Homemade Pizza Dough

Prep: 15 mins + 1 1/2 hours rising time | Cook Time: 12 mins | Course: Baked Goods | Yield: 4 pizza dough rounds 

There is nothing quite like homemade pizza with all your favorite toppings. This dough is easy to work with and will give you a great tender crust. Today's pizza dough post is inspired by Deborah at Taste and Tell for the pizza dough. Leftover dough rounds will keep in a gallon ziplock bag in the fridge for a week or you can freeze it as well. https://www.tasteandtellblog.com/homemade-pizza-dough-recipe/

Dough:

6 cups flour

2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp yeast

¼ cup sugar

¼ cup olive  oil

2 ½ cups warm water

In a stand mixer, combine the flour, salt, yeast and sugar. Mix to incorporate and add in the oil and water. Mix for about 5 minutes as the dough takes on a stretchy feel and has pulled away from the sides of the bowl.

Lift the dough out and spray a bit of olive oil in the bowl, add dough back in and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Place in the oven (turned off) with the light on for about one hour. The dough should be about doubled in size. Turn out onto a floured surface and divide the dough into 4 equal pieces (I put one or more in the fridge for later). Shape into round mounds using a bit of flour as needed so it’s not sticky and let rise under a kitchen towel (flour sack style) for about another hour. 

Stretch and pull dough with the back of your hands to fit your pizza pan (or use a rolling pin) or a cast iron skillet for a deep dish-style pizza. You can dust the pans with a bit of cornmeal to prevent the pizzas from sticking. Place pizza dough on the pans and back into the oven with the light on for half an hour or while you make the sauce and get the toppings ready. Remove pizzas from the oven and add sauce and toppings.

Baking Pizzas:

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Top pizzas as desired and place in the hot oven to bake for 10-15 minutes. The crust will be a dark golden color and the cheeses will be melted and dark-golden as well.