It's in the dough

When I was in high school I took 1/2 semester of home ec class. The cooking portion of that class was making pizza. We learned how to make pizza dough one day and cooked it the next. We were in groups of two or three if I remember correctly. Now I couldn't keep it a regular pizza so I decided our team would stuff the edges with cheese ala stuffed crust from pizza hut :) After this followed several weeks of me making pizza at home.

Then comes graduation and me moving to Phoenix, Arizona, USA. I forgot how it was made and didn't really give it much thought.

Fast Forward to 2005, I am a much more homebody person, and Martha Stewart's new show MARTHA had recently started and I happened to be home to watch it. She is making chocolate chip cookies from scratch, they look yummy, and she suggests that everyone should have a KitchenAid Stand Mixer. So I go out an get one.

The mixer comes with a booklet of instructions that includes some recipes. In it there is a recipe for pizza dough. So although I got the stand mixer because I wanted to learn to make my own cookies, I gave the pizza recipe a try. Hurrah! I like it.

After re-learning how to make pizza dough, I wanted to compare my fresh made dough with ready made doughs from the grocery store. So I tried the Pillsbury Pizza Crust and the store brand versions of it and to me there's something about them that seems off. I also tried the Boboli pizza crusts, those are the pre-made in the plastic bags, and to me they taste very cardboardy preservativish. I have also tried the Fresh & Easy pizza dough which is more fresh tasting than the Pillsbury ones but there's still that something that is missing, however if you are going to go with pre-made pizza dough then it's the one to go with.

Nowadays I may or may not use the stand mixer for the dough, as I found I could just mix the ingredients in a regular mixing bowl to great results. I also use garlic salt instead of just salt. Here's the recipe:

Crusty Pizza Dough

1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water(105°F to 115°F)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 1/2-3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cornmeal

Dissolve yeast in warm water in warmed mixer
bowl. Add salt, olive oil, and 2 1/2 cups flour. Attach
bowl and dough hook to mixer. Turn to Speed 2 and mix about 1 minute.

Continuing on Speed 2, add remaining flour, 1/2 cup
at a time, and mix about 1 1/2 minutes, or until
dough starts to clean sides of bowl. Knead on
Speed 2 about 2 minutes longer.

Place dough in greased bowl, turning to grease top.
Cover. Let rise in warm place, free from draft, about
1 hour, or until doubled in bulk. Punch dough
down.

Brush 14-inch pizza pan with oil. Sprinkle with
cornmeal. Press dough across bottom of pan,
forming a collar around edge to hold toppings.
Add toppings, as desired. Bake at 450°F for 15 to
20 minutes.

Yield: 4 servings (1/4 pizza per serving).

Per serving: About 373 cal, 11 g pro, 74 g carb, 3 g fat, 0 mg chol, 271 mg sod.