Tom Weissinger's K00l Site

My pizza crust recipe

It took me a few tries to get this right, but in my opinion, this is really good pizza crust.

Yield: Makes 1 crust

Equipment needed

  • Kitchen Aid stand mixer (unless you don't mind kneading by hand)
  • Kitchen thermometer
  • Pizza stone for baking (recommended)
  • Wood pizza peel (recommended)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup warm water
  • 2 ¼ tsp active dry yeast
  • ½ Tbsp sugar
  • ¾ tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 3 cups bread flour (give or take ½ cup)
  • Cornmeal (for baking)

Instructions

  1. Heat 1 cup water for 45 seconds in microwave (or until it reaches 110°)
  2. In a large mixing bowl, preferably that of a stand mixer, stir yeast and sugar into warm water. Sit for 5-10 minutes
  3. Pour in salt and oil. Add 1 cup flour and mix. Once that flour is incorporated, add 1 more cup until incorporated, mixing with your hands. Add a little more as needed. Dough should be sticky but not stick to your fingers.
  4. Knead in stand mixer for 6 minutes
    • At this point you can freeze your dough if you don't want to use it now!
  5. Grease bowl with Pam or other oil. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise 1-2 hours
    • The longer the better for a fully risen crust
    • You can also spray Pam inside a plastic bag, place the dough in it, and seal with a twist-tie (just like you'd get at the grocery store).

Notes:

  • Makes only 1 crust (double/triple if you want more). To do multiple doughs, I set up 3 or 4 bowls in assembly-line fashion.
  • You don't need to leave this at room temperature; it will rise in the refrigerator as well.
  • Bread flour tastes better than all-purpose in my experience.
  • Adjust sugar and salt to taste. I like this because it's a good balance between salty and sweet. Too much salt and you're grabbing for water in the middle of the night. Too sweet and it doesn't pair well with tomato sauce.
  • Some recipes out there call for adding ¼ tsp garlic powder and ¼ tsp dried basil but I found it didn't change the flavor (though it looked appealing).
  • To bake pizza, put pizza stone in middle rack of oven. Bring to 450°F. Before placing pizza in oven, spread 1-2 Tbsp of corneal on the surface of the stone.