White-flour Pizza Dough
Ingredients:
4 cups (600 g) Unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon (12 g) dry yeast
1 Tablespoon (15 g) sugar
1 tsp salt
1.5 cups (355 mL) water, room temp
Mix all dry ingredients together. (see Tip #2) Add water then kneed for 10-15 min.The dough should be smooth and not too sticky. Form Dough into a ball and place into a slightly greased bowl then cover with a damp kitchen towel. Let rise for 90 min to 2 hours, or until it doubles in size.
Enough dough for 3 large, thin crust pizzas.
“I’m the reason why you don’t have your beach body yet.” – Pizza
Tip #1: Italian chefs everywhere will be appalled at me using all purpose flour but this is better pizza crust than any I’ve ever had at any Italian restaurant. You can use the super special flour that is specially made for making pizza dough. I just haven’t been bothered to spend the extra money on a tiny little pouch of it. Using Captuo “00” bread flour may make this dough even better but I know all-purpose flour is what most people will have on hand.
Tip #2: When measuring out the dry ingredients, place the sugar and yeast on one side of the bowl and the salt on the other, then mix. This is a tip from Paul Hollywood on the Great British Baking Show. Salt retards the yeast so its best to keep it away from the yeast before mixing them both into the flour.
Tip #3: Pizza dough gets most of its flavor from the yeast. Adding room temperature water instead of warm water will lengthen the rising time for the dough which gives the yeast a longer time to impart flavor. This is another tip I picked up from Paul Hollywood.
Tip #4: Flour soaks up moisture from the air so the dough can be different each time you make it depending on the weather. While kneading, If the dough is too sticky or too dry, just add a little water or flour, 1 tsp at a time.
Tip#5: Cook this pizza dough, after you’ve aded your toppings, at the highest temperature your oven will go. Most conventional ovens go up to about 550 F; it will take only 6 to 8 minutes to cook. A high temperature will help you get irregular bubbles in the crust as well as a bit of charing. I prefer to use a metal pizza pan with the small holes in the bottom, it makes the bottom super crispy. Cook one pizza at a time, in the middle rack, to ensure an even bake.
Tip#6: For calzones cook at 400 F for about 20 minutes or until golden.
Step by step:
