Ask Casey: Pizza Dough and Other Disasters

Pizza Dough

Total time: 2 hours including rising time
Makes two pizzas

Ingredients:

• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
• 1 package or 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 cups all-purpose flour—if you have it around, you can mix 2/3 cup cake flour with 1 1/3 cups all-purpose for a more tender crust, but I’ve done this with regular flour so many times and it’s completely fine. Don’t get bogged down with the minutiae of 00 flour, bread flour, semolina, etc. unless you are pizza-obsessed!
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• olive oil

Method:

Combine the sugar and yeast in one large bowl—if you’ll be using your stand mixer to knead the dough, just combine in its mixing bowl to eliminate extra dishwashing. In another large bowl, combine the flour and salt.

Add just under 1 cup of warm water (the technical temperature is 105-110˚, but I’ve never gauged it specifically; I just put my finger under the tap until it feels like nice hot bathwater and it has always worked) to the yeast/sugar bowl, stir gently with a fork, and wait five minutes for the yeast to bloom. It’s fun to watch; you’ll truly be able to see the transformation happening as the yeast munches on those tasty sugars and starts burping out the gases to make the bread rise.

Add the contents of the flour bowl to the yeast bowl and stir with a fork until a ragged dough forms. Either turn out onto a floured surface and knead by hand for five minutes, or use the dough hook on your stand mixer. You’ll know the dough is ready when the ball is smooth, firm and pliable.

Take the empty bowl that once contained the flour, coat lightly with olive oil, and place the dough ball back inside. Roll it around gently to make sure it’s fully oiled, cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel, and let sit in a warm place to rise for an hour and a half.

You can then use the dough immediately or put into an oiled gallon Ziploc for fridge or freezer storage, depending on how quickly you’re going to need it. I’ll keep mine for one or two days in the fridge and in the freezer for up to three months. Let any stored dough warm up to room temperature before rolling out for the pizza crust; if the dough is too cold, it will “bounce” back on itself and the additional work to re-stretch it will make the dough tougher than you want.

All pizza aficionados who are faint of heart should ignore the next statement, but I like to stretch my dough out on a well-floured surface with the assistance of a rolling pin (I know, I know! Maybe I should take a pizza class) to get the crust well on its way to being wafer-thin, then let it rest for a few minutes. Top with your choice of tasty morsels, then throw into a 500˚ oven until bubbling and golden. I’ve been grilling my pizzas ever since I broke my pizza stone in a freak accident, but if you don’t have a grill or a stone, you can use a baking sheet that’s been sprinkled with cornmeal as a substitute.