Homemade Pizza & Pizza Dough

• portions: 6 servings
• temps actif: 30 minutes
• temps total: 2 hours 30 minutes

Ingrédients

1 1/2 cups (355 ml) warm water (105°F-115°F)

1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast

3 3/4 cups (490 g) bread flour

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (omit if cooking pizza in a wood-fired pizza oven)

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon sugar

Extra virgin olive oil

Cornmeal (to help slide the pizza onto the pizza stone)

Tomato sauce (smooth, or puréed)

Firm mozzarella cheese, grated

Fresh soft mozzarella cheese, separated into small clumps

Fontina cheese, grated

Parmesan cheese, grated

Feta cheese, crumbled

Mushrooms, very thinly sliced if raw, otherwise first sautéed

Bell peppers, stems and seeds removed, very thinly sliced

Italian pepperoncini, thinly sliced

Italian sausage, cooked ahead and crumbled

Sliced black olives

Chopped fresh basil

Baby arugula, tossed in a little olive oil, added as pizza comes out of the oven

Pesto

Pepperoni, thinly sliced

Onions, thinly sliced raw or caramelized

Ham, thinly sliced

Instructions

Proof the yeast: Place the warm water in the large bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let it sit for 5 minutes until the yeast is dissolved. After 5 minutes stir if the yeast hasn't dissolved completely. The yeast should begin to foam or bloom, indicating that the yeast is still active and alive. (Note that if you are using "instant yeast" instead of "active yeast", no proofing is required. Just add to the flour in the next step.)

Make and knead the pizza dough: Add the flour, salt, sugar, and olive oil, and using the mixing paddle attachment, mix on low speed for a minute. Then replace the mixing paddle with the dough hook attachment. Knead the pizza dough on low to medium speed using the dough hook about 7 to 10 minutes. If you don't have a mixer, you can mix the ingredients together and knead them by hand. The dough should be a little sticky or tacky to the touch. If it's too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour.

Let the dough rise: Spread a thin layer of olive oil over the inside of a large bowl. Place the pizza dough in the bowl and turn it around so that it gets coated with the oil. At this point you can choose how long you want the dough to ferment and rise. A slow fermentation (24 hours in the fridge) will result in more complex flavors in the dough. A quick fermentation (1 1/2 hours in a warm place) will allow the dough to rise sufficiently to work with. Cover the dough with plastic wrap. For a quick rise, place the dough in a warm place (75°F to 85°F) for 1 1/2 hours. For a medium rise, place the dough in a regular room temperature place (your kitchen counter will do fine) for 8 hours. For a longer rise, chill the dough in the refrigerator for 24 hours (no more than 48 hours). The longer the rise (to a point) the better the flavor the crust will have.

Nutrition

• Taille de Portion: Makes 2 10-12-inch pizza
• Calories: 322 kcal
• Lipides Totaux: 4 g
• Lipides Saturés: 1 g
• Lipides Insaturés: 0 g
• Cholestérol: 0 mg
• Sodium: 710 mg
• Glucides Totaux: 61 g
• Fibres Diététiques: 2 g
• Sucres Totaux: 1 g
• Protéines: 10 g