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The week before last I posted a recipe for pizza dough without photos. I thought you might like to see it as a step by step process, so here it is as a photo tour.
This is what the yeast (2 1/4 tsp.) looks like when it is first poured into the bowl with 1/4 cup warm water (90° to 100° - you don’t want to go much over 100 or under 90 or the yeast won’t activate) and a tsp. of honey.
After 10 minutes of proofing the yeast should bubble up, like this photo shows. When the yeast is activated - pour it into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Add the rest of the water 3/4 cup (warm water), 3 Tbls. of olive oil, and 2 1/2 cups of flour. Turn mixer on and slowly add 1/2 tsp. salt. You don’t want to add the salt to the yeast mixture without the flour because salt retards the growth of yeast. Turn mixer on low speed until dough starts to come together.
The dough should start to look like this. Once you have a nice dough ball formed turn mixer to 4 setting. You will see the dough may stick to the sides of the mixer, add only enough flour to keep the dough from sticking (usually about 3/4 cup). Keep mixer on for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes your dough should look like this. You should be able to press the dough gently and it should rebound. Take the dough of the dough hook and place on lightly floured counter or board.
Knead the dough a couple of times until it feels elastic and smooth. Place the kneaded dough face down into a bowl lightly greased with olive oil. Flip the dough over and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise for 1 1/2 hours, it will double in size.
It will go from this to….
This! Punch down the dough and divide in two. You can either use the dough immediately, or refrigerator for a couple of hours, or freeze for a couple of weeks. Happy Pizza Baking!
To get a really nice crust on your pizza, I suggest turning the oven way up to 400° or 450°. If you have a pizza stone, it can make a really nice crusty pizza for you. Here’s a link to the original post, if you want the recipe in original form http://deglazing.com/2007/01/10/pizza-dough/http://deglazing.com/2007/01/10/pizza-dough/