Olive Oil Pizza Dough

We are a homemade-pizza kind of family, and usually have it once a week. We all like different decorations: The hubby likes meat, spice, and more meat, the younger two like plain cheese or pepperoni, the oldest son and I love ours with NO tomato sauce, lots of fresh tomatoes, onions, peppers, and feta cheese. Making sure all the pizzas get baked within a reasonable time is the hardest part (oh how I'd love to have a convection oven!) Although a bit more hands-on and time consuming, homemade pizza night is sooo worth it. Start out with good, easy dough, let everyone decorate their own, and pizza night satisfies everyone!

I still love the recipe I have for Perfect Pizza Dough, but this one comes in at a close 2nd place. I found it on www.mybakingaddiction.com. The flavor is so amazing! It doesn't make the super-thin crust that we love, but the chewy texture tastes soooo good, and there's just enough crisp on the outside of the finished pizza.  My husband says this is his favorite out of all the pizza doughs we have tried so far. One batch of it made enough for 4 cookie-sheet size pizzas--a little too much for our family for one meal (although, we ADORE leftover pizza, so too much is NOT a bad thing). I still have a ball of it in the fridge that I'll try making bread sticks with tonight for supper...and the next time I make it, I may cut the recipe in half.

I did make a couple tiny changes: I cut the salt in half, and I used 3 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour, 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour. OH! And I started making supper before I realized the recipe said to let the dough rise for 2 hours. I didn't! I let it rise for maybe 20 minutes while I prepped all the toppings. Next time I'll try letting it rise, but it tasted perfect without!

Olive Oil Dough

YIELD: Makes 4-1 lb loaves

INGREDIENTS:

2-3/4 cups lukewarm water
1-1/2 tablespoon granulated yeast (2 packets)
1-1/2 tablespoons Kosher salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
6-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS:

1. In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, or in a large (5 quart) bowl working with a wooden spoon, mix the yeast, salt, sugar, and olive oil with the water.

2. Mix in the flour without kneading. I found this process to be incredibly simple with my stand mixer, but it will certainly come together the old fashioned way. If you are not using a machine, you may need to wet your hands in order to incorporate the bit of flour.

3. Transfer dough to large (5 quart) bowl or lidded food container. Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.

4. The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 12 days.

5. To use, spread/roll out as you like, prebake at 500 degrees for 5-7 minutes, put desired toppings on and then bake for another 5-7 minutes or until crust is browning on the edges.

NOTES:

- from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day
- This recipe can easily be doubled or halved