Pizza dough

I posted about home-made pizza a while back so I thought now I would post my pizza dough recipe.

I must confess that I stick pretty much to the recipe but my lovely husband likes to ad-lib a bit so sometimes the fluffiness of the dough varies according to his mood. We have cooked this dough in the oven and on the BBQ. We have made mini pizzas, large rectangle pizzas to feed a crowd and also done our usual 2 round pizzas for our family. We have doubled this recipe to with no negative side-affects.

What I do know matters about making pizza dough (or any dough) is USE FRESH YEAST. If you think it isn't fresh, hasn't been stored properly or is past it's best then don't bother. The other thing I do when I use yeast is add it to warm water - I do this when making bread in the bread machine too - not BOILING water but warm, because it activates the yeast.

so here we go

Pizza Dough
1 1/2 teaspoons of yeast or one 7g sachet (that's how I buy it)
Pinch of sugar
1/4 cup lukewarm water
1/4 cup of flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 and 3/4 cups of flour
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup of water

1. Combine yeast, pinch of sugar, water and 1/4 cup of lour in a large bowl. Leave to proof for 10 minutes.
2. Add remaining ingredients and combine with a wooden spoon.
3. Turn onto floured work surface and knead 7-10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Dough should be smooth to the touch.
4. Place in an oiled bowl and turn to coat. Cover with plastic or a warm cloth  for 1 - 1 1/2 hours until doubled in volume. Now it is ready.

Enjoy!