Pizza Dough From Scratch
for BCLiving
March 2022

Some things are just better when they're made from scratch, not to mention that making something “with your own two hands” gives such great satisfaction. When you do this, you will know exactly what ingredients went into your meals, and because of that, it gives you wiggle room for dietary or taste preferences. From Scratch is the way to go...

Pizza Dough

In 2020 I gave some tips about making your homemade pizza even better, and one of the most important ones was making your dough from scratch!

There are many ways you can do this, and much of it depends on time. But if you plan ahead you’ll get some of the best homemade pizza you’ve ever had!

INGREDIENTS:

- *1 ½ teaspoons of yeast or 1 tbsp
- 2 cups of lukewarm water
- 1 teaspoon of sugar
- 2 cups of all-purpose flour
- 3 cups of 00 flour (or AP flour)
- 2 teaspoons of salt
- 2 tablespoons of olive oil
- semolina flour

- pizza sauce and toppings of your choice

INSTRUCTIONS:

*If you are making the dough for the same day, use 1 tbsp of yeast. If you are going to cold-ferment it overnight, use 1 ½ teaspoons

Place the yeast, sugar and lukewarm water in a bowl and whisk together.
Let it sit for 15-30 minutes until you see it is bubbling and smells yeasty.

Stir in the salt and the olive oil, and then add 2 cups of AP flour and 2 cups of 00 Flour.
Mix loosely and add more flour until the dough isn’t wet, and then let rest for 10 minutes.

Transfer to a clean, lightly floured surface and knead until the dough for five minutes.
Cover with cling-wrap or a tea towel and let sit for 10 minutes so the water can absorb more.
After this rest, knead for 4-5 more minutes until you have a smooth ball.

Place in an oiled bowl, cover, and let it rest until it doubles in size. This can take anywhere from 1-3 hours depending on your environment.

Once the dough has doubled you can cut into 3 or 4 even pieces (depending on the size you’d like), and then shape into balls.

At this stage, if you are using it right away, let them rest on an oiled sheet pan a while longer.

If you are cold-fermenting them, place some semolina flour on a sheet pan, then place the balls on top, and then smooth some olive oil over the top so the crust doesn’t get hard.

Cover the dough with plastic wrap and you can place it in the fridge for 12-72 hours (longer it ferments, the more flavor).

Before you use the dough, remove it from the fridge and let it come to room temperature. (At LEAST an hour).

You can shape your dough balls either with oil or semolina on the counter. Do NOT use a rolling pin!
Press your fingers into it to create the crust and work the dough from there. You can use your knuckles and slowly rotate the dough to stretch it out as well.

Place semolina on a pizza peel if using a pizza stone and then place the dough on top, followed by your chosen sauce and ingredients and then place it in the oven.

Cook the pizza at the highest temperature that your oven has, and cook for about 5 minutes (watching it the whole time) and with a few mins left after the crust has started to rise, turn the broil on to give the crust some color and cheese a bit more melt.

Every oven is different, and the time of year and your location will make for differences in rise, so write down your progress and take notes – adjusting as you go – to find your best dough and crust.

ENJOY YOUR PIZZA!