

on top of the water and allow it to activate, about 10 minutes.

Add salt, spices, and oil to the yeast mixture. Mix in flour one cup at a time, beating and scraping

the sides of the bowl until well blended. When it’s too hard to mix the dough with a spoon, dump it

out onto a well­-floured board and knead it until the dough is smooth and elastic. It should be soft,

but not sticky.

Place the dough in a greased bowl and turn to coat all sides. Cover with plastic wrap or a tea towel.

Allow the dough to rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes, until doubled in size; then punch it

down. Divide it in half; each half will make 1 (12 ­inch) pizza.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.

Place on a cornmeal-­dusted pizza stone, pizza pan, or cookie sheet. Roll up edge slightly to create

a ridge around the pizza. Top as desired and bake for 16 to 18 minutes, or until crust is light

brown.

Cook's Note: If using only half dough, freeze the other half. Place the dough in a Ziploc freezer

bag. To thaw, remove the bag from the freezer and place in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Roll the

dough out while cold then allow it to come to room temperature before adding toppings.