At the farmer's market on Saturday, Paul picked up a pound of basil leaves which means we'll be eating pesto until we turn green. Monday night, we used some on a pizza instead of tomato sauce. Here's our go-to pizza dough recipe and our new favorite toppings.
For the dough :
- 3/4 cup warm water (around 110*F - Paul says it should feel like a hot tub)
- 1 tsp white sugar
- 1 packet of yeast
- 1/2 tsp salt
- about 2-2.5 cups flour (we start with a mix about 1 C wheat flour and 1 C white flour)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
Mix water, sugar and yeast in a mixing bowl. Let sit for a few minutes until yeast bubbles and mixture becomes fragrant.
Add salt, flour and olive oil. Knead by hand or on the low setting in a mixer fitted with the dough hook.
Bread should be mixed very well. Add water or flour in small bits until dough is not too sticky and not too dry. I ended up adding about 1/5 - 3/4 C of extra white flour.
Leave the dough in the bowl and let it sit in a dry place for about 4 hours. (We stick ours in our turned off oven.)
When you are ready to bake, prep your ingredients and preheat the oven to 425*. Our new pizza prep involves a pre-heated pizza stone and pizza peel, but for years we built and baked on a cookie sheet.
Roll out your dough with a rolling pin and extra white flour. To help keep the pizza from sticking, spread out some corn flour on the pizza peel/cookie sheet.
Pinch up the corners and top with your ingredients.
Our new favorites :
- pesto (here's our recipe)
- shredded cheddar cheese
- feta cheese
- black olives
- sundried tomatoes
- grilled onions
- grilled chicken
Cook for about 25 minutes until cheese melts and crust browns.
Remove and let sit for a few minutes before cutting and enjoying.
