Simple Pizza Dough Recipe
May 03, 2018
A simple pizza dough recipe that can be used to make crisp or soft and lightly chewy crust, depending on the kind of flour you use. Just roll out the dough, spread with pizza sauce, sprinkle with toppings and bake to bubbly goodness! For ideas on preparing pizzas to be paired with your favourite wine, refer to our blog post on pizza and wine pairings.
Here is the recipe for the simple pizza dough.
Simple Pizza Dough Recipe
A recipe to make crisp or soft chewy pizza crust.
- 500 gram plain flour + extra for dusting (you don’t need to get bread and pizza flour especially for this recipe. Plain flour will work perfectly; bread flour just results in crisper pizza crust.)
- 1 envelope instant dried yeast
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 375 ml cups water (Lukewarm)
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, instant dried yeast, sugar and salt. Alternately, you may want to use a stand mixer.
- Make a well in the centre of the flour, and fill it with lukewarm water. Slowly incorporate the water, bringing all the contents of the bowl together into a dough.
- Take the dough out on a lightly floured kitchen counter and knead it. The dough might seem too dry or wet at first, but continue to knead regardless for the first couple of minutes. This would ensure that everything is thoroughly mixed. If you then still find the dough to be too dry or wet, add a tablespoon of water and flour, then knead again.
- Finally, add the oil. This would result in a softer pizza crust. As you knead the dough, you will find that it’s becoming smoother. Knead it for 10-12 minutes and then place it in a clean bowl, greased with olive oil. Then cover it with a damp cloth (Shouldn’t be wet!) and place the bowl in a warm place. Let the dough rest until it doubles in size.
- Knock the air out of the dough, and knead it briefly once again.
- Divide the dough into two equal parts and roll each into a smooth ball. Cover with the damp cloth once again and let the dough rest for 15 minutes. Use as required.
If you have a food thermometer, ensure that the temperature of water is between 105-110°F. If not, simply ensure that it’s lukewarm. Hot water will kill the yeast.
Even though pizza dough recipes give a time for proofing the dough, your dough may take more or less time to double in size depending on factors such as room temperature. Simply wait till your dough doubles and proceed.
