New York Style Pizza Dough

This is a basic pizza dough which has a chewy yet crispy crust. It is my favorite pizza dough recipe so far. I like that it uses only a teaspoon of yeast.

New York Style Pizza Dough Recipe

Ingredients
3½ cups (16 ounces) high-gluten flour ("Caputo" remilled durum-wheat semolina $3.49/lb at Salumeria Italiana)
9 ounces warm water 110 to 115 degrees Fahrenheit
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon instant yeast
¾ teaspoon kosher or sea salt

Preparation
Mix the water, salt, and yeast in a bowl. Wait five minutes to activate the yeast. Using a kitchen mixer with a dough hook, mix the flour and the water mixture on low speed until ingredients come together and form lumpy dough (about 1 minute). Add the olive oil, switch the mixer to medium speed and allow the mixer to knead the dough for a full 15 minutes. Remove dough from mixer, cut into two equal parts and form into dough balls. Place the dough balls in freezer-safe zipper bags in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours to allow the yeast to do its work.

I freeze the dough and thaw in the fridge for one or two days before using it. Bring to room temperature by setting out an hour before using it. If you are away during the day, just pull it from the freezer to thaw at room temperature.

Cheesy Herbal Pizza Dough

Delicious pizza crust recipe to make the night before.

• 3 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
  
• 1 tsp instant yeast
  
• 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
  
• 2 Tb olive oil
  
• 1 1/4-1 1/3 cups water (enough to make a smooth, soft dough)
• 2 Tb grated Parmesan
• 3/4 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp Italian seasoning
  

1. Mix together all dough ingredients and knead on a lightly-floured surface until smooth and soft. Do not over-knead; dough should hold together but look rough on surface.
2. Allow to rise in a warm place, covered, for 45 minutes.
3. Refrigerate dough for 4-36 hours, to allow dough to slowly rise and develop flavor.
4. Shape into a 12-14 inch circle, top as desired, and bake on a pizza stone 400º for about 10 minutes, or until just beginning to turn golden.

Pizza Night!

It is usual to make this nearly same exact pizza once a week. We enjoy using store made Shaw's or Stop & Shop pizza dough. At one point in time I was obsessed with making my own dough, but that was definitely before Andrew existed. Now it's a faint memory.

First: oven on 500 degrees, pizza stone in to preheat. Then the ingredients are prepped: Sliced and chopped onion, 1/4 of a sliced green pepper, sliced mushrooms (better to be lazy and buy them this way), grated low fat (green package) Dragone mozzarella (the best to be found at the supermarket, others are too salty) and sliced prepackaged pepperonis, arranged on 1 side of tripled up paper towels (then fold the other half over), microwaved for nearly a minute (our microwave is a dinosaur so surely yours will take probably more like 20 seconds). This removes excess fat and grease while concentrating their flavor. You don't want them totally crispy though (sometimes an accident).
Prep your pizza peel with a coating of corn meal (do not buy coarse).
Hopefully your dough is nearly room temp but not really cold. I put my dough package on the preheating oven while veggies and sauce are prepped. Put flour in the sticky dough bag and gently pull the dough off the plastic. Try to handle minimally, get get the flour down the sides of the bag to "release" the dough. At first make a disk then begin to let gravity do its work, all the while rotating and working on the thick parts to "gravity flop" them out.
Working with pizza dough is like any skill: at first you are intimidated but with practice you become comfortable enough to do it regularly.
I can handle distractions stretching it now but in my novice days it required so much concentration, I would make people leave the room!
I don't know if the day will ever come when I am spinning pizza dough over my head so don't let the pros intimidate you!
I do advocate hand stretching rather than using a rolling pin.
Dough gets tough if worked too much.
First spread sauce (duh) then top with cheese! If you don't allow sampling, you can get 3 pizzas from one $6 (better if you buy it on sale) Dragone block! Typically it's 2 pizzas from one block. I will sometimes supplement (lazily) with store bought shredded mozz. Explore the brands. Long ago I swore off some (Sargento, Shaw's...) Stop & Shop store brand is ok (by the way, they don't sell Dragone).

Andrew sampling the next topping: green peppers!
Feeling soooo bad since momma allowed a sample of *only* one olive! Andrew and myself love olives, the fave being unpitted Kalamatas. I only put them on 1/2 the pizza since Daddy is not an olive eater. (Hmmm, next will be 1/2 a pizza of anchovies! Don't tell Daddy!)
After slipping the pizza off the peel and into the oven onto the preheated stone (again, slightly a skill that at first requires focus) and baking for 8 minutes, use heavy duty pot holders to pull the stone out of the oven and place on the stove top. Allow to sit a minute (or longer for crispier crust) then slip onto a big cutting board (I like the wooden as opposed to plastic one which steams it). Let sit for a total of 8 minutes (same as cooking time so just reset the timer). Once cooled the proper time, you won't burn your mouth when you ravenously eat it!
Here, I placed the super hot stone in the sink and dusted the corn meal off with a pot holder then put the hot stone back in the oven and rinsed the sink out.
While the pizza cooled I dispensed the leftover sauce into freezer containers. Oh yeah, the sauce! Sometimes it's premade in the freezer (less time, just microwave 3 min to thaw), sometimes (every 3 pizzas) we need to make it from scratch.
Everyone (even Alex and I) have our unique seasoning techniques.
I like to use Penzey's Italian herb mix with a dash of garlic powder.
Our sauce base has been varying. We are suckers for a bargain and frequent (what Alex coined) the "dent bin" at Shaw's. Sure enough, many still useful but otherwise unsightly products (damaged in unboxing/sliced or dented cans/discountined merchandise) end up here.
Yesterday I scored! Funfetti mix and frosting for $1, a box of Swiffers for $1.50, you get the picture. Anyhow, we have 1 more dented Hunt's tomato sauce left. I won't buy it again. Too salty. (And I am a salt freak.) ..... I do enjoy Muir Glen (organic) products.
I have always loved our Kitchenaid pizza cutter. Nice and heavy and no damage (after years) of being dishwashed.
Of 8 slices, we (adults) eat 3 slices each. Andrew strips the toppings off his with maybe some crust. Sometimes it's 2 pieces. We were fortunate to have 1 slice leftover! Perfect reheated in the toaster oven :D.....