Pizza - The Crust

We've made a number of pizzas using vegetables and herbs from our garden. Pizza is something that John has worked hard to develop a solid recipe for, and his techniques. The foundation of a good pizza is the crust. From there, the variations are infinite.

Pizza Crust

Ingredients
1 cup warm water (approx 100 F)
2 1/4 tsp instant yeast (1 packet)
2 Tbsp honey
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
2 Tbsp olive oil

Special Equipment
Large cutting board or clean counter top
Rolling Pin (optional)
Pizza Stone
Peel

Place pizza stone in the lower 1/3 of the oven. Preheat oven to 450 F.

Combine yeast, water and honey into a large mixing bowl. Add flour 1 cup at a time, salt and olive oil. Stir ingredients together until the dough forms a ball around the spatula. Use your hands to knead the dough for a minute or two, to make sure that there are no pockets of dry flour. Cover and set in a warm place for 30 minutes.



Uncover the bowl. Dough should have risen and doubled in size. Lightly flour your hands. Punch the dough down, and turn the bowl out onto a lightly floured counter or large board. Using a bench scraper or sharp knife, divide the dough in two.

Form half of the dough into a ball. Flatten the ball with the heel of your hand. Use your hand to push the dough out from the center, to the edges of the circle. Eventually lift the circle and place it on the knuckles of a fist. Using a series of gentle tosses, expand the dough until you've got a 12-16" circle. Alternately, use a rolling pin to flatten the dough, working from the middle to the edges. Be sure to pinch the edges up to form a thicker crust. Dough should be about 1/8" thick.
If the dough starts sticking to the board, sprinkle flour beneath it on the board. If the dough starts to tear, stop working it, and let it rest for at least ten minutes.

Let the dough rest for approximately 10 minutes while you prep other ingredients. Flour your peel and slide the dough onto it. Transfer the dough to the hot pizza stone, close the oven and bake for 5-7 minutes. Slide the peel under the dough and remove it from the oven. You are now ready to put your toppings on the pizza.



Variations-

Whole wheat dough - Replace all purpose flour with 1 1/2 cups bread flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour.

Herb dough - Mix 2 Tbsp dry or finely chopped Italian spices into the dough. Dry basil, oregano, and marjoram work well.

Cheesy dough - Add 1/4 to 1/3 cup of finely grated Parmesan cheese, and an additional 2 Tbsp olive oil to the recipe.

Alternate ingredients - 2 Tbsp of white sugar or light corn syrup can be used in place of honey.