Pizza Dough

This is one of the best pizza dough recipes out there! I found this recipe from Cooks Illustrated a few years ago and this is our family's to-go recipe whenever we want to make delicious pizza at home. Rachel actually made the dough early in the morning, then we let it rise for about 3 hours before we added the toppings.

We usually make two pizzas: one of them is topped with tons of pepperoni, and the other one we like to experiment with. Like this past weekend, we made this combo pizza with pepperoni, then loaded it with fresh veggies: red onion, bell peppers, cherry tomatoes, and fresh basil.

I know some of you may be hesitant to work with yeast, but believe me: yeast is nothing to be afraid of, in fact, yeast is your friend. Using instant dry yeast works better here because you don't have to wait for it to dissolve. I also recommend using bread flour; its the best choice for this dough and well worth it.

If you don't have a stand-up mixer, you can knead the dough by hand for several minutes and that would be fine too. Then when the dough is ready, roll it out into a 14-inch circle, about 1-inch thick and top with homemade marinara sauce and your favorite toppings.

One thing's for sure, nothing beats homemade pizza!

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PIZZA DOUGH

Ingredients

• 1 envelope (2 1/4 teaspoon) instant dry yeast

• 1/2 cup warm water (110 degrees F)

• 1 1/4 cups water

• 11 ounces (2 cups) all-purpose flour

• 11 ounces (2 cups) bread flour

• 2 teaspoon salt

• 2 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for coating bowl

Instructions:

1. Measure the warm water into a measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until yeast dissolves, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and oil and stir to combine.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the all-purpose flour, bread flour and salt, mix briefly to blend. With the mixer on low speed, pour in the water/yeast mixture. Mix until a cohesive dough is formed; then switch to the dough hook and continue to knead on low speed until dough is smooth and elastic, about 6-7 minutes. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, set in a warm place, and let rise until doubled in size, about 2-3 hours.

3. Press down the dough to deflate it. Transfer dough to a lightly floured work surface and divide it into two equal parts. Form each into a smooth round ball. (If freezing the dough, wrap it in plastic wrap, place in a plastic Ziplock bag, and freeze it at this point.) Cover with a damp cloth and let the dough rest for at least 10 minutes, but no longer than 30 minutes.

4. Place a ball of dough on a floured work surface. Roll out the dough into a 14-inch circle about 1 inch thick, dusting with flour as needed. Top with toppings of choice and bake as directed in your pizza recipe. Repeat with the remaining dough ball.

5. Makes two 14-inch pizza crusts.