It’s a weekly ritual around here that we sit down to a homemade pizza every Friday night. If I’m going to eat the same meal that frequently, you better believe I’m going to see to it that it tastes that good, too.
Which is why, each week, I whip up a pie using pizza dough, sauce and seasonings that I've made myself and that taste oh so good, every time. Now that I've gone homemade, no other kind of pizza can quite compare.
So, over the next couple days, I'm going to be sharing the recipes for each of these pizza-making staples, which make for a great way to kickoff the weekend—no greasy cardboard box or delivery-guy necessary.
First up: How to make your own pizza dough.
When I first got my bread machine, pizza dough was one of the first things I tried in it. While most breadmaking recipes are quite easy, this is a great one for beginners. I've never had a batch go wrong with it yet, and it makes a nice, hearty crust that's not too thin, not too thick.
Recipe to Make Your Own Pizza Dough Using a Breadmaker
1 cup water
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
3 cups flour (Note: At least 2 cups should be unbleached all-purpose flour; for the remaining cup, you can use whole wheat flour, wheat germ, ground flaxseed or any other alternative to healthify it. For this particular batch, I used ½ cup wheat flour and ½ cup wheat germ.)
2 tsp. bread machine yeast
- Combine all ingredients in the bread machine in the order listed (meaning, add the water first and add the yeast last). For the yeast, make a shallow well in the middle of the flour and add the yeast there.
- Select "Dough" setting on bread machine, and press "Start."
- When the dough has risen long enough, the machine will beep. Turn off bread machine, remove bread pan, and turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. (I like to use my trusty baking stone
for this.)
- Use rolling pin to flatten dough into a disk. (It should make one 12-inch pizza, or you can divide the dough in half to make two smaller pizzas.)
- Add your favorite sauce, cheese and toppings to pizza dough.
- Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about 20 to 25 minutes, or until cheese is starting to turn golden. Remove from oven, and let cool for about 5 minutes before serving.
How to Build a Better Pizza
STEP THREE: Make Your Own Pizza Seasoning
Our Friday morning tradition: Breakfast with all the fixings
Your Questions Answered: Cooking Tips and Recipes
Yay for Friday as Pizza Night! We had that happening at our Casa for a few months about a year ago and had fun with all sorts of different dough recipes - including one yeast-free and made with cornmeal variety that is great in a pinch (for the days we were in a time crunch). I think we might just have to start the tradition up again....
ReplyDeleteThanks, Laura! I've tried a couple yeast-free doughs and they never worked very well. I'd be curious to know your recipe; that would definitely be great to have on hand for nights when I'm crunched for time. Please pass it along if you think of it!
ReplyDeleteI make pizza scrolls using two cups of self-raising flour (or two cups of plain flour with 4 tablespoons of baking powder) and one cup of plain yoghurt. Mix together, and roll out on floured surface.
ReplyDeleteCan't get much easier than that!
Forgot to add, can't wait for your pizza sauce recipe, and toppings recipes. I'm not very creative in that department...:-)
ReplyDeleteOh, thanks for the tip, Detective! I've never heard of pizza "scrolls" but sounds neat. I'll have to look into that more. Glad you're enjoying this little mini-series look at pizza making!
ReplyDeletePizza scrolls - very popular here in Oz!! Basically you roll out your dough, cover with toppings and cheese, then roll up into a "log". Bake it, and then cut into slices. It's yummo served with pasta, and a nice change from garlic bread.
ReplyDeleteDetective, interesting! Thanks for explaining that for me. I truly have never heard of them before, but I'm so intrigued. I'll probably Google a picture of them, but I'd love to give them a try sometime. They sound like a fun way to shake up pizza night!
ReplyDelete