Foolproof "tested a thousand times" pizza dough
The name doesn't lie - this pizza dough is so easy that it is great for beginner chefs and veterans alike.
Excerpted from Feeding My Mother: Comfort and Laughter in the Kitchen as My Mom Lives with Memory Loss. Copyright © 2017 Jann Arden. Reprinted by permission of Random House Canada, a division of Penguin Random House Canada Limited.
SERVES
4
TO
6
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoon fast-rising yeast (or one packet, if that’s what you’ve got on hand)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 generous cup very warm water
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
Directions
- I used to do this by hand, but now I use my KitchenAid with the dough hook. Doing it by hand works just as well, but needs elbow grease and some patience.
- Combine your yeast, sugar, warm water and olive oil in a large measuring cup. Stir gently and set aside. Put your flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and stir well.
- When your yeast has activated (a few bubbles on the surface), add it gradually to your flour as you mix it on a slow setting. Make sure it’s not too wet—you want the flour mixture to be able to form a ball and NOT stick to the sides. Same goes if you’re mixing by hand. Add a little more flour if you need to.
- Then I leave my mixer on knead for seven or eight minutes. Remove the dough and set on a well-floured surface. Shape the dough into a ball and knead a few more times. (Or knead by hand on a well-floured surface until the dough feels springy.) Cover with a clean tea towel and leave it for an hour to rise. It’s now ready to roll out and use!
- Put it on your pan, cover it with a little tomato sauce and your favourite toppings, and bake at 450F for 15 minutes.
- You can also use this dough to make naan bread. Pull off a small ball of dough. Roll it as thin as you can and fry it in a hot frying pan. I use spray oil directly on the piece of dough and I sprinkle it with a bit of salt. Flip it when you see the dough bubble up—it will only take a minute on each side, if that.
