pizza: What is the best recipe for a good pizza dough? My favorite pizza from my home town is a home made recipe from these people who are Italian. I LOVE it, and that crap they got in the store just doesn't have the home made tase. Any suggestions??|||NO-NONSENSE PIZZA DOUGH RECIPE 4 cups bread or all purpose flour (white) 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water 1 packet active dry yeast, or 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast 2 tablespoons olive oil (any good brand), but extra virgin is best 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon sugar, or 1 teaspoon honey 1/4 cup milk or 1/4 cup water Preheat oven 450掳F. I prefer using milk for the liquid in this recipe. It adds flavor to your dough. But if you don't have it, use water. Using a large ceramic mixing bowl, or any suitable food safe bowl, add the flour, make a "well" in middle, and put in 1 teaspoon salt, stir to combine well. Set aside. Prepare the starter: In a liquid measuring cup pour in 1 1/4 cups lukewarm water, 1 teaspoon sugar or honey, and one package of active dry yeast. Stir and set aside for 5 minutes. Allow to foam up (or proof). Next, mix the starter (yeast water) and the milk in the bowl containing the flour with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Stir together using a wooden spoon or clean hands. Note: You will need additional flour to knead on the surface that you're working on. Knead for about 8 minutes or until you get a smooth elastic rubbery dough ball. Set aside in bowl, drizzle with a little olive oil to keep the dough from drying out. Let dough sit covered lightly with plastic wrap or use a plate or damp clean towel to cover it. Allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes to an hour. Flatten dough and press out into a circle to fit the pan it will be baked in. Spread it out evenly, don't be afraid to lift underneath to stretch the dough. Sprinkle baking pan with yellow cornmeal or Farina. If you don't have these on hand you can use flour or simply grease the pan with olive oil using a paper towel. Top with your favorite spaghetti sauce, spreading out using the back of a spoon, then add shredded or sliced mozzarella cheese, and jack or Parmesan cheese. Layer on some cooked meats, and add pizza style vegetables, such as mushrooms, sliced peppers, and chopped onions. Bake for about 12-14 mins, but watch it! When the bottom looks slightly browned and the pizza looks bubbly, remove from oven. Now enjoy the best pizza you ever had!|||Actually, there's only one way to do a *real* pizza dough; like any other recipe, you can change it according to your taste, but the original and unique dough is flour, yeast, water and salt. Period :) Look here http://www.pizza.it/default.asp?l=eng|||4 cups whole wheat or white flour 1 tablespoon sugar or honey 1 packet of yeast, or 3 teaspoons 2 teaspoons salt 1/4 cup oil 1-1/3 cups warm water In a big bowl combine the flour, sugar, yeast, and salt. Mix it up together with a fork or spoon. Add the oil and warm water. The water should be luke warm, not hot. I tap water that is warm when I stick my finger in it, like a baby's bath water, about 100掳. Use a wooden spoon to stir all of this up until it begins to form a soft dough. Take out the spoon and dig in with your hands. If you use a big enough bowl, you can knead the dough right in the bowl. This is how I usually do it, because it saves the mess and bother of cleaning up the counter. The dough doesn't have to be kneaded as much as regular bread dough. Usually I do it for about two minutes, or until the dough is smooth, resilient and well formed. Next the dough has to rest for twenty minutes. Sometimes I rest it for as little as ten minutes, but the best results are obtained from allowing it to rest the full twenty minutes. The reason for this step has to do with gluten, or the protein in the flour. Kneading the dough activates the protein. It also makes the dough difficult to roll out because it keeps trying to stay in a ball, instead of cooperating and becoming flat. Allowing the dough to rest makes the job of pressing the dough into the pan easier because the gluten relaxes and then the dough is very easy and cooperative about flattening out into a round pizza shape (or rectangle shape, or whatever). After the dough has rested for a while, divide it into two balls to press into your pans. This amount of dough is enough to cover 2 round pizza pans or 2 - 9 by 13-inch rectangular pans. If you have a bevy of boy scouts, or a gaggle of girl scouts, give them each their own pie or cake pan, and let them make individual pizzas. This recipe will make 4 to 6 pie-plate sized pizzas. They will think you are the finest den mother in town. Press the dough into the pans, to the best of your ability. Then the crusts must be PRE-BAKED before filling. Preheat your oven to 425掳. Bake the plain crusts for about 8 minutes, or until they puff up and appear slightly dry on the surface. This is the only way I have been able to make sure these crusts cooks clear through when I make pizza. If I don't prebake these crusts, I end up with under cooked pizza centers. The kids don't actually notice things like this, but I do, and I prefer the crusts to be thoroughly cooked, so I ALWAYS pre-bake the crusts from this recipe. Remove the partially cooked crusts from the oven. Top with tomato sauce, cheese and what ever else you like. We make a lot of half and half pizzas, so every one can choose their own toppings. Regardless, bake at 425掳 until the cheese is hot and bubbly, or about 10 to 15 minutes. Cool slightly before eating so you don't burn the roof of your mouth. Makes 2 large round pizzas or 2 rectangular ones.|||INGREDIENTS 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast 1 tablespoon white sugar 2 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees F) 2 tablespoons olive oil 1 tablespoon salt 1/2 cup whole wheat flour 5 1/2 cups bread flour DIRECTIONS In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in the warm water. Let sit until creamy; about 10 minutes. Stir the olive oil, whole wheat flour, salt and 4 cups of the bread flour into the yeast mixture. Mix in the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large mixing bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth and put in a warm place to rise until doubled in volume; about 1 hour. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into three equal pieces and form into rounds. Cover the rounds and let them rest for about 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C). Use a rolling pin to roll the dough into the desired shape, cover it with your favorite toppings and bake at 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) for about 20 minutes or until the crust and cheese are golden brown.|||1 3/4 C water 1/4 C honey 4 1/2 tsp yeast (2 pkgs) 5-6 C bread flour 4 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil 2 tsp salt Mix honey and water. Heat mixture to 125F-129F. The closer you can get it to 129, the better your yeast will proof. Add yeast, gently stir in. Allow to proof for 10 minutes (you will get about a 5" head on your yeast...this is a good thing!). Mix 3 C flour with yeast mixture with paddle attachment of your kitchenaid (if you don't have one a hand mixer will do for now). Switch to dough hook, add half the EVOO and salt. Gradually add flour to 5 C then add the rest of the EVOO. Add enough flour to make a stiff dough, turn the mixer to 7 or 8, and allow to knead for 10-15 minutes. If you're in a hurry you can warm rise your dough (about an hour or until doubled), but this dough is really better with a cold rise. Cover, put in the fridge at least overnight (12-24 hours). Take it out, divide into 2 or 4 (makes 2 deep dish or 4 8" pizzas). Ball the dough, making sure the top skin is tight and allow to rest on the counter for about 30 minutes. Flatten balls with the palm of your hand then stretch the outside edges of the dough (the inside will naturally follow). Top with anything you like. 425F oven for about 12 minutes depending on your toppings...