Pizza Dough... I Perfected It

So over two years ago, I googled "chewy yeasty pizza dough". Yeah, yeasty sounds, well, not exactly appetizing... But when I make pizza at home, I am always praying and crossing my fingers that it has that perfect crisp on the outside of the crust and is still nice and chewy on the inside. And although I am still holding my breath that a beautiful stone pizza oven will be miraculously be crafted by elves on my back patio; I'm pretty sure I will have to make do with my oven. I have tried adding sugar, honey, more flour, bread flour, different cooking temps, etc... I haven't quite been able to get my dough how I like it until now. I am attaching more pictures than usual since this is a tricky beast. For example, I am not a baker. And while the original recipe had called for 3 1/2 cups of regular flour, I always used 4. I didn't know that you're supposed to pack down your flour?!?! What kind of flour is best for pizza dough? I'm 30, is there still chance that my boobs will grow? So many unanswered questions, and only some of them pertaining to pizza dough. I could start another blog about my small boobs, but I'm afraid it would be dreadfully boring. So for now we will stick to pizza... (Makes 3 dough balls)

Ingredients: 2 packets Fleshman's Quickrise Active Dry Yeast 1 1/2 cups warm water 1 tsp sugar 1 tsp salt 1 tbsp olive oil 3 1/2 cups bread flour salt (for dusting) garlic powder (for dusting) corn meal (for dusting) you will need a pizza stone

Instructions: 1. In a Kitchenaid Stand Mixer empty the two packets of yeast and 1 1/2 cups of warm water. (I let my water faucet run warm for a minute or so, then microwaved it for 30 seconds.) Allow this mixture to sit in the bowl for 8-10 minutes. It should begin to foam a little. If it doesn't, you need new yeast. (The yeast that I used is also ideal for 2 hour rising time. Its not an all day slow rise yeast.)

2. Add the salt, sugar and olive oil into the bowl. 3. Measure out 3 1/2 cups of bread flour. Okay, to truly measure out the flour you must kind of sift it down. After I poured it into my measuring cup, I hit the bottom with my palm to get the flour to settle down. I had to add almost another half cup! So keep bumping the bottom until the flour stops sinking below the measuring line. 4. Put the dough hook attachment on the Kitchenaid Stand Mixer. Turn the mixer onto a low setting and allow the ingredients to mix together. The dough should climb the hook. Allow it to continue stirring for 8-10 minutes. The dough should be sticky but not stick to you.

(Yeah, it is side ways... deal with it.) 5. Remove the dough from the bowl and spray it with cooking spray. Replace the dough and cover with Saran wrap.

6. After about 45 minutes check on your bowl, your dough should be towards the top, go ahead and punch it down. Allow it to sit another 45-60 minutes. After your first dough check, go ahead and turn your oven to 500 degrees and put the pizza stone inside. You're going to want that baby HOT! 7. Sprinkle flour on your counter top and separate the dough into three balls. (You can store the dough for 2 days in the refrigerator, or you can freeze what you don't use.)

8. Press the dough down, and mold it into a circle by hand.

9. Roll it out the rest of the way with a rolling pin. 10. Remove the pizza stone from the oven, with pot holders! 11. Place the dough on the hot pizza stone. Drizzle the dough with roughly a tsp of olive oil. YOu can add more if you need to, but smart small. I smooth it evenly over all the dough with a spoon. 12. Lightly sprinkle the dough with salt and garlic powder. 13. Then dust the dough with the corn meal. This is not a small step. ;) Corn meal, repeat it, corn meal. 14. Move your oven rack to the top 1/3 of the oven and switch your oven to broil. 15. Add the toppings to your pizza and then broil for 3-5 minutes. Check on it at 3. When the crust is browning, it is done. The hot preheated stone will have cooked the bottom. And the broil setting has cooked the top. If you have followed this meticulously, you should have an awesome pizza. Enjoy!

If you're making any of the previous pizzas from my blog... follow this dough recipe!!!

Look at that pretty pizza dough!