Perfect Pizza Crust

I heart pizza! It has always been one of my favorite foods. I love the fact that you can change up the toppings a million different ways and of course there’s always the melted cheese. But probably the one thing that can make or break a pizza for me is the crust. If the crust isn’t good, then I can take it or leave it.

I typically just buy premade pizza crusts, but I’ve always wanted to find a really good one that I could make myself. I have made this one before and while it tastes good, it doesn’t quite have the texture I want. I finally decided to try this recipe that I have seen several times on Annie’s blog. It seems to be her go-to recipe and I can see why! I am always a little nervous when working with yeast, but I’m happy to say that it turned out great! It had the perfect texture, crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside.

I topped our pizza tonight with homemade pesto, spinach, tomato and feta and I can’t wait to use the other half of my dough on another pizza!

Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

½ cup warm water (about 110°)

1 envelope (2 ¼ tsp.) instant yeast

1 ¼ cups water, at room temperature

2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting

1 ½ tsp. salt

olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing the bowl

 

Directions:

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup.  Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes.  Add the room temperature water and oil and stir to combine.  

 

Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Briefly combine the dry ingredients at low speed.  Slowly add the liquid ingredients and continue to mix at low speed until a cohesive mass forms.  Stop the mixer and replace the paddle with the dough hook.  Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.  Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap.  Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours.  Press the dough to deflate it.

 

To bake, place a pizza stone in the lower third of the oven.  Heat the oven to 500° for at least 30 minutes.  Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.  Divide the dough into two equal pieces.  Form both pieces of dough into smooth, round balls and cover with a damp cloth.  Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no more than 30 minutes.

 

Working with one piece of dough and keeping the other covered, shape the dough and transfer to a pizza peel or round of parchment dusted with semolina or cornmeal.  Top as desired.  Slide the dough onto the pizza stone.  Bake until the crust edges brown and cheese is golden brown in spots, about 8 to 12 minutes.  Repeat with remaining ball of dough or freeze for later use.

originally from Baking Illustrated by the Editors of Cook’s Illustrated Magazine

His and Hers

My husband and I are pretty much alike. We like the same tv shows, the same movies, the same home decor, and the same music. The one thing we normally don’t agree on is food. I love fruit, vegetables, low-fat yogurt, and pretty much anything good for you. He doesn’t. He loves pasta with cream sauce and cheeseburgers. Oh and don’t forget his relationship with Lil’ Debbie. And the differences don’t stop there. We are never able to order a pizza without doing half and half. Most of the time when I make pizza at home it’s the same way. Last night was no different. I had decided I wanted to use up some of my basil and I had some fresh tomatoes. I thought a margherita pizza would be great but I knew my husband wouldn’t touch it. So I decided to do spinach, pesto, and feta on his side. Both sides turned out great. And it was a quick dinner because I already had the dough in the freezer from when I had made some about a month ago. There really is no recipe for this. Very simple but really good!

Margherita Pizza

(makes one whole pizza)

1 medium tomato, thinly sliced

1/2 cup basil leaves, washed and dried

mozzarella cheese (as much as you want…I would never tell you how much cheese to put on your pizza.)

olive oil, about 1 Tbsp

2 cloves of garlic, pressed or finely minced

crust of your choice (I used this recipe)

Combine the garlic and olive oil in a bowl. Brush your crust with the garlic and olive oil. Put a thin layer of cheese on the crust, to keep it from getting soggy from the tomatoes. Next, do a layer of tomatoes. Then comes the basil leaves. Top with additional mozzarella. Bake at 450 for 12-14 min or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly.

Me: 1 Pizza Dough: 0

Over the past year I have faced and conquered many of my cooking fears. I made my own meatballs, made my first homemade cake AND frosting, had my first experience with yeast bread, and roasted a whole chicken. Not too shabby for a girl whose weekly grocery list used to include hamburger helper and frozen skillet meals just a couple years ago. One thing I had not yet tried though was pizza dough. I figured what better night to try it than Super Bowl Sunday. I had seen this recipe a while back on Amber’s blog and it looked so simple. And really, it is. If you can turn on a food processor, you can make this pizza dough. Not only is it so quick and easy, it’s so good too. I may never buy store bought dough again! I’m really happy to be able to mark this one off as another kitchen fear conquered.

