Homemade Pizza Dough | Fun and Food Cafe

Homemade Pizza Dough Recipe

September 26, 2011 by Mansi

Easy Pizza Dough Recipe

When it comes to enjoying a homemade Pizza, a good crust is the key. These days, its not hard to find good quality pizza dough in the market; however, it is very easy to make your own pizza dough at home, with as little as 5 ingredients, and not much prepping or kneading! In our home, Pizza is usually an option when there’s not much time to cook anything else. Grabbing some dough and baking it into a crust, adding your favorite toppings and dinner is ready in less than 30 minutes. However, Pizza does not always need to be a quick-fix thing. In fact, a good artisan pizza with homemade dough, stretched and shaped into a nice thin or thick crust, just as you like, drizzled with homemade pizza sauce and your favorite toppings, then baked on a wood-fired frill or a bbq grill can be very appealing meal.

Did I get you salivating yet? If not, the picture for this fabulous Paneer Pizza and the video for making no-knead homemade pizza dough will definitely get you enticed. I have blogged about a fail-proof pizza dough recipe before, but this one is even better, thanks to the brilliant instructions provided by Chef John of Foodwishes. I also like the fact that this is a simpler no-knead method that any novice can try. Its very easy to follow and yields a nice smooth dough which can be refrigerated for a few days until ready to use.

Easy Pizza Dough Recipe

Ingredients
2 oz whole wheat flour
16 oz all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp dry active yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp sugar
2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 cups warm bottles (non-chlorinated) water
cornmeal – as needed for dusting

Method
In a large bowl, mix the flours with the yeast, sugar and salt. Add the water and olive oil and stir until blended. The dough will be very sticky, but it will separate from the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rest for 12 to 24 hours in a warm spot, about 70°. Ideally, place it in the oven with light tuned on, to accelerate the rising process.

Place the dough on a lightly floured work surface and lightly sprinkle the top with flour. Pat it down lightly, cut it into 4 pieces, then follow instructions in the video to stretch each part and shape into a ball.

Stretch or toss the dough into the desired shape, cover with toppings and bake on top of a very hot pizza stone. If you want to store the dough, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for a couple days, if you like.

The Story That Makes it Extra-Special
As I said earlier, a good pizza can be as exhilarating as any fine gourmet meal, plus, it is a meal that every member of the family can help to prepare. I got my hubby to chop the veggies for the toppings while I prepared the marinated paneer. We made the dough two days in advance, so there was no rush on the actual day. My 2 year old daughter had great fun playing with the dough as she kneaded it with her tiny hands- “Mamma, this is so much better than the PlayDoh“, she said, and seeing her messy fingers, I had to agree that she was having fun! She thinks everything needs to be tasted before you serve it, which is technically correct (and you can blame me for that!) so there she sat, licking the dough of her fingers telling me that “needs more salt Mamma, no taste!” She also helped me spread the sauce and sprinkle the cheese. We did out own private picnic-in-the-backyard kind of dinner, complete with some tropical Fruit Punch Lemonade, pizza and Chocolate Souffle for dessert. The weather was great, and we all had a good family-time with equally good family-friendly meal. Try it yourself, and create some amazing memories for your family too!