In our house, Friday night is pizza night! We couldn’t find good pizza nearby, so we decided to make our own! This is my recipe that I created from a few others I had found. It is very forgiving, but you need to make sure of two things:
- Ensure the yeast is activated.
- Add enough flour to ensure the dough doesn’t stick to your fingers when you touch it.
And, if you have leftover dough, you can freeze it. When ready to use, just bring it back to room temperature & it will still rise! So, here’s the recipe.
Ingredients
- 1 to 1-1/2 c hot water
- 1 package of yeast
- 1 T sugar
- 3 T oil
- 1/4 c (or less) brown sugar
- 1 t kosher salt
- 4-5 c (more or less) flour
Combine hot water, yeast & sugar in a bowl. Let sit for 05-10min to let yeast activate.
In a food processor, combine oil, brown sugar & salt by pulsing a few times. Pour activated yeast into food processor & pulse a few more times.
Add flour to mixture & pulse until a ball forms. Add enough flour so that dough isn’t tacky (doesn’t stick to your fingers when you touch it). This is KEY!
Put the dough in a bowl that has been coated with oil. Cover with plastic wrap & let it rise until it doubles, about 1-1/2 hrs. TIP: If you want the dough to rise faster, heat your oven to 170F. Then turn off the oven & put the dough in. It will rise within 45min.
Preheat oven with pizza stone or pizza steel (if you have one) to 500F. Put desired toppings on dough & carefully transfer to pizza stone or steel. Cook 6-8 min depending on thickness of dough, amount of toppings & desired level of crispiness. Enjoy!
Also read Julie’s article on “Why I Hired a Chicken Coach & Other Learnings from the Pandemic”.