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Simple Pizza Dough

Name: Simple Pizza Dough
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 12 min
Yield: 2
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 6 oz white flour (preferably strong bread flour but standard plain flour will do); 1 level tsp salt; 1 tbsp yeast easy blend dried; ½ level tsp golden caster sugar (or light soft brown sugar); 1 tbsp olive oil; 120 ml Hand hot water (must not be boiling or you will destroy the yeast); to prevent sticking polenta or you could use more flour (too much will make your pizza taste dusty!)

Over a year ago 851 views

Cook: 12 mins

Serves: 2

Italian Main Course

Ingredients

6 oz white flour (preferably strong bread flour but standard plain flour will do)
1 level tsp salt
1 tbsp yeast easy blend dried
½ level tsp golden caster sugar (or light soft brown sugar)
1 tbsp olive oil
120 ml Hand hot water (must not be boiling or you will destroy the yeast)
to prevent sticking polenta or you could use more flour (too much will make your pizza taste dusty!)

Accompaniment

Description

an easy and fun pizza dough to make your own pizza's from scratch!

Method

1
Begin by warming the flour slightly in the oven for about 10 minutes, then turn the oven off. (i find a pyrex bowl is the best to do this in as it retains the heat but you will need to be very careful when adding the other ingredients and you will need to wear an oven glove to hold the bowl in place)

Add the salt, yeast and sugar into the bowl and make a well in the centre of the mixture, then add the olive oil and pour in 4 fl oz (120 ml) hand-hot water water. Now mix to a dough, starting off with a wooden spoon and using your hands in the final stages of mixing. Wipe the bowl clean with the dough, adding a spot more water if there are any dry bits left, and transfer it to a flat work surface (i always find i need flour for this but according to the original recipe you shouldn't need any).

Knead the dough for 3 minutes or until it develops a sheen and blisters under the surface (it should also be springy and elastic). You can now either leave the dough on the surface covered by the upturned bowl or transfer the dough to a clean bowl and cover it with clingfilm that has been lightly oiled on the side that is facing the dough. Leave it until it looks as though it has doubled in bulk, which will be about an hour at room temperature.

Having made the dough and left it to rise, pre-heat the oven to gas mark 8, 450°F (230°C), along with the pizza stone or baking sheet.

The next stage is to tip the dough back on to a work surface that has been sprinkled generously with polenta to prevent it from sticking. Knock all the air out of the dough and knead it for a couple of seconds to begin shaping it into a ball. Then dust your rolling pin with polenta and roll the dough out to a circle that is approximately 10 inches (25.5 cm) in diameter. Then finish stretching it out with your hands, working from the centre and using the flat of your fingers to push the dough out, it doesn't need to be a perfect round, but you want it to be a fairly thin-based pizza, with slightly raised edges.

Using a thick oven glove, very carefully lift the baking sheet or pizza stone out of the oven and sprinkle it with polenta. Now carefully lift the pizza on to the stone or baking sheet and cover with your choice of toppings. (you can make a tomato sauce with a can of tomatoes and some herbs or you could just use a tube of tomato puree straight onto the dough and sprinkle herbs on top)

Bake the pizza on a high shelf for 10-12 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.

Chef's Tips

a top tip is to put cling film down where you want to roll out your dough - saves on cleaning up flour and polenta as you can jut pick the whole sheet up and drop it in the bin.

another good tip is to use your rolling pin to lift up the rolled out dough! gently roll the dough around the rolling pin , then lift above the tray and unroll it from the pin across the tray.