Pizza dough

Homemade pizza dough

There are a few things that you have to get right if you want to make your own pizza and today I will talk about the foundation of the entire project, the dough. Making your own dough is actually fairly simple. The most important thing is to make it at least 1 day ahead of when you want to make your pizza. To get a really good pizza dough you want it to have a chance to ferment so that the flavor really comes through. 

Ingredients

1 package dry yeast

1 1/2 cups lukewarm water

1 tablespoon sugar

2 tsp salt

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons oregano 

Mix the lukewarm water, sugar and yeast in your mixing bowl. Let the yeast activate for 5-7 minutes. You will know it's ready to go when it gets a thin layer of foam on top. DO NOT USE TOO HOT OF WATER AND BURN YOUR YEAST.

Mix in the rest of the ingredients and turn the mixer on low. once the dough has started to come together turn it to medium and mix until you have a stick ball that separates from the sides of the bowl. If your dough is too sticky add extra flour 1 tablespoon at a time until you get the right consistency.

Grease a large bowl with butter or non stick spray (I use Pam, only thing I use Pam for) Cover the bowl with plastic and then with a tea towel and put in a warm place to rise. Let the dough rise for about 90 minutes or until double in size. 

 After 90 minutes my dough has risen and is ready to be refrigerated

Remove the towel and plastic and punch your dough down. Depending on what kind of pizza you like (ie: thin crust or chicago style) separate into pizza size portions and put into plastic bags, then refrigerate or freeze. The dough will keep for 4 days int he fridge and a month in the freezer. I make four packages because I like Italian style thin crust pizza. I'll talk more about making the pizza tomorrow.

  
 

make sure the bags are bigger than the dough or else they will rupture

Today I had grilled pork tenderloin and some vegetables. Very tasty.