Saturday, May 19, 2012

Saturday's Pizza w/ Super Quick & Easy Herbed Pizza Dough

Today was an absolutely gorgeous "top 10" day here.  It was in the 70s, breezy, sunny and the kind of weather I would love to have all year long!  We ran our errands bright and early this morning with our Einstein's bagel stop for breakfast and then Costco and Publix.  I was planning to make pizza for dinner tonight and was so disappointed when we found the Publix fresh pizza dough was FROZEN solid as a rock!  So, I figured we'd have to switch gears and make something different.  When we got home, I couldn't stop thinking about how I really needed to just make my own pizza dough.  I know that it wouldn't be hard to do...but it does require a bit of planning ahead because most pizza dough needs time to rise, etc. and you need to either make it the day before or hours ahead of time.  In other words, it isn't a spur of the moment kind of thing.  After surfing around online for a while, I found what looked like an easy yeast based pizza dough recipe that didn't require much advanced preparation.  So, I decided to go for it and give it a try...of course I modified it a bit "because I could".  :-)  .  This recipe is so simple and quick to make that I might just have to say bye-bye to Publix fresh pizza dough!  It literally only took about 5 minutes to put together.  (During the 10 minutes the yeast activated in the water, I measured out the rest of my ingredients).  You are supposed to be able to use this dough after it has sat for 5 minutes...but I let it double in size which only took about 30 minutes (and during that 30 minutes I cut up all my toppings...red peppers, onions and mushrooms for me and pepperoni, artichokes & Kalamata olives for him).  I must say, the pizza crust was absolutely delicious!  I may even try adding some Parmesan cheese to the dough next time.  The addition of herbs, onion and garlic powder really kicked this dough up a notch.  I found this dough very easy to work with too.  If you keep your counter or work surface and rolling pin well floured, it is a breeze to roll out.  It made a huge 16" pizza crust -- almost too big for my pizza stone.  It would easily make 2 medium sized pizzas, depending on how thick you like your crust to be.  I snapped a few pics below as well as the recipe for the pizza dough.  Enjoy!

Before going into the oven -- almost too big for my pizza stone

Fresh out of the oven...the fresh mozzarella looks delicious!
BOOM!

My hydrangeas have never been more beautiful

Super Quick-n-Easy Herbed Pizza Dough

1 (.25 oz) pkg of active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F)
2-1/2 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons Italian Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.  In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy looking, about 10 minutes.

2. Add and stir in flour, salt, Italian seasoning, onion powder, garlic powder and olive oil to the yeast mixture. Mix well until smooth (form in a ball and cover bowl with a towel or saran wrap).  Let rest for 5 to 30 minutes.

3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round or the shape of your pan. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan or cornmeal dusted pizza stone.  Spread with sauce, cheese and desired toppings and bake in preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown.  Let baked pizza cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.


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