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Edited on Sun Jun-10-07 03:52 PM by oktoberain
Makes one pizza. Double ingredients if you need to make 2. This recipe is very versatile. You can add a teaspoon or two of your favorite herbs, wrap the dough around split mozzarella cheese sticks to make a stuffed crust, use more garlic, less garlic, sun-dried tomato bits, a teaspoon or two of good basil pesto--the possibilities are endless. :)
Dough ingredients:
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1 cup very warm water (somewhere around 100 degrees is best) 2 tbsp. active yeast (not instant!) 2 tbsp. clover honey 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 1/2 tsp. salt 1 tsp. minced garlic 2 tsp. Parmesan cheese (optional)
pizza sauce (either store-bought, or homemade) whatever toppings you want (I like pepperoni, mushrooms, and sweet Italian sausage slices) Good shredded *fresh* mozzarella. Buy a block and shred it yourself. Mmmmm....
Preparing dough:
1. Pour very warm water into a large bowl. Add the honey and salt, and use a mixer set on low to blend and dissolve honey and salt. Add yeast, and blend again with mixer for about 20 seconds. Let it sit for 5 minutes, to activate the yeast.
2. Add 1/2 cup flour and the olive oil, and mix until well-blended. Add the rest of the flour and the minced garlic, and mix well by hand until a dough ball forms. You want the dough to be firm, but not sticky or too dry.
3. Once you have a nice firm dough ball, turn it out onto a flour surface for kneading. Knead well for about 1 minute.
4. Lightly coat the inside of another large bowl with olive oil, then transfer the dough to that bowl. Cover it lightly with a clean dishtowel or a couple of sheets of plastic wrap, set in a nice warm place, and let it rise for about 45 minutes, or until roughly doubled in size. Punch down, and let it rise again for about an hour. Punch down again and transfer to a lightly floured surface for rolling out.
5. Lightly oil your pizza baking pan. Form the dough into a flat ball about 6-8 inches wide. Using your hands, press it from the center outward to stretch it out. Once the dough is about 1/2 inch thick, use a rolling pin the flatten it to 1/4 inch thick. Shape and/or cut the dough to fit your pan. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. (optional)
6. Puncture the dough all over with a fork. Puncture it well--this keeps it from bubbling up while baking! Rub on a small amount of olive oil around crust edges before adding sauce, toppings, and cheese. Bake at 400 degrees F until crust looks golden brown--this usually takes about 12-15 minutes.
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