Pizza Crust and Tips

Instructions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast and honey in 1/4 cup warm water, set aside.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer with a dough hook, combine flour and salt.
3. Add oil, yeast mixture, and remaining 3/4 cup warm water
4. Mix on low speed until dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 5 minutes.
5. Turn out onto a counter and knead until dough is firm and smooth, about 2-3 minutes.
6. Transfer to a large bowl, cover with a damp clean kitchen towel and let rise for 30 minutes.
7. If using a pizza stone, make sure you get it preheating on the lowest rack in your oven at 500 degrees.
8. Divide dough into four balls.
9. Work each ball by pulling down the sides and tucking under the bottom of the ball, repeat 4 or 5 times.
10. On a clean unfloured surface, roll the ball under the palm of your hand until dough is firm and smooth, about 30-60 seconds.  Repeat with remaining balls, cover with damp towel and let rest for 15-20 minutes.
11. TIP: Balls can now be wrapped in plastic and refrigerated up to 2 days. If you do this, you can take them straight from the fridge to roll out and make.
12. To form pizza, use hands to pull dough over the top of your hand.
13. Or use a rolling pin, rolling from the center to the outside, turning dough occasionally.
14. Sprinkle semolina on pizza peel*
15. Place dough on peel, if desired you can make an outer edge on the crust now.
16. Spread sauce on dough
17. Sprinkle on toppings
18. In several gentle jolting motions, transfer pizza from the peel to the pizza stone.
19. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes (depends on how thinly you rolled your dough).
20. *If you don’t have a pizza peel or stone, just roll out dough to fit your pan (round ones will work better) and bake at 425 degrees, how long will depend on how big your pan is, and how thick your dough is.

TIPS: For frozen pizza crust, bake with just sauce or sauce and cheese, making sure your dough was rolled out to a size that will still fit in a zip-top bag, after baking and cooling, place in zip top bags, label, and freeze. (You can also do individual serving size pizzas) To use, just reheat in oven on a cookie sheet or on the oven rack at 425 degrees until done. No thawing needed. (Add desired toppings before baking if frozen blind)

1. BE PREPARED!!!
2. Pizza night can be alot of fun, but also a huge mess! I like to get everything all together while the dough is raising.  I make a list of the kinds of pizza we’ll be making that night, and get all the toppings we’ll be using all together. This makes for a really fun dinner party as well, as each person can even make their own pizza and choose from the “toppings buffet”.  What kind of toppings to choose? Look at the menu at your favorite pizza restaurant and write down the toppings on your favorite pizzas.