Pizza (Dough and all!)

I love pizza! Who doesn't love pizza?? This recipe for pizza dough is super easy, super cheap, and super good! I think it tastes just as good as pizza ordered from a restaurant! 

This pizza dough is super easy to make and it is delicious! To make enough for 2 crusts you will need:

• 3 & 1/2 to 4 cups FLOUR
• 1 tsp SUGAR
• 1 envelope INSTANT DRY YEAST
• 2 tsp SALT
• 1 & 1/2 cup HOT WATER
• 2 Tbs + 2 tsp OLIVE OIL

Using the bread hook on a stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Then, while the mixer is running, add the hot water and 2 tablespoons oil to the dry mixture until the dough forms into a ball. If the dough is too sticky, add a little bit of flour. If the dough is too dry, add water 1 tablespoon at a time. 

Next, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it into a ball. Then place the dough into a bowl that has been greased with 2 teaspoons of oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for about 1 hour (until the dough doubles in size) in a warm area.

Once the dough is finished rising, separate the dough into two balls and allow them to rest for 10 minutes. You can either roll them out and cook them right away or wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze them for later!



Once you are ready to cook the pizza set the oven to 400 degrees F. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin and then put your chosen toppings on! We made a stuffed crust pepperoni pizza! To make the stuffed crust we used string cheese that we had cut in half long-wise. We folded the cheese into the crust of the dough by pressing the outside of the dough over the cheese. 

We baked the pizza on a cookie sheet for about 10 minutes to start. Once the crust was cooked enough to hold its shape without the cookie sheet we removed the sheet and placed the pizza directly on the rack for the remainder of the time so that the crust would get crispier. 

Here is what ours looked like when it came out of the oven!

We only made one pizza the first night (Bobby Flay’s recipe makes two crusts), so we froze the second crust for a few days. When we were ready to cook the second pizza we pulled the dough out of the freezer and let it sit at room temperature for several hours until it was soft enough to be rolled out. Even after being frozen it cooked up the same as the freshly made dough!

The picture of the pizza seen below is not stuffed crust which is why the crust looks so different...

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Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

• 3 & 1/2 to 4 cups FLOUR
• 1 tsp SUGAR
• 1 envelope INSTANT DRY YEAST
• 2 tsp SALT
• 1 & 1/2 cup HOT WATER
• 2 Tbs + 2 tsp OLIVE OIL

Directions:

1. Using the bread hook on a stand mixer, combine the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. 
2. While the mixer is running, add the hot water and 2 tablespoons oil to the dry mixture until the dough forms into a ball. If the dough is too sticky, add a little bit of flour. If the dough is too dry, add water 1 tablespoon at a time. 
3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it into a ball. 
4. Then place the dough into a bowl that has been greased with 2 teaspoons of oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise for about 1 hour (until the dough doubles in size) in a warm area.
5. Once the dough is finished rising, separate the dough into two balls and allow them to rest for 10 minutes. You can either roll them out and cook them right away or wrap them in plastic wrap and freeze them for later!
6. Once you are ready to cook the pizza set the oven to 400 degrees F. 
7. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin and then put your chosen toppings on! We made a stuffed crust pepperoni pizza! To make the stuffed crust we used string cheese that we had cut in half long-wise. We folded the cheese into the crust of the dough by pressing the outside of the dough over the cheese. 
8. We baked the pizza on a cookie sheet for about 10 minutes to start. Once the crust was cooked enough to hold its shape without the cookie sheet we removed the sheet and placed the pizza directly on the rack for another 10 minutes so that the crust would get crispier. 

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Here is the website where I found Bobby Flay’s pizza crust: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/pizza-dough-recipe/index.html