Pizza Dough

You know when you work hard at something then it turns out just right? You know that simple sigh of gratitude for the task at hand and the pride you feel at your mere participation in such a feat? That is how you might feel when this pizza comes out of the oven, your oven, in all its crispy, beautiful glory.

2 ¼ cups all purpose flour, chilled

1 teaspoons salt


¾ teaspoon instant yeast


1 ounce olive oil

7 ounces ice cold water


Cornmeal for dusting

Stir together flour, salt, and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer with the paddle attachment until well mixed. Switch to a dough hook. Pour in olive oil and water and mix on medium speed for 6 minutes. The dough should only be sticking to the bottom (add more flour if dough is also sticking to the sides of your mixer). Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer dough. Make sure dough is coated in flour so it does not stick to your hands (also make sure your hands are coated in flour…it is only fair). Cut dough in half and form each half into a ball. Make sure each ball (henceforth, dough baby) is covered in flour. Spray each dough baby with olive oil (or sprinkle with oil and gently rub to coat). Place dough on a sheet of parchment paper and stick in a huge Ziplock bag. Refrigerate overnight or up to 3 days.

2 hours before you are ready to make your pizza, remove one dough baby (or two if you want to make two pizzas) and place it on a floured countertop. Flatten the dough just a bit with your fist until it is about ½ an inch thick. Spray (or gently rub) dough again with olive oil, loosely wrap with plastic wrap, then allow dough baby to rest for 2 hours.

About 45 minutes before making the pizza, put a baking stone on the lowest rack of the oven and preheat oven to 550° F (actually, just crank it up to as hot as it will possibly go, 550° F was just as hot as mine gets).

Generously sprinkle a pizza peel (I used the back of a cookie sheet) with cornmeal. Dip your whole hands, including the backs, into flour. Lay the dough across your fists and stretch it as you bounce it around in a circle. This part gets fun. If your pizza does not end up in a perfect circle, do not fret, I am sure you have other good skills in life (mine looked like a rectangle). If the dough starts sticking to your hands, re-flour them. Once the dough is stretched out to your liking, lay the pizza on the peel/pan coated in cornmeal.

Time to add pizza toppings. Stick to the philosophy that lighter is better (I am not sure where else in life this philosophy actually applies….except here…definitely lighter is better). Once your pizza is topped, slip the pizza from the peel/pan onto the preheated pizza stone in your oven. The pizza only needs about 6-9 minutes to cook. Remove the pizza stone from the oven (warning: this part of the process may sear your eyelashes). Allow pizza to cool for a few minutes before slicing and serving.

One dough baby serves two hungry people.

I topped this particular pizza with homemade pesto, fresh garlic, spinach, cherry tomatoes, prosciutto, mozzarella, and fresh grated Parmesan.