Pizza Dough

Pizza! It is a great time to be making pizza dough and really such an easy thing. I never thought I would be out there making pizza in my own home or own a pizza stone which has become a valuable part of the kitchen. In our house we been making two different types of pizza one is thin crust for this recipe and the other is a Chicago style deep dish. Lorie managed to secure her mother's recipe and I have tweaked it to make it work for us and it is really good but takes a bit more work. The thin crust dough works well for when we have guests and want to try and make a lot of different pizzas and snack around. The other thing that makes homemade pizza amazing is the different and fresh ingredients you get to put on to your taste. Our most recent foray into pizza making was after going to the Real Food Show which I blogged about in my other blog. We came out with yummy mozzarella freshly made that just was screaming out for pizza toppings. Alan while we were in Italy had been given a huge roll of cured meat from friends there along with fresh Aspargus from market that morning we were pretty sure our dinner would be awesome.

I have a favourite bread book one I picked up from Ireland during our trip there with Alan's parents in 2007. I use their white bread recipe quiet often made with fresh yeast and probably one of which I must share this summer when bread is really at its best. The book: The Ballymaloe Bread Book is also a cooking school and cafe, no I have not been there yet but someday! This recipe is simple and easy to make and the nice part is that there is no real rising time which makes it something that can be made after coming home from work. The dough will keep for a few days in the fridge or also you can freeze it if that works better for you. For a sauce I make my own or sometimes follow Heidi's on 101 Cookbooks as it is simple, easy and tasty.

Garden Cafe Pizza Dough

from The Ballymaloe Bread Book

680 grams/ 1 1/2lb strong white flour (bread flour)

50 grams/ 2oz butter

1 packet fast-acting yeast

2 level teaspoons salt

15 grams/1/2 oz sugar

2-4 Tablespoons olive oil (good quality makes a difference)

350-400 ml/12-14 fl oz lukewarm water, more if needed

Into a large, wide mixing bowl, measure the flour, add in the salt and sugar and rub in the butter. Stir in the fast-acting yeast into the dry ingredients.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, add the oil and most of the lukewarm water. Mix to a loose dough, add more flour or water as needed.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work top, cover and leave to rest for 5 minutes.

Then knead the dough for about 10 minutes or until smooth and springy. If kneading in a food mixer with a dough hook 5 minutes is usually long enough.

Leave the dough to relax again for about 10 minutes. Shape and measure into 8 equal balls. A scale if very handy for this process. If we are having a big group over I do measure the balls to exactly 140grams/5 oz, but sometimes I do make them a bit bigger and then have usually one less ball. It all depends on how big your pizza stone is and your oven!

Lightly brush the balls with olive oil. If you have the time and it does help then place the oiled dough balls into a plastic bag and chill. The dough will be easier to handle when chilled but it can be used immediately.

On a well-floured work surface, roll each ball out to a disc about 25.5cm/10in. Top with your favourite ingredients.

For baking I bump my oven up to around 450 degrees this usually takes about 25-35 minutes to preheat, enough time for the dough to chill & make the sauce, and do remember to preheat the pizza stone in it the whole time to get it nice and hot. I tend to roll out the dough and then prepare all the toppings and once the oven is ready to be used I pop out the stone, lay on the dough and quickly top the pizza. Depending on the oven aim to bake between 8-12 minutes.