Best Ever Pizza Dough

I love that I am posting this because that means, I found the time to do it -----Yea!

I do enjoy watching my new grandbaby Kathryn during the week, but I have to say, I had forgotten just how time consuming a newborn can be.

Bottom line.....Good Times :)

That being said, I wanted to share with you my favorite homemade pizza dough recipe.

I've tried lots of them because my family does love their pizza. Any kind of pizza, even frozen. Out of all the doughs I've made, this one is my absolute favorite. 

It's super easy and turns out perfect every time.

Here's all you do:

Whisk the flour and salt.

Make a well and

add water, sugar and yeast.

Once it looks like this, mix in the oil.

Pull flour to the middle with your hand until combined.....

until it looks something like this. Dump it out on your floured surface and knead until it looks...

like this! At this point just put it into a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil, turning,

making sure both sides are covered and let it rise, let it rise.

Once doubled,

give it a good punch.

and divide it, making it into 2 balls.

Form it out onto parchment paper by pressing with your hands, or you could roll out with a rolling pin, and top with toppings of your choice.

Once topped, you just transfer, paper and all, to your heated stone or an inverted baking sheet.

This one was my hubby's.
He went with lots of cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions and olives on a tomato sauce base.

I had to taste it of course and have to say, it did turn out rather yummy.

Here's how I made mine....

The first thing I like to do is drizzle olive oil over the dough then sprinkle on some cheese. 

I used a little mozzarella. Next, I spread on some basil pesto.

Next layer was thinly sliced yellow squash, fresh mushrooms, some grated Havarti cheese, some goat cheese (a must if you ask me, Yum), black olives, thinly sliced tomatoes, and thinly sliced onion.

Then I sprinkled on some dried Italian seasoning, freshly grated parmesan cheese, and red pepper flakes. Then to top it off, just a drizzle of olive oil.

It looked something like this.

Here's what it looked like once cooked.

Doesn't that look good!?!

It was DELICIOUS. Best I've had in a long time, bought or homemade.

Look how the crust bubbles in places.

Has that awesome crunch factor too.

Go, go forth now, and bring this deliciousness to your table, asap.

Best Ever Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

3 3/4 cup flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

1 1/3 cup warm water

1 tbsp sugar

1 packed yeast

3 tbsp olive oil and more for rising dough

Whisk flour and salt together. Make a well and add warm water, sugar and yeast. When foamy, mix in olive oil and combine with your hands, folding flour into the middle, until it comes together.

Dump out on a lighly floured surface and knead until smooth, apprx. 5 minutes. Place in a large bowl and brush top with olive oil turning to coat both sides of dough and sides of bowl. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 - 2 hours.

Heat a stone or inverted baking sheet on lowest rack to 500*.

Divide dough into two 1 pound balls. Use 1 pound per pizza. Form dough on parchment paper, top with toppings of your choice, and transfer to your stone or baking sheet (transfer and cook with parchment paper).  Bake @ 500* (475 in my oven) 12-15 minutes.