Basic Pizza Dough

I make this pizza dough recipe using a bread maker.  You can, however, make it by hand (there's just a lot of mixing and kneading that way).  You may want to add ingredients to the dough to make it more interesting such as minced garlic, rosemary or basil.

Ingredients:

3-1/2 cups flour

1 cup warm water

1-1/2 tablespoons yeast

2 tablespoons honey

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoons salt

Directions:

Bread Machine

Put all the ingredients in a Bread Machine.  Set to dough only setting, push start and walk away.

Once the machine "beeps" and your dough is ready, roll out the dough.  This dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or so, or even frozen.  Be sure to let the dough come to room temperature before using.

By Hand

Pour warm water into a bowl.  Test it with your hand.  It should feel very warm, but comfortable.  Add the honey and salt.  Mix on low until well blended.  Add the yeast and mix.  Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes.  Add 1 cup of flour and the olive oil and mix until well blended.  Add the rest of the flour and mix well.  The dough should turn into a ball.  If the dough does not ball up because it's too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does.  If your mixture is more like a batter, add flour one tablespoon at a time.  Adding water or flour as needed to get the right consistency will assure you always get a perfect dough.  Just remember to do it in small amounts.

Once the dough is balled up, place the ball on a floured board and knead for about a minute.  This builds the gluten which helps the dough to rise and become fluffy when cooked.  Place the dough in a plastic grocery bag or a covered bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise.

After about 45 minutes the dough should have about doubled in size.  Punch it down.  Let it rise for another hour to an hour and a half.  The dough is now ready to be rolled out.  You can punch the dough down one more time if you want and wait another hour or two before rolling out.

Rolling Out Pizza Dough

Form it into a flat ball about six to eight inches wide.

Using both hands, one on top of the other, press from the center outwards on it to start stretching it out, turning the dough a bit on each push.  you can also pick up the dough and squeeze the edges of it white turning it like a steering wheel.  This allows the weight of the dough to stretch it.

Once the dough is about 1/2" thick all the way around, use a rolling pin to flatten it out to about 1/4" thick.  Run the pin over the dough once or twice and flip the dough over and give it a quarter turn and roll it again to made it even.

Take a fork and put puncture holes all over the dough.  This keeps it from bubbling up while cooking and it also helps to hold the sauce on as well.

Transfer dough to a pizza pan sprinkled with corn meal.

Add your toppings and bake in a 400 degree oven until the crust is light brown, about 18 minutes.