The Perfect Pizza Dough.

This is less of a blog entry, and more of a notification of the fact that Justin and I have discovered the PERFECT pizza dough recipe. We have been making homemade pizza quite regularly over the past year, and we’ve tried many different recipes for dough. They were all pretty good, but none of them were better than what we could get at Pizza Hut. Most of the recipes called for bread flour, but because Wal-Mart and Bi-Lo don’t carry bread flour (and that’s where we do 99% of our grocery shopping) we always ended up substituting all-purpose flour instead. I finally found the right stuff at Kroger about a month ago, but we waited a while before putting it to the test.

When Justin suggested homemade pizza today after I got off work, I have to admit that I wasn’t terribly excited, since I was already hungry and I knew that it would take at least a couple of hours for the dough to rise. It was past 8 PM by the time the pizza was finally ready, but after one bite we both knew that it was worth the wait. We had found the perfect pizza dough!

Ingredients

• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 cup warm water
• 2 tablespoons yeast
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In A Food Processor
2. In A Bread Machine
3. By Hand
4. Three choices in mixing your dough: Mixing Pizza Dough in a Food Processor: Some Food Processors come with a dough blade. If you have it use it. If you don't, just use the standard cutting blade. My dough blade broke from over use (some would call it pizza abuse, but that's another story) and the regular blade works fine.
5. Pour in warm water. The water should be about 85 to 115° F. Test it with your hand. It should feel very warm, but comfortable.
6. Add the honey and salt. Mix on low for about 20 seconds.
7. Add the yeast and mix on low for another 5 seconds.
8. Add 1 cup of flour, mix on low for 10 seconds.
9. Add the olive oil and mix until blended (about 15 or 20 seconds more).
10. Add the rest of the flour (and any other additions) and mix on high for about a minute or two. The dough should turn into a ball and roll around the processor. If the dough does not ball up because it's too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does. If your mixture is more like a batter, add flour one tablespoon at a time. Adding water or flour as needed to get the right consistency will assure you always get a perfect dough. Just remember to do it in small amounts.
11. Once the dough is balled up, place the ball on a floured board and knead for about a minute. This builds the gluten which helps the dough to rise and become fluffy when cooked. Place the dough in a plastic grocery bag or a covered bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise.
12. After about 45 minutes the dough should have about doubled in size.
13. 8. Show it who's the boss and punch it down. That's right, give it a good smack so it deflates. Let it rise for another hour to an hour and a half. The dough is now ready to be rolled out. You can punch the dough down one more time if you want and wait another hour or two before rolling out. The choice is yours.
14. You're now ready for the next step: Rolling out the dough.
15. NOTE: This dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or so, or even frozen. Be sure to let the dough come to room temperature before using.
16. Throw all the ingredients in, set to dough only setting, push start and walk away. That's it! No work, no hassle. If you don't work for something is it really worth having? In this case, you bet!
17. Once the machine "beeps" and your dough is ready, it's time to go on to the next step - Rolling Out The Dough.
18. To Mix Pizza Dough in a Bread Machine:
19. NOTE: This dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or so, or even frozen. Be sure to let the dough come to room temperature before using.
20. Pour warm water into a bowl. The water should be about 85 to 115° F. Test it with your hand. It should feel very warm, but comfortable.
21. Add the honey and salt. Mix by and hand (or any other method) until well blended.
22. Add the yeast and mix some more. Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes.
23. Add 1 cup of flour and the olive oil and mix until well blended.
24. Add the rest of the flour (and any other additions) and mix well. The dough should turn into a ball. If the dough does not ball up because it's too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does. If your mixture is more like a batter, add flour one tablespoon at a time. Adding water or flour as needed to get the right consistency will assure you always get a perfect dough. Just remember to do it in small amounts.
25. Once the dough is balled up, place the ball on a floured board and knead for about a minute. This builds the gluten which helps the dough to rise and become fluffy when cooked. Place the dough in a plastic grocery bag or a covered bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise.
26. After about 45 minutes the dough should have about doubled in size. Show it who's boss and punch it down. That's right, give it a good smack so it deflates. Let it rise for another hour to an hour and a half. The dough is now ready to be rolled out. You can punch the dough down one more time if you want and wait another hour or two before rolling out. The choice is yours. You're now ready for the next step: Rolling out the dough.

In case you’re wondering, the toppings we used were: a thin coat of tomato pesto; pepperoni, Canadian bacon, and banana peppers; and a healthy topping of Monterey Jack and Colby cheese. We popped the pizza in the oven at 450 degrees for about 12 minutes, then brushed a mixture of melted butter, olive oil, garlic powder, and Italian seasoning onto the crust. It was even better than it looks!