Homemade pizza dough is easy to make and this recipe creates a tender, chewy crust. Not too thick, not too thin. Best of all, you can top your homemade pizza dough with whatever pizza toppings you like best!
I have two of the most awesome cats in the world. They are unlike any other cats Ive ever know. They have the best personalities. I love that they never snub me and don't scratch or bite *unless being played with.* They come when called, play fetch and are all around cute, adorable lights of my life.
But some days... Some days their over aggressive awesome personalities drive me up a wall. Sewing machine + cat that must be in your lap = fail. Every time I put one down today the other popped into my lap. There was non-stop nudging to be pet. Non-stop mews. Non-stop kitty cuddle time... And all I wanted was to knock out a few projects today. Only one got done before I realized any more stunt sewing with cat in lap would end in tragedy and I threw in the towel. And now, as I sit here writing this post about my frustration at my cats, they are no where to be found. Cuddled and content with their doings for the day....
So tonight, I considered making Chinese.... >.> but made homemade pizza dough and gobbled up a personalized pizza instead.
Homemade Pizza Dough
recipe from a secret test kitchen
Ingredients:
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 cup water (as hot as you can get it from the tap), then add by Tablespoonfuls if you need to
- 4 cups unbleached white flour (all-purpose)
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste- you really don't need the full amount)
Directions:
1) Dissolve yeast in ¼ cup of the water. Yeast should become foamy (5-10 minutes). Add to 1 cup warm water.
2) Add flour to bowl and make a well in the center. Gradually stir the yeast and water mixture into the well. Add the olive oil and salt. Gather the dough and knead it until it comes together and forms a ball.
*You may have to add more flour and/or water depending on if it's sticky or too dry- you will know by how it feels. Do not overknead.3) Let the dough double in bulk in a lightly oiled bowl (overnight in the refrigerator is best). Punch the dough down and let it rest on a lightly floured surface covered with a damp towel. Let it come to room temperature. ** Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. If you are using a baking stone, put it in the oven now.
4) Stretch the dough gently with your hands into desired shape. Let the dough rise in a warm place, covered, for 15 minutes before topping or filling and baking.
5) Lightly oil baking pans if they are metal or use a pizza peel dusted with cornmeal (trust me, this works better than flour) and a baking stone already preheated in the oven. Add any sauces and/or toppings to the top of the dough. Bake pizzas until they are done (this can be anywhere from 7-15 minutes).
6) Eat and enjoy!
I've got a long way to go before I can title myself a homemade pizza dough expert.
The dough came out fine, but needs to be kicked up, the sauce and cheese were all just bland. I will have to do some more research and chat with my BFs mom who makes a good pizza - not to mention the secret test kitchen recipe provider for what I could do better.
Told ya they were cute. 🙂
Tanya says
Such cute cats! Mine likes to lay right on top of my book while I am trying to read. Needless to say I don't get much reading done around him! Pizza looks yummy, I sure do miss Mom's pizza!
Steph @ Plain Chicken says
I love pizza! I hate dough recipes that take hours to rise - makes it difficult to make on a weeknight. I'll have to give this a try.
Cute cats! I also have kitties - they are most definitely in charge!
RavieNomNoms says
Pretty kitties! I love homemade pizza dough, it is so fantastic!
mary says
This is my favorite pizza dough recipe.
https://www.whatwereeating.com/recipes/ultra-cheesy-homemade-pizza/
Comes out perfect each time. I haven't made pizza in so long...
Kate @ Diethood.com says
I'm not a pet person... I love playing with other people's dogs and cats, but I am not sure if I could handle them in my house. 🙂
On the other hand, I love love love homemade pizza. I make the dough and that takes forever, but it's all worth it in the end.
Christina says
They are cute! But you can see it in their eyes...they're TROUBLE! 🙂 Mmmmm Pizza!
Liz says
Kita, your pizza looks fabulous! I need to put that on our menu again soon 🙂 And what sweet kitties...they looks so innocent 😉
torviewtoronto says
lovely when you find the perfect pizza dough for you it makes it easy looks delicious
Claudia says
Pippin sits on the computer. The compute goes crazy and inevitably a website from a yahoo search engine regarding string shows up (the truth). So sometimes pizza is what you need. I think your pizza looks mighty fine! Maybe I'll throw in the dinner towel and make pizza...
Christina says
Haha, sounds like my dog. Whenever I'm on my lap she HAS to sit either directly in front of it, or she'll squeeze herself into the corner between the couch and the laptop, plopping her head on top of the keyboard. She's a small dog so she fits perfectly in an little wedge. Definitely makes it hard to read and comment on blogs!
I just made homemade dough for the first time last week. It's a lot of fun! Your pizza looks great, I hope you like the flavors better next time. 🙂
Sara says
It takes time to get to perfect your own pizza dough. And it also takes the right weather and then the right oven so we can never completely control the process ourselves. But seems to be it was a great pizza. Did the kitties like it? My little cat (I have 3 so I understand about going crazy with them sometimes) loves the pizza crust 🙂
Indonesian in Turkey says
Your homemade pizza looks wonderful... Homemade is always d'best! ^_^
Recently I can not "near" any cat because of some reason,but they are really adorable !
Drew says
Try using high-gluten flour for pizza dough...adds that bite that you don't get with all-purpose flour...
briarrose says
Such cute kitties. 🙂
The first go at pizza looks like a good one. 😉 Half the fun is playing around getting things just right with the new versions.