Pizza Dough
People can never seem to get enough pizza, and how many a pizza will serve depends on the heartiness of the toppings, the thickness of the crust, and whether you’re serving anything along with it. But I’ve found generally that this dough recipe will make two twelve- or thirteen-inch pizzas and that pizzas made with the following toppings will serve at least four people.
Pizza is easy, even when you make the dough yourself. And although we have practically been force-fed pizza with cooked tomato sauce, pizza is even easier when topped with raw ingredients. What the following pizzas have in common is their uncooked toppings; once you get the hang of it, you’ll find it easy enough to improvise with both raw and cooked ingredients.
Recipe information
Yield
makes 2 12- to 13-inch pies, enough for 4 people
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Combine the flour, yeast, and salt in a food processor. Turn the machine on and add 1 cup of warm water and the oil through the feed tube.
Step 2
Process for about 30 seconds, adding more water, a little at a time, until the mixture forms a ball and is slightly sticky to the touch. If it is dry, add another tablespoon or two of water and process for another 10 seconds. (In the unlikely event that the mixture is too sticky, add flour, a tablespoon at a time.)
Step 3
Turn the dough onto a floured work surface and knead by hand for a few seconds to form a smooth, round dough ball. Put the dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap; let rise until the dough doubles in size, 1 to 2 hours. (You can cut this rising time short if you are in a hurry, or you can let the dough rise more slowly, in the refrigerator, for up to 6 to 8 hours.) Proceed to step 4, or wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap and freeze for up to a month. (Defrost in a covered bowl in the refrigerator or at room temperature.)
Step 4
When the dough is ready, form it into a ball and divide it into 2 or more pieces if you like; roll each piece into a round ball. Put each ball on a lightly floured surface, sprinkle with a little flour, and cover with plastic wrap or a towel. Let rest until they puff slightly, about 20 minutes. Proceed with any of the recipes that follow.
Pizza-Making Tips
Step 5
Be sure to allow the dough to relax, stretching it a little bit at a time, when you’re ready to roll it out; pressing the dough onto an oiled baking sheet is the easiest way to get this done. And bear in mind that it’s easier to handle small pies than large ones.
Step 6
You can bake the pies or grill them. An oven lined with a baking stone (or several uncoated quarry tiles) is ideal, but it requires a peel (a flat sheet of wood or metal with a long handle) to move the pizza about. A baking sheet, with or without a lip, is much easier, because you can press the dough right onto its surface. Since you use olive oil to prevent sticking, the process is a snap.
Step 7
Generally, toppings should never be too wet, or the dough will become soggy. In practice, this means fresh tomatoes should have some of their juice squeezed out and be thinly sliced, and preferably salted for a little while, before using; the same holds true for other moist vegetables like zucchini.
Step 8
It may be that there are more possible combinations of pizza toppings than moves in chess or atoms in the universe; in any case, there are a lot. Simple combinations are best, however; too many ingredients merely serve to muddy the flavors.
