Homemade Pizza Dough

When I was growing up, my mother would make homemade dough for pizza. Sunday was football day in our house. She would have it ready when the games were over. I used her recipe for years. I then would mess around with other recipes until I perfected the one that gave us the pizza we desired. This recipe is very fast and easy to make. It makes enough dough for two pizzas.

Gather your ingredients:

1-1/2 cups warm water

2 tbsp Sugar

2-1/4 tsp Yeast

1-1/2 tsp Salt

2 tbsp Olive Oil

4 cups flour; I use 2 cups bread flour and 2 cups all purpose

Preheat the oven at it's lowest temperature. This is just to get the chill out and will help with the rise. When the oven is warm, turn it off. Heat up your glass mixing bowl with warm water and dry it.

Pour the water; the temperature should be comfortable on your wrist, into the bowl. Add the sugar and yeast. Whisk to incorporate. Cover in plastic wrap, save this plastic wrap. Let sit for about 10 minutes to proof. It should get foamy and cloudy.

After the proofing is complete, remove the plastic wrap and set it aside. Add the salt and olive oil. Stir.

Add 1 cup of flour. Whisk to incorporate until dissolved.

Whisk in the second cup of flour.

With a spoon, add the third cup of flour. It tends to be too thick for the whisk.

Add the fourth cup of flour. Using your hands, begin to combine and knead the dough.

Knead the dough for about 10 minutes. You know you're done when the dough no longer sticks to your hands.

Drizzle the bowl with olive oil and make sure the dough is covered in oil, too.

Take the plastic wrap and cover the bowl. Place a towel over the bowl and place it in the oven.

After the dough has risen for about an hour or doubled in size, remove it from the oven.

This dough can be used right away or put in the freezer for a later time. Just put some olive oil in a baggy and coat the dough with the oil in the bag. When ready to use, remove from the freezer, put in the refrigerator. Let it thaw and rise until ready to use. Enjoy!

To make pizza with this dough click here