Monday, May 7, 2012

Amazing Herbed Pizza Dough!


Are you afraid of Flour? Do you like pizza, but often fear attempting a homemade crust!?

STOP RUNNING AWAY FROM YUMINESS!

This recipe is simple, quick, and fun for the whole family.
Complexity Level:  Easy
Makes about 3 Medium Pizzas, or 2 w/ Bread sticks!
Herbed Pizza Dough
What You Need:
Dough:
1 tbsp Dry Active Yeast
1 tbsp Sugar + 2 tbsp Sugar
1/2 cup Lukewarm water
2 cups additional water
1 tbsp Salt
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tbsp Dried Oregano
1 tbsp Dried Parsley
6-6/12 cups Flour
Corn Meal -- for rolling

Garlic Butter Rub
6 tbsp Butter
1 tsp Garlic Powder
1 tsp Dried Oregano
1 tsp Dried Parsely
1/2 tsp Salt

Quick tip #1:  Corn meal is going to give this dough that extra crunch so many pizza joints klure you in with. On top of that, the dough itself is so packed with falvor, you're family and friends will insist it's not homemade. 
Even my husband refused to beleive me, though covered in flour and in the kitchen for hours, he insisted I snuck out to his favorite pizza joint. Oh the fun of having a good homemade meal ;) He ate a breadstick, turned to me and said "Wait, you made these?!"

To start, add the yeast and suge to a pint glass. Add the 1/2 cup of lukewarm (about 90 degree) water. I use the hot watert from my faucet for activating my yeast. Stir the yeats, sugar, and water, and cover the glass with a wet paper towel.  Set aside for 10 minutes.

While waiting on the yeast, place a 9X13 dish full of water into your oven, and set it for 180 degrees.  Once heated. Turn the heat off. Make sure the water is on the lowest rack, and lower the top rack just above it, so the bowl/pot of dough will fit. Keep the door closed.

At this point the yeast should be bubbly and foamining.  Place the additional 2 cups of water (same temp used to activate the yeaast) with another 2 tbsp of sugar, the 2 tbsp of olive oil, and the garlic, salt, and herbs. Stir well.  Add the yeast and start folding in the flour.  Being dough you will need to eye ball this.  After about 3 cups of flour, I like to dump the wet dough on a large floured surface, kneading in the remaining flour until the dough is warm, soft, not sticky, and very airy.

Palce into a large bowl greased with Olive Oil and place in the oven "proofer" you created earlier on.  Cover with a wet towel and walk away for no less than 1 hour.  Punch, recover, let sit another hour.

After the 2 hours, cut into balls and place on a greased baking sheet. Drizzle each ball with olive oil, and place back in your oven, covered with plastic wrap.  These will only need to sit about 30 minutes.
  You will see them double in size screaming it's Pizza Time!


This dough was moist from the proofing, so in place of tossing the dough, I rolled it out. The secret is, cover the rolling area with corn meal, and sprinkle some on each side of the dough for rolling. This give the dough a wonderful crunch after baking, and simplifies the stress of dough sticking to the rolling pin.

Place your pizza dough on a pizza stone or lightly greased baking sheet and assemble your pizza. You will want to melt the garlic butter mixture and brush the dough before building the toppings.





I made one for me with marinara, pesto, shitake mushrooms, basil, onions, and tomaotes. My husband - marinara, ham, and pepperonis. Whatever you like, whip it up and bake 12-16 minutes at 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Remove and brush the crust with more garlic butter. And BAAM! You just made yourself a better than take out, better than frozen, and even better than restaurant pizza that will leave you ready for more!


I also used dough to make breadsticks... they were so good .......... yum!

Here's to a good night in!

.

4 comments:

  1. Yum! So easy and delicious looking! Perfect for family pizza nights!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Jessica!

      This was so much fun to make!! Next time, pizza shapes!

      Delete
  2. Ohh that looks great, I'm always making pizza and looking for a way to jazz it up.

    ReplyDelete

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