Pizza Dough
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Being married to a former pizza place cook isn’t easy…my husband is a pizza snob. Needless to say, we have tried just about all of the pizza places here and none have met Andy’s approval. We started to buy frozen dough from a really good bread store in order to make our own pizza (then we could blame ourselves if it wasn’t good). However, the store is not in town, and I don’t get up that way too often, so it became an inconvenience. One day I picked up the book The Bread Bible and in it, among the 600+ pages, was a recipe for homemade pizza dough. I made the recipe (only a single serving), and it was good, and over time have just added one ingredient (olive oil) and quadrupled the recipe (we use half and freeze the rest). This really couldn’t be easier, and, if you are like us, you won’t want to buy frozen or delivery pizza ever again - this tastes better and is a lot less expensive!
Ingredients:
- 3 cups plus 4 tablespoons Unbleached Flour
- 2 teaspoons Sugar
- 1 package Active Dry Yeast
- 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
- 1 1/3 cups lukewarm Water
- 1 tablespoon plus 1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive oil

Combine the flour, sugar and yeast and stir. Add the salt right before you are ready to add the water, as salt can kill the yeast. Make a well, and pour the water and one tablespoon olive oil into the well.

Stir with a wooden spoon until the dry ingredients and wet ingredients are fully incorporated together (I start with the wooden spoon and then use my hands). Form into a ball and put the other tablespoon of olive oil into the bottom of the bowl. Rub the oil on the entire ball of dough, place back into bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

If you are using the dough within four hours, let sit out to rise. Otherwise, put it into the refrigerator. Once you are ready to use it, preheat the oven to 450 degrees, separate the dough that you need, and work the dough back into another ball and let it sit covered for 15 minutes to allow it to rise again.

Liberally flour work surface and roll out dough into desired shape/thickness. Add sauce and toppings, bake and enjoy!
I love homemade pizza…my mom always made it while I was growing up and I became a bit of a pizza snob myself. I’m never completely happy with delivery or frozen pizza’s. Your pizza looks great, I’ll try the recipe next time I’m in the mood for homemade pizza.
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I have this book too but haven’t tried their pizza dough recipe yet. I’ve been experimenting with the book called, American Pie, and have loved the results so far. My husband LOVES California Pizza Kitchen’s pizza and I’ve been trying to duplicate that sweet dough taste. No so much luck.
Beautiful pizza! I confess that with good, fresh, locally made pizza dough available in every Rhode Island market (we are so Italian here), I rarely make my own pizza dough, but when I do, I know it makes the best pizza.
Homemade pizza is the best. I’d love to know all the secrets of making the perfect dough!!!!
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thanks for this! I printed it out for my missus.
hmmm, pizza maybe this weekend for me
Andy Bailey’s last blog post..CommentLuv gets CommentSmothered!
hey, the recipe looks perfect! I made whole wheat pizza dough myself sometime back and blogged about it…but yours is extra special, and you’ve learned it from an insider, huh!?:)
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Ok, you’ve got me, I’m definitely making this recipe a keeper.
Question, what other things can I make with this dough?
Thanks for the comments everyone. Cynthia,
Andy will be posting a rolled stromboli recipe either today or tomorrow. Also, in the past we have rolled out smaller pieces of the dough, put some olive oil on them and grilled them (only takes a couple of minutes). Langos (langoosh), a Hungarian fried bread, is made by frying pieces of the dough in oil, then sprinkling with garlic powder (you could also put cinnamon sugar on for a dessert).
kris’s last blog post..Pizza Dough
The Pizza looks perfect! I have also always been trying to make a pizaa from the scratch at home. Thnx for the recipe..
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Love your pizza, Kris. And I love the updates on your website. I learn all I know about cooking from you guys.