I made some really good pizza the other day. For one of the pizzas, Cathy gave me the idea to make a greek pizza and I found the recipe she used at allrecipes.com . I made my own crust, rather than buying a pre-baked one like the recipe says. My favorite pizza crust recipe now it the one from "The Bread Bible" that Suz introduced to me. I also made two other pizzas - a pepperoni for the kids and an everything for Paul.
600 g. or 4 ½ cups all-purpose flour (all-purpose is important)
15 g. or 2 ½ tsp. sea salt
9 g. or 2 tsp. sugar
2 ¼ tsp instant yeast
about 1 ½ cups water or 360 g.
a few tablespoons olive oil.
Wisk flour, salt and sugar in a bowl. Add yeast – whisk again. Measure water and put in a 2 qt bowl. Mix in dry ingredients and stir about 20 – 30 times by hand (if you don't mind your hands getting a little sticky, it is easiest to just use your hands instead of a spoon). Mix together just until is starts to sort of come together. It is ok if it is a little flaky - it is supposed to be flaky. Form into ball and coat generously with olive oil. Cover, and let rise ½ hour. Cover and put in refrigerator for at least 4 hours up to 4 days. Take out of fridge. Brush a little of the extra olive oil from the bowl onto the 3 pizza pans. Form 3 flat balls – smash down and let rest for 20 minutes on a pizza pan or baking sheet. Spread dough out thin on the pan. Let rest 20 more minutes, then cook for 5 minutes at 500 degrees. Take out and top with sauce and toppings. Place back in the oven to finish cooking for about 5 minutes more. If you like a crispy crust, place the pizza directly on the rack or stone without the pizza pan when you put it in the oven the 2nd time.
This dough is really easy to stretch out and the crust it makes is thin, crispy, and chewy. I like that you can make the dough anytime up to 4 days in advance - this actually makes the crust taste better because of a slow fermentation.
