Believe me, I’ve tried plenty of recipes for pizza made from scratch. But I always return to this particular version from Fine Cooking magazine. The dough comes together in minutes in a food processor, and even though I’m a huge advocate for making dough by hand, once I tried this method, I was sold.
EASY PIZZA DOUGH
(from Fine Cooking, issue 49)
1 package (2 + 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast
1 +1/2 cups very warm water (110F)
18 ounces all purpose flour (4 cups)
1 + 1/2 t salt
2 T olive oil
Measure the water in a pyrex bowl, sprinkle the yeast on top, and mix gently to dissolve. Add the flour and salt to the bowl of a food processor and process for a few seconds to mix well. With the processor running, add all the water/yeast mixture. Process for about 5 seconds, open the lid and add the olive oil. Close the processor again and mix for about 20 seconds longer. You want the dough to form a tacky ball, but don’t over process it or it may get too hot.
Remove the dough from the processor, knead it a few times by hand and form a ball. If you want to make a large pizza, leave it whole. If you want to make individual pizzas, quarter it, place them in a large plastic bag and refrigerate until ready to use (from a few hours to a couple of days).
Remove the dough from the fridge 1 hour before shaping the pizzas. Roll it out with a floured rolling pin, top with your favorite home-made tomato sauce, and the toppings of your choice.
ENJOY!
to print the recipe, click here
Comments: One of my favorite gadgets is a measuring spoon from King Arthur’s Flour, that holds the exact amount of a standard American package of yeast. I buy my yeast in bulk, so having that spoon saves me a lot of time.
Sometimes I vary the flour composition of the dough, by including some whole wheat flour (regular or white), or some spelt flour in the mix. Usually I add only 1/8 of the total amount (1/4 cup, keeping the remainder as all purpose flour). The overall process will be the same, add them to the bowl of the food processor with a little salt, and move on… Once it gets into a shaggy ball, not quite cleaning the side of the bowl, it will be done…
The dough is very smooth, a pleasure to work with… divide it into four balls and place it to rise in the fridge, slowly… for several hours
Some people like to get artistic with the toppings…. 😉
We make our pizzas on the grill, using it as an oven – an idea from my beloved husband that works very well. We place quarry tiles (6 of them from the Home Depot) on the grill and turn the gas as high as it will go. The pizzas sit on the tiles, still on some parchment paper. After a few minutes remove the parchment paper, and cook the pizzas in direct contact with the tiles until ready – about 8 minutes total, depending on the heat of your grill.
Bewitching Kitchen 
Mmmmh yummy! 🙂
In Italy we have 2 schools of thought about pizza dough. The first wants the base extremely thin especially in the middle, the second wants a thicker base (as the one you did). The latter is easier to do at home, probably you can’t have good thin-pizza without a wooden oven.
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I’ve been dreaming about a wooden oven – it will take some “convincing”, but… nothing is out of the question! Would be so nice, not only for pizza, but for all my breads
I like thin crust pizza, but as you said, not easy to make at home
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Funny, pizza dough is something I never make. It’s just so convenient to pick it up at Trader Joe’s. Back when I was a single gal living in an apartment, I used to buy it from the pizza parlor across the street.
This recipe looks like it’s pretty easy, though, and I should try it.
Love the suggestion about the yeast measuring spoon!
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I was surprised at how much better homemade pizza is than Dominos. Not sure why that was a surprise!
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Great looking pizza! I also bake my pizza in the BBQ too, only I use the perforated pizza pans and place directly on the wire racks..thanks for the brick idea!
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Hello
My name is Mr,Otabill, can you supply me with type of (tiles for cooking pizzas) plus gst without postage,get back to me with types and price range that you got, also i want to know if you accept master card or visa card for payment? hope you get back to me shortly so that we can procced with my orders..
Regards
Otabill Newway….
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Hello, Mr. Newway
I think there’s some misunderstanding – I don’t sell anything, not even pizza let alone tiles. I get my baking tiles at HOmeDepot very very cheap. They are just unglazed terracota tiles used in construction, six of them are more than enough to cover my oven or my grill. Hope this helps…
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hey – i will try this at my takeaway – a totally different way and recipe to making a great pizza. i will post comments and feeback once ive had a go. thanks and hope you dont mind.
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In rural Mexico…no food processor… can you give easy hand technique. will use the barbeque and some Mexican tiles.. no Home depot close.
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Hello, Rita
I would simply mix everything in a bowl until it gets to be a shaggy mass. Leave it to rest for 20 minutes. Knead just a little bit, maybe 1 minute or so. Leave in the bowl for 30 minutes. Knead again for another minute. Then place it in the fridge to rise like I described in the post. It should work fine! Good luck!
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