Tuesday, September 30, 2008

My new favorite pizza dough
--Pizza Dough



Pizza Dough
Great Bread Machine Recipes Copyright 1992

2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 ½ tablespoons sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 ½ teaspoons olive oil
5 ½ ounces warm water
(makes 1-pound of dough)
Or
3 teaspoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
8 ounces warm water
(makes 1 1/2 pounds of dough)

Use the appropriate dough setting for your bread machine and add ingredients in the order suggested by your bread machine. I made it the night before and refrigerated it. I nuked it on defrost for a couple of minutes before rolling it out. It made a very thin 16-inch pizza - use a 12 or 14-inch pan if you like a thicker crust. I always cook my pizza at 500 degrees (the hottest temperature that my oven claims to reach) and I use perforated pans.
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We generally have pizza every Friday. I had reached the point where I was so sick of homemade pizza on Fridays. I changed it up every which way I could as far as toppings go. I made tomato sauced pizza with various configurations of pepperoni, onions, mushrooms, peppers, sausage, pineapple, ham. I made bbq chicken pizza. I made pizza with white sauce, bacon and mushrooms. I tried different cheeses.

Although I was very happy with the crust I was using for some time, I was sick of that too and now it was time to change it up since I had changed everything else. Last week I used the rectangular premade crust I can get locally and while they were good, they remind me of frozen pizza (and not the good, rising crust type). I happen to love all frozen pizza but when it comes to Friday pizza, I want something more substantial.

So, I went looking for another pizza dough recipe for my bread machine. I was going to try a Pizza Hut knockoff but it used 3 cups of flour which would probably overwhelm my bread machine so at the last minute I chose this recipe. I thought I had made this recipe once before but when I tasted it, I knew I hadn't or I would have made it more than once. I loved this so much I can't wait until next Friday. It just had great flavor and texture. I refrigerated the dough overnight which I believe really does change things as far as texture and flavor so keep that in mind if you make this. I'm not saying it wouldn't be as good straight out of the bread machine but that's not how I tested it.

It's funny that most pizza dough recipe use the same basic ingredients - water, salt, sugar, oil, yeast and flour but slight variations in those ingredients make a huge difference. I don't want to mess with this too much but I do feel better making a whole wheat crust so I may try some white whole wheat flour in this at some point.

P.S. I took this picture the next day when I reheated a slice in the toaster oven which is why the crust is that dark.

Question of the Day: How often do you eat pizza?

6 comments:

Randi said...

We do the Friday pizza thing too. Just an FYI, if you refridgerate your dough overnight, cut out a little of the yeast. It will still rise slowly, but will have a better flavor( not so yeasty).

Have you tried the garlic slathered stretch bread I've blogged about? Its amazing, but oh so fattening. It would be a great alternative to pizza( served with a salad).

Anonymous said...

We're once every two weeks at our house. But we keep getting it from our friend's pizza place (which gets old) or make it ourselves. Our fav is BBQ chicken w/mixed cheeses, red onion & fresh jalapeno. I'm making myself want one :)

Heather said...

We are eating pizza about 2 times a month as a family.

I wanted to tell you that you posted this at just the right time for me. I finally bought a bread machine last week. I made a box mix bread and loved it.
I came here looking for something else to try for this week...and low and behold you give me just what I want. Pizza tonight.

Thanks Paula!

Wanda said...

Eh...not often any more. When the younger kids were still high school age, we used to get take-out pizza after the Friday night games each week.

Then, when we got a new Super Walmart, long after the kids were gone, I was completely taken with their deli pizza - huge, cheap and absolutely loaded with large veggies. But now, it seems like they don't taste nearly as good as they used to, so we rarely have pizza now.

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Elliott Broidy said...

Brush on some garlic butter... Mmmm