Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Easy Pizza dough

This is one I love because, a) I can make my own pizza anytime, b) put anything I want on it and c) it is fairly inexpensive (depending on your toppings).

Ingredients:

1 package of dry yeast (or 1/2 tsp active yeast from a jar)
1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
2 1/2 cups All purpose or Whole wheat Flour

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 425 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water.  Stir in remaining mixture and beat vigorously(about 20 minutes). Cover and let stand for about 5 minutes. (the longer you let the dough sit, the more it will rise, and the lighter and flakier your pizza crust will be.)

Remove cover and divide dough into 2 equal halves.

On a flour covered surface, work each piece of dough into 10-11 inch rounds (or squares, or triangles...you decide, have fun with your kids and use a cookie cutter or a knife to make smaller individual pizzas.)

Spread your chosen sauce over the surface evenly, then cover with all your favorite toppings. Cover with  about 1 cup of Mozzarella(or your favorite cheese.) Plain tomato sauce works best, with 1 Tbsp Italian seasonings sprinkled over the surface of the sauce.

Place in oven on middle rack (you can use or don't use a cookie sheet; without makes crispier crust) and bake 12-15 minutes or until crust s a light golden brown

Tip:

You can cook the dough by itself, to make a pre-made pizza dough for cold ingredients like a Pesto sauce instead of tomato sauce, or an avocado based sauce for a totally healthy California Pizza Kitchen style pizza. If you are only baking the dough, with no other ingredients, cut the baking time down to 10-12 minutes.



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