Whole-Wheat Pizza Dough
(Source: EatingWell.com)

To make 12 ounces dough:
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 package quick-rising yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons), such as Fleischmann’s RapidRise
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon sugar
1/2-2/3 cup hot water (120-130°F)
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

To make 1 pound dough:
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 package quick-rising yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons), such as Fleischmann’s RapidRise
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup hot water (120-130°F)
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1. Combine whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, yeast, salt and sugar in a food processor; pulse to mix. Combine hot water and oil in a measuring cup. With the motor running, gradually pour in enough of the hot liquid until the mixture forms a sticky ball. The dough should be quite soft. If it seems dry, add 1 to 2 tablespoons warm water; if too sticky, add 1 to 2 tablespoons flour. Process until the dough forms a ball, then process for 1 minute to knead.
2. Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface. Coat a sheet of plastic wrap with cooking spray and place it, sprayed-side down, over the dough. Let the dough rest for 10 to 20 minutes before rolling.
3. Place a pizza stone or inverted baking sheet on the lowest oven rack;preheat oven to 500°F or highest setting. Roll and top the pizza as desired(we suggest a 13-inch circle) and bake the pizza until the bottom is crisp and golden, 10 to 14 minutes. Serve immediately

Another day, another pizza

When I gave my husband his options for dinner tonight, he voted for pizza of course. I should have known what he’d say really. When given the option, he will almost always say pizza. I figured he wouldn’t want what I wanted on his pizza, so I decided to do a half and half pizza. That way we would both be happy. It turned out great. Another successful pizza!

1 refrigerated pizza crust (or fresh or frozen dough)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup pizza sauce

My half:
1/2 cup baby spinach
1/4 large tomato thinly sliced
salt and pepper, just a little

His half:
1/2 cup baby spinach
1/2 cup pork sausage, cooked and drained

Preheat oven according to pizza crust instructions. Brush olive oil on pizza crust. Spread sauce on the crust, top with cheese and remaining toppings. Bake as directed.

All the things I love, on a pizza!

What do you get when combine pesto, feta, and sun-dried tomatoes? The makings of a fantastic pizza! On their own, all those ingredients are still very good, but together they are unbelievable. I really like using different ingredient combinations on pizza other than the traditional pepperoni or sausage and the usual vegetables, so I thought this would be good way to use up some of the things I had sitting in my fridge. It turned out so great! I had originally planned to put some thinly sliced grilled chicken on the pizza too, but my husband said he’d prefer it without the chicken. I still think it would be good with it so I’ll try that some other time.

Pesto and Sun-Dried Tomato Pizza with Feta

1 pre-made pizza crust (you could also use fresh or frozen pizza dough)
3 Tbsp basil pesto
1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella
3 Tbsp sun-dried tomatoes, drained
2-3 Tbsp crumbled feta cheese
2 Tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven according to your pizza crust/dough. In my case, 450 degrees. Brush the olive oil on the pizza crust. Spread a thin layer of pesto over the pizza crust. Top with shredded mozzarella, sun-dried tomatoes, and feta. Bake as directed. Slice and serve.

Spinach and Goat Cheese Pizza

What could be better than pizza? How about adding some goat cheese! This pizza doesn’t have a traditional red sauce but it’s definitely not lacking in flavor. It’s a tasty combination of garlic, spinach, mozzarella and goat cheese all on a crispy crust. What could be better than that? It’s one of my very favorite pizzas to make!

Spinach and Goat Cheese Pizza

1 store bought pizza crust (you could also use fresh or frozen pizza dough and make your own)
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup baby spinach
1 1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled
1/2 tsp italian seasoning

Saute garlic in olive oil for 1-2 min. Brush garlic and olive oil onto pizza crust. Add baby spinach and top with mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle the crumbled goat cheese evenly on top. Bake as directed on the pizza crust. The cheese should be golden and bubbly. Remove from oven and sprinkle with italian seasoning. Cut into triangles and serve.