Homemade Pizza Dough

A few years ago, when my oldest was about 3 1/2 years old, my husband took him to a restaurant to pick up some pizza. While they were waiting for the food my husband and son were talking about how the people working there were pizza makers. That was their job.

 Right then and there my son decided that when he got older, he wanted to be a pizza maker.

In Pre-school and Kindergarten when all of the other kids were talking about being a firefighter or a sports star or whatever, my son, with so much excitement, would exclaim that he is going to be a pizza maker.   

At first I thought he might eventually grow out of it.

Nope.

At almost 8 years old if you ask him what he wants to be when he gets older, his answer is a pizza maker.

He has decided that he wants to have his own restaurant and he wants my husband to work there with him. (So sweet)

Last year I decided if that's what he wants to do he should probably learn how to make pizza.

We experimented with a few different recipes and tweaked them a little bit, and have come up with this pizza dough recipe.

I've got some pictures, and great tips here first so you can see how the process all comes together. (The actual recipe is below)

It is actually pretty quick to get the pizza dough ready.

Start out by getting the yeast and water ready.

While that's sitting throw the rest of the ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

Add the yeast mixture.

And mix it all together.

It will start forming into a ball.

If the dough is a little sticky, add some more flour.

Knead the dough for about two minutes.

Rip the dough in half and make two balls.

Pour a little oil into your hands and knead each ball a few more times.

Cover and let rise for about an hour and a half.

 When you are ready to cook your pizza, place parchment paper across the cookie sheet.

This will help the bottom of the crust cook perfectly, and it won't stick to the pan.

*You do need the parchment paper.
Pour a little olive oil in your hands and spread a dough ball out into the pan.
Spread on sauce, cheese, and toppings.

 Once the pizza is done, it helps keep the bottom crisp if it can sit on a cooling rack for a minute before cutting.

This recipe will make 2 medium sized pizzas.

Ingredients

1 c. very warm water

2 tsp. quick rising yeast

1 Tbsp. sugar

2 3/4 c. bread flour (give or take a little depending on the sticky-ness)

1 Tbsp. honey

2 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Pour water, yeast, and sugar into a glass liquid measuring cup.

Cover and let sit for 5-10 minutes (it should rise).

While the yeast is rising pour remaining ingredients into a large mixing bowl.

Once this yeast mixture has risen add it to the large mixing bowl and mix everything together.

Once you have a ball formed, knead it for about two minutes.

Rip the dough in half so you have two balls.

Pour a very small amount of olive oil in your hand and knead each ball a few more times.

Cover bowl and let the dough rise for about an hour and a half.

When you are ready to cook your pizza pre-heat the oven to 415.

Cover your pizza pans with parchment paper.

Spread pizza dough over parchment paper and top with sauce, cheeses, and other toppings.

Bake pizzas for about 9 minutes.

Turn the oven off and turn the broiler on HIGH.

You will broil the pizza for about 2 minutes or until the edges start to lightly brown.

Remove from oven and slide the pizza onto a cooling rack for a minute until ready to cut.

Slice and enjoy!

For a printable version of this recipe click here.