Easy Pizza Dough

I really like this pizza dough recipe. It just takes a little bit of time to rise.

Here is the recipe for that:

1/2 c warm water
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast
4 cups flour, plus more for dusting
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/4 c water (room temperate)
2 T extra-virgin olive oil

Measure warm water into 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Mix yeast into this water. In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment, mix flour and salt briefly. Mix room temperature water with the yeast mixture. Turn on mixer to low speed. Add yeast mixture and olive oil to the flour. Mix until a cohesive dough has formed. At this time switch to dough hook and knead on low speed until smooth and elastic (about 5 minutes), adding flour if too sticky.
Cover bowl with clean towel or plastic wrap and let rise until it has doubled in size-around 1 1/2-2 hours.

Press down on the dough to deflate. Divide the dough. Shape each piece of dough into a smooth, round ball (I you want to freeze the dough now it the time). Cover with a damp cloth and let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes.

Now you can shape your dough and put on your pan. I like to put a little bit of cornmeal on my pan to keep the pizza from sticking.

I also like to roll the edges so that they look "cool"

Top as desired. Bake at 375 degrees until the crust is golden brown for about 15 minutes.

Yield: 2 Medium Pizzas


Here is an example of a pizza that we LOVE. It's called Alfredo Chicken Pizza and you can find the recipe here.