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This recipe for pizza dough
will make ten individual-sized pizzas or calzones. You can also
freeze unused dough, wrapped well, for use later.
Pizza
Dough
- 2 1/2 cups water - divided
use
1 (1/4-ounce) package active dry yeast or 2 1/2 teaspoons
3/4 cup old dough*
6 cups all-purpose flour - divided use
1 teaspoon malt extract
4 teaspoons sea salt - divided use
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- Sprinkle yeast over 1
cup of warm water (105°F to 115°F / 40°C to 45°C);
let sit until foamy, about 3 to 4 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small
bowl, mix old dough* with 1 cup of cool water and 4 or 5 handfuls
of flour, stirring until you have a pasty mixture. Dissolve malt
extract in yeast mixture and add this to old dough mixture; stir
until well combined.
- Place half of the rest
of the flour (about 2 1/2 cups) and half the salt in a food processor
and pulse to mix. Add half of the old dough/yeast mixture. Pulse
the processor to combine ingredients, then slowly add half of
the remaining water (1/4 cup) through the feed tube while the
processor is running. Process the mixture for between 30 seconds
and 1 minute. The dough should be wet and sticky. In the last
10 seconds of processing, pour half of the olive oil through
the feed tube. Empty the dough into a large bowl and combine
remainder of the ingredients in the food processor to make a
dough in the same way. Combine both batches in the bowl by mixing
them together with a wooden spoon or plastic dough scraper. Let
the dough rise, covered, in a warm place for 1 hour.
- The dough will still be
very wet, so sprinkle plenty of flour over it and remove it from
bowl, turning it out onto a well-floured surface. Divide into
10 pieces about the size of tangerines (each will weigh about
4 to 5 ounces) for individual pizzas or calzone. Round the dough
up into tight little balls. Cover the balls with plastic wrap
and let them rise a second time for between 3 to 5 hours.
- About 1 hour before assembling,
preheat oven to 475°F (245°C); if using a pizza stone,
place in oven to preheat.
- When ready the dough balls
will be very puffy but, because they are so moist, will be somewhat
flat. Flatten each piece of dough with the palm of your hand.
With your fingertips, poke dough in the middle, leaving a 1/2-inch
strip around the edge untouched, and making sure you do not poke
through the dough. Lift the piece up, place it on the curled-up
knuckles of both hands and gently stretch, while rotating the
piece. The result will be a flat disk that measures 1/8-inch
thick and 6 or 7-inches in diameter.
- Cover with your favorite
sauce and toppings and bake in oven or on baking stone for 12
to 15 minutes, or until crust is golden and crisp and toppings
are hot and bubbly.
Makes 10 individual pizzas.
*Old dough is basically
leftover, unbaked bread dough (usually held in the refrigerator
for at least 24 hours, or 6 to 8 hours at room temperature) that's
used to enhance the flavor of other bread. Decrease the amount
of salt you add in this recipe if the old dough contains salt.
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