Sunday, April 15, 2012

Suzy's Pizza Dough

I'm sure this pizza dough has a different name but I'm naming it after my friend who gave me the recipe.  I tried a couple others but none that called for a little sugar in the yeast mixture.  This really seems to do the trick & make the perfect pizza dough!  
We made these while we were in Aiken visiting my parents.  I absolutely read the recipe wrong and considered this a "massive fail" but somehow we managed to make it work.  If the directions are followed, it turns out amazing!  :-)  The only other "ah-ha" that we had was that a square cookie tray (with sides) works WAY better than the "pizza pan" that my Mom just bought!  
We made ours with pepperoni; mushrooms and olives (separate pizzas to make everyone happy).


Suzy's Pizza Dough
1 1/4 c. Warm water (105 to 115)
1 package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
About 4 cups all-purpose flour (have an extra cup ready just in case you need it)

1.  In large bowl combine 1/4 cup warm water, yeast, and sugar; stir to dissolve. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes.

2. Stir in remaining warm water, oil, salt, and 1 1/2 cups flour until smooth. Gradually add 2 cups flour, more if needed, until dough doesn't stick.

3. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface, knead until smooth, about 10 minutes, working in a little more flour, when sticky. Place dough in a large, greased bowl. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place (80 to 85) until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

4. Punch dough down, roll/shape to fit lightly greased pizza pan.  (I usually cover it, and let it rise again, this makes a very light and crispy crust.)
I pre-bake the crust in pan before making pizza.  Prepare pizza, bake in 425 oven. After pizza is almost ready, I take it out of pan, bake directly on rack to make crust crispy.

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