Pizza Dough

Name: Pizza Dough
Yield: 8 servings
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 3 to 4 Cups of AP flour; 2 cup bread flour; 2 cup warm water (around 115F); 2 tbsp melted butter; 1/2 tbsp Olive oil; 2 pinch Salt; 2 tbsp sugar; 1/4 oz package of dry instant yeast

James Herrold @cook_3431880

This pizza dough is not prepared or cooked in a traditional way, but it is the best homemade dough recipe that I've been able to come up with. It's also a nice cross between two competing pizza philosophies, namely Chicago-style deep dish and New York-style thin crust. It's versatile in the sense it is great for any topping choice, and although it won't be your favorite pizza crust of all time, it will hopefully be the favorite one you've ever made at home.

James Herrold @cook_3431880

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Ingredients

8 servings

3to 4 Cups of AP flour
2 cupbread flour
2 cupwarm water (around 115F)
2 tbspmelted butter
1/2 tbspOlive oil
2 pinchSalt
2 tbspsugar
1/4 ozpackage of dry instant yeast

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Steps

1

Put bread flour into a large mixing bowl. Add sugar, salt and yeast to the flour. Stir to combine evenly.
2

Combine melted butter and warm water. Pour water mixture into flour mixture and stir by hand with a large spoon. At this point the dough will look more like pancake batter than pizza dough, but continue to stir once combined for a minute or two to really develop those glutens!
3

Stir in (by hand) 2-3 more cups of the AP flour. This should bring the dough to a point where it is kneadable. Use remaining flour to dust a clean, smooth work surface.
4

Knead the dough to work in as much flour until the dough is no longer tacky. The outside "skin" will be smooth.
5

Divide the dough into the desired number of pizzas. This Recipe makes two large pizzas or four small pizzas. Roll each part of divided dough into balls, coat with olive oil and place each in a seperate large bowl.
6

Turn oven on to 350F, but only allow to preheat for one minute then turn the oven off. The idea is to just warm the oven; Not to get it hot. Cover each bowl with a damp towel. Place in the warm oven to rise 2-3 hours or until the dough has doubled in size.
7

Flour pizza pans and turn out risen dough on each pan. Be gentle with the dough while spreading it to the edges in the pan keeping it as even as possible. Use a fork to dock the entire dough (except the edges where the crust will be).
8

Preheat oven to 450°F. Bake each dough/crust for 10 minutes without toppings or sauce (yes, i know this is sacreligious to many pizza-philes, but it works for this recipe).
9

Remove crust from oven, add desired sauce and toppings, and return to the oven for another 15 minutes. De-pan the pizzas. Allow pizzas to sit for 5 minutes before slicing (this is the hardest step :) It's a good time to go pour yourself a cold beer).