Ingredients
2 Cups- All-Purpose Flour
2 Cups- Pizza Flour
2 Teaspoons- Salt
3 Teaspoons- Olive Oil
1 1/2 Cups- Water
2 Teaspoons- Dry Active Yeast
3 Tablespoons- Pizza Sauce (Per Pizza)
1 Cup- Cheese Blend (Per Pizza)
( This recipe will make 3, 12-inch pizzas )
Blooming Yeast
Heat 1 1/2 cups of water in the microwave until warm, no hotter than 105. Add 2 teaspoons of dry active yeast to the warm water and mix. Wait 5 to 10 minutes until the yeast is foamy and has risen to the top.
Mix wet and dry ingredients
Add 3 teaspoons of olive oil to the bloomed yeast. Then in a large mixing bowl or stand mixer whisk together both flours and salt. After that add the bloomed yeast and olive oil mixture. Mix until is fully combined.
Forming/Kneading dough
After mixing your dough it should be tacky, but shouldn’t really stick to your hands. Lightly flour a work surface so you can knead the dough and form it into a ball. Kneading dough is as simple as pulling the dough away from you, folding it over, rotating 180°, and repeating. Knead your dough for just a minute or 2 until it starts to firm up. Form into a ball to rise for 1 hour in a large plastic-wrapped bowl to rise.
Divide the pizza dough
After your dough has risen, knock out the air pockets by punching the dough a couple of times. Scrap out the dough from the bowl and place it onto a lightly floured surface. With a bench scraper or knife make three cuts divide the dough into three 10 to 11-ounce balls, and place them in plastic-wrapped bowls.
Stretch the pizza dough
After the dough has risen a second time, scrap it from the bowl and place it onto a lightly floured surface. Make dimples around the outside of the dough to form the pizza crust. Pick the dough up and stretch the dough around the crust, working your way around the edge. When the dough starts to get a little larger in the size you can start to stretch it with your knuckles rotating and stretching. Just simply keep stretching the dough until you get the desired size. When finished place onto a heavily floured pizza peel.
Beware: If your dough sits on the peel too long, it will stick. If your pizza sits on the pizza peel for too long it will stick. If it does give it a quick shake back-and-forth and it should break free. If that doesn’t work lift the pizza up by the edge and throw some flour underneath it.
Getting Ready to Bake
Preheat your oven to the maximum temperature it allows you to bake. Most are around 500-550 degrees Fahrenheit. Place the oven rack in the middle or upper middle position with your pizza pan placed inside to get hot. It takes a while for the oven to preheat to those temperatures.
Preparing the Pizza
After the oven has preheated you can start preparing your pizza. Place 3-4 tablespoons of pizza sauce in the middle of the pizza with a spatula or the back of the spoon work the sauce around the pizza all the way to the very edge of the crust. Sprinkled a cup of shredded cheese around the pizza from the outside, covering the entire pizza. Place whatever additional toppings you want on your pizza and it’s ready for the oven.
Time to bake
Pull your hot pizza pan from the oven and slide your pizza from the peel pan. Just focus on sliding the edge of the pizza onto the pan, then pulling the peel back. In time you will develop your own method for what works best for you. Bake for 6-8 minutes depending on oven temp, then place on rack to cool.
