Basic Pizza Dough
TIME/SERVINGS
Total: 1 hr
Active: 15 mins
Makes: 1 pound 6 ounces
By Aïda Mollenkamp
With a toothsome texture and a nice hint of salt, this dough complements an assortment of flavors. It’s a multi-purpose dough that’s great for pizza, focaccia, calzones, or even cut into strips, topped with crushed aniseseed, and baked for a snack.
Game plan: To make this ahead of time, prepare the dough as instructed, then cover it and place it in the refrigerator. Pull it out up to one day later to bake it (making sure it comes to room temperature first).
INGREDIENTS
- 3/4 cup tepid water (about 105°F to 115°F)
- 1/4 cup tepid whole milk (about 105°F to 115°F)
- 1/2 ounce active dry yeast (2 [1/4-ounce] packets)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
INSTRUCTIONS
- Combine water and milk in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook and sprinkle yeast on top. Set aside to rest until mixture bubbles, about 5 minutes. (If mixture does not bubble, either the liquid was not at the correct temperature or the yeast is old.)
- Combine flour and salt in a large bowl and whisk to aerate and break up any lumps. When yeast is ready, add flour and mix over lowest speed until dough just starts to come together and looks shredded, about 2 minutes.
- Increase speed to medium and continue to mix until dough is elastic and smooth, about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Gather dough into a ball, place in a large, oiled mixing bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a clean, damp dishtowel, and let rest in a warm place until it doubles in size, about 30 to 40 minutes. Once the dough has risen, punch it down, then shape and bake it as desired.
COMMENTS | ADD YOUR OWN
it looks good everytime i make that chef boyarde pizza from scratch out of that box it never ever turns out i think that i must make it way to thick any secrets on how to make that any thinner
I disagree with the above recipe in that you have to use Full Strength Flour if you are going to make a pizza that resembles a really good pizza like the type that was very common during the 1950's or before, which would now be considered a gourmet pizza. A thermometer should be used when measured the water; fresh yeast would result in a better product, in my opinion, and of the of course the water temperature would be different. A pinch of sugar should be added to the water/ yeast mixture in order to activate the yeast. Checking to see if the dough is ready before proofing it was not mentioned as well as a few other important points which I will not go into due to the fact that I just wanted to touch on a few items here.
I replaced the milk with soy creamer and omitted the honey, the yeasts really loved it. Also, I replaced 2 cups of AP flour with bread flour to give the dough a little more gluten content. Dough turned out really well.