painless and pizza-making do not go hand in hand for me. i have had a bad experience with active dry yeast one too many times.. but.. i am not going to give up! and my main problem is that i mess up a key part..or warm up the oven to place the yeast in (because our house was cold <snowstorm> and i was being impatient.and forget to turn the oven off…..thus killing the yeast.
so i’m very happy to have found this recipe for painless pizza making!
great detailed recipes for a variety of pizza’s!
perfect since lent is starting tomorrow..and that means making a sacrifice to not eat meat on fridays.
Really Simple Pizza Dough
Makes enough for one small, thin crust pizza. Double it if you like your pizza thick and bready.
1 1/2 cups flour (can replace up to half of this with whole wheat flour)
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup lukewarm water (may need up to 1 or 2 tablespoons more)
1 tablespoon olive oil
Stir dry ingredients, including yeast, in a large bowl. Add water and olive oil, stirring mixture into as close to a ball as you can. Dump all clumps and floury bits onto a lightly floured surface and knead everything into a homogeneous ball.
If you are finding this step difficult, one of the best tricks I picked up from my bread-making class is to simply pause. Leave the dough in a lightly-floured spot, put the empty bowl upside-down on top of it and come back in 2 to 5 minutes, at which point you will find the dough a lot more lovable.
Knead it for just a minute or two. Lightly oil the bowl (a spritz of cooking spray perfectly does the trick) where you had mixed it — one-bowl recipe! — dump the dough in, turn it over so all sides are coated, cover it in plastic wrap and leave it undisturbed for an hour or two, until it has doubled in size.
Dump it back on the floured counter (yup, I leave mine messy), and gently press the air out of the dough with the palm of your hands. Fold the piece into an approximate ball shape, and let it sit under that plastic wrap for 20 more minutes.
Sprinkle a pizza stone or baking sheet with cornmeal and preheat your oven to its top temperature. Roll out the pizza, toss on whatever topping and seasonings you like. (I always err on the side of skimpy with toppings so to not weight down the dough too much, or if I have multiple toppings, to keep them very thinly sliced.)
Bake it for about 10 minutes until it’s lightly blistered and impossible to resist.
Try one of these versions! they look delicious.
From ezrapoundcake.com….
White Pizza with Arugula and Pizza Margherita
(she has a great simple dough recipe from Ina Garten)
pk @ Room Remix
February 17, 2010 at 4:33 pmI don’t typically make pizza (DiGiorno Thin Crust frozen for us when we’re eating it at home :-)) but the times I have I’ve just copped out and used the storebought crust. Is that bad? The pizzas in this post look yummy though.
Natalie Catherine
February 17, 2010 at 4:40 pmhey why not right?? the day after my pizza making disaster we were at the grocery store..and my husband was eyeing the storebought crusts but i was too stubborn haha. he says he doesn’t doubt me!! (i think he was wanting a back up..haha.)
LindsB
February 17, 2010 at 4:56 pmYUM! It is snack time and I could totally use some pizza right about now.
Mrs Gloves
February 17, 2010 at 8:36 pmI’ve always wanted to make my own pizza dough. Thanks for the inspiration!
Steph @ A Grande Life
Natalie Catherine
February 18, 2010 at 5:54 pmi’m making the white pizza with arugula right now!! i’ll let you know how it turns out.. so far so good! :)
alli/hooray
February 19, 2010 at 3:17 pmYum. This definitely has me in the mood to make pizza…I always want to on weekends for some reason.
Chantel and Michael Magistro
February 19, 2010 at 10:30 pmYou share such great things! I’ve only read a few of your posts, but I’m loving it!
My husband and I are trying to find good, affordable recipes. I’ll be searching your blog a lot I’m sure :-)
LaLa
February 20, 2010 at 12:55 amNatalie, your blog is amazing and give me great vibes, I love it! Thanks for stopping by my blog! I’ll be back ;) Happy weekend!
Reginasaurus
February 20, 2010 at 6:24 pmOh my gosh. LOVE your blog! xo