Easy Pizza Dough Recipe!

A fresh home cooked pizza is a wonderful thing to make, no matter your age.

It’s the kind of activity that kids love and will remember for years to come, while as an adult, I think that home cooked tastes best but even better, it can save a lot on money on deliveries and you can truly make it your own.

It only requires a few ingredients, it’s really quick to make and you can always freeze some for future use (if you are a better planner than me)!

Peter thinks this may be one of the best recipes that we’ve made so far, but he is a little bit of a pizza fanatic.

We’ll let you be the judge of this one, so let us know once you’ve given it a try.

Overview

Makes: 2x 10-12″ pizzas
Prep time: 15 mins (+ 30 mins rising time)
Cook time: 8-12 mins
Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

• 400g All purpose flour/bread flour (2 1/1 cups) and more for dusting
• 2 1/4tsp Dry active yeast (7g)
• 220ml Warm Water
• 2tbsp Olive oil + extra
• 1tbsp Cornmeal or semolina (for that classic pizza texture)
• 1tsp Salt
• 1tsp Sugar
• 1/2tsp Garlic powder

Utensils

• Scales (measuring cups)
• Large mixing bowl
• Cling film
• Parchment paper
• Baking tray

Instructions

1. Add your sugar and yeast to 150ml of warm water, cover and leave to sit for 10 minutes to activate yeast.
2. Add your flour, salt and garlic powder to a large mixing bowl.
   The garlic powder is optional but I prefer it.
3. Make a well in the middle of your ingredients and add the oil and then follow with the yeast water and start mixing.
   Measure out another 100ml of warm water and set to the side.
4. Mix the ingredients together in the bowl with either a wooden spoon or your hands, adding a little water in stages until they begin to form a dough that is somewhat tacky or sticky but not coming away with your hands. You probably won’t need to add all of the water.
   It’s always easier to add more water than attempt to fix a super wet dough.
5. Once you have a rough dough, dust your worktop with flour and tip the dough out onto it.
   You are going to want to knead this for a couple of minutes.
   Using the heel of your palm to push the dough away and using your fingers to pull it back towards you and repeating this motion.
   If the dough begins to stick to the worktop, keep dusting more flour over it.
   You’ll know the dough is ready when it forms a smooth ball and it bounces back in to shape when you press down with one finger on the top of the dough.
6. Drizzle some olive oil in your large mixing bowl and give it a quick brush around the sides.
   Shape your dough into a ball before placing it in your mixing bowl and give it a turn over to coat in oil before covering tightly with cling film.
   Set aside in a warm place for around 30 minutes or until it doubles in size. If you don’t have a good warm place, preheat your oven to the lowest temperature and turn it off as soon as it reaches temperature.
   Place your covered bowl in the turned off oven for around 30 minutes.
7. Once the dough has doubled in size remove from the oven and punch the dough down to remove some of the air, dust some more flour onto your worktop before cutting it in half.
8. Preheat your oven to 220°C/450°F.
9. Grab some parchment paper and sprinkle your cornmeal or semolina over it before rolling each section into a 10-12″.
   To spread the dough, use your fingertips to work their way along the pizza dough and slightly pulling outward as they do until you create that disc shape, this will also incorporate the semolina into your dough (as well as making it easier to move to the oven)
   Then, you might like to place both of your hands flat on the dough and move it in circles to further spread the size or do this in any other way that you know or like to! 
   You then want to indent a small section around the edges which will form your crust.
   I always think it adds to the meal when it looks homemade and that’s how I like to make mine, a little haphazard.
   Of course, you could also choose to make 4 smaller pizzas or you could freeze one half of the dough if you prefer.
10. Drizzle a small bit of olive oil into the centre of your pizza base and then add tomato puree. Use the back of a spoon to spread the puree and oil mix around to cover the base.
11. Add your toppings of choice and some cheese before placing on your now heated oven tray or pizza stone and cooking for around 8-12 minutes until golden, depending on your oven.

Storage

Lightly oil your dough before placing in a freezer bag, this can be frozen for up to three months.

Allow to thaw completely before using.