Pizza Dough

I promised that I would post the long-awaited pizza dough recipe. I have delayed, because I have tried many, and have yet to settle on my 'perfect' recipe. This is the best one that I have been using a lot lately, so I figured it is high time to share it. However, I will add this caveat: I placed an order on King Arthur Flour's bakers catalogue and it hasn't arrived yet. I might have to update my recipe here once I get my items and start experimenting with them. I am excited to see how that goes, but this works every time.

Pizza Dough

3/4 cup of white wine (I usually use pinot grigio, and it doesn't have to be a freshly opened bottle. NEVER buy cooking wine! Keep any leftover wine in your fridge to use in cooking. Especially in baking, it doesn't matter if it isn't brand new.)

1/4 water

2 & 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

1 -2 teaspoons of sugar

1 tablespoon of olive oil

2 & 1/2 cups t0 3 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of salt

Heat the wine and water for about 25 seconds in the microwave until around 100-110 degrees Fahrenheit. I recently read on the King Arthur website that yeast is kind of like you. If you don't have a thermometer, test the water on the inside of your wrist to see if it is warm enough. If it feels hot to you, it's probably too hot for the yeast. Once you determine that the water is the right temperature, sprinkle the yeast on the surface of the water and let stand for 5 minutes. (I have found that it helps to walk away at this point- you can leave the yeast for longer than 5 minutes, it is probably pretty happy at this point. The water should be foamy and fragrant before you do anything else to it.)

Add the sugar, olive oil, and 1 cup of flour to the mixture. It's important to never add the salt until you have at least added one cup of flour. Salt and yeast are not friends, and the flour acts as a buffer between them.

Another interesting thing that I have recently learned- Most of us are using WAY too much flour in our recipes. Unless you are sifting before you measure, you are probably scooping up to 6 ounces per cup of flour. Most recipes in cookbooks are tested with a 4 ounce cup of flour. Sounds minimal, but I have noticed that this makes a HUGE difference. If you don't want to sift, fluff up your flour with a spoon and spoon it into your measuring cup then tap and level off the top. Also, sometimes it helps to use the half-cup measure throughout the process. This prevents you from dumping in too much flour all at once and then you are past the point of no return.

So you now have 1 cup of flour mixed in. Go ahead and add the salt and 1 additional cup of flour. Mix all of the ingredients together to form a rough ball of dough. Add the remaining 1/2 to 1 cup of flour gradually just until the dough is not sticky. Then stop. Knead for about 15 minutes. If kneading by hand, sprinkle flour on the work surface only to prevent sticking. After 15 minutes, let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then check for elasticity. If the dough doesn't feel elastic (windowpane test- Tear off a piece of dough and see if you can see a membrane when stretched.) knead for about 10 more minutes. Oil a bowl and place the dough inside and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 12 hours.

Remove from the fridge and let come to room temperature. Also, you can heat your oven up to 150 degrees, place the bowl (keep the plastic on) inside, and then turn off the oven to speed up this process. After doing either step, remove the dough and gently deflate all of the gas. You are now ready to roll out your pizza!

I use a baking sheet covered with foil. I usually heat my oven to 415 degrees and place the rack in the lowest setting. I mist the foil with cooking spray and sprinkle it with kosher salt. Top your pizza and slide into the oven. I don't usually set a timer, but I think it takes about 15 minutes to bake. If your crust is brown on the bottom, but you want to brown your toppings a bit more, place it under the broiler for 2-3 minutes. Remove promptly, slice, and serve! You are going to love it!