Basic Pizza Dough
Description
Pizza is a great way to use up odds and ends in your fridge at the end of the week. You can either plan for it, or...not. I like to make this recipe and split it into 3 pieces and freeze whatever I'm not going to need for dinner. It keeps beautifully in the freezer for several weeks.
This recipe is very basil, but I do add Italian seasonings to my dough--I think it just tastes good and adds another flavor dimension to the pie.
Ingredients
Instructions
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A note on yeast: It keeps better cold. I keep mine in the freezer and transfer it to the refrigerator a day or two before I'm going to use it. During the pandemic, we all went a little crazy with the whole bread-baking thing, so do yourself a favor and check the expiration date on your yeast before you get started on any recipe that calls for yeast. If it has expired, let it go and get fresh--you'll thank yourself later!
Now let's get started!
Dissolve the yeast in warm water and let stand until it starts to bubble a little--5-10 minutes. Pour the mixture into the bowl of a stand mixer, and add the rest of the ingredients into the mixing bowl. I use my mixer for this entire process, but you can certainly do this by hand if you're of a mind. Using a dough hook, mix and then knead the dough until it becomes a ball. Start by adding only 3 1/2 cups of the flour and add more as necessary to create an elastic dough that is not sticky.
Wipe the inside of another bowl with olive oil and place the ball of dough into the oiled bowl. Cover with a clean, dry towel and let the dough rise for an hour to an hour and a half. You should see it just about double in size.
Use in any pizza recipe.
