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Basic Pizza Dough_PepperOnPizza.com
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Easy Basic Pizza Dough For Homemade Pizza From Scratch

Recipe for easy to make Pizza Dough, for a thin crust pizza with your favourite toppings. Links for pizzas with different toppings and for Basic Pizza Basil Tomato Sauce
Prep Time25 minutes
Cook Time3 minutes
Resting time2 hours
Total Time2 hours 28 minutes
Course: Main Dish, PIzza
Cuisine: Italian
Keyword: pizza dough
Servings: 3 Pizzas
Calories: 628kcal
Author: Sujata Shukla

Ingredients

  • 1.25 cups warm water 300 ml (If Proofing the yeast, keep a small amount like 0.25 cups separately for the same)
  • 2 tablespoons warm water 30 ml - extra, as per instructions for mixing the dough
  • 1.25 teaspoons Dry Yeast 6.25 ml active dry yeast or 5 ml instant yeast / easy blend dried yeast
  • 1 pinch sugar
  • 3 cups all purpose flour /Indian Maida flour - about 360 gms
  • 1 cup wheat flour 150 gms
  • 1.5 teaspoons table salt 7.5 ml - use a level tea spoon, not heaped
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil 15 ml - plus extra for oiling the bowl for proofing the dough

Instructions

How To Proof the Yeast

  • Active dry yeast needs to be checked before using, to ensure it is alive. If the yeast is not active, the pizza dough will not rise. Check ingredients above for quantities for active dry yeast or for instant yeast, depending on what you are using.
  • Heat water to just above lukewarm or room temperature - about 105 to 110 deg F / 40-43 deg C. Test the correctness of the temperature by (cautiously!) dipping a (clean) finger into the water - if its hot, but you can keep the finger in comfortably for a count of 6 before it becomes unbearably so, then the water is right for proofing.
    If its pleasantly warm, then it is not hot enough!
    A note of caution though - different yeasts may require different temperatures for becoming active, so best to invest in a thermometer and follow the specific recipe/yeast package instructions.
  • Add the yeast to a quarter cup of the water along with a pinch of sugar, and stir gently. After a few minutes some action will be visible, and after about 5 minutes some foam would have formed on the surface. In 10 minutes, the yeast would become active and ready to go. Use it immediately.

How to make Basic Pizza Dough

  • Weigh/measure the flour, oil and salt. Sift the flour with the salt so that the salt disperses in the flour.
    If proofing the yeast, make a well in the middle of the flour and add ¾ of the rest of the warm water i.e. ¾ cup out of the 1 cup in the ingredients list above. Add oil and then yeast along with the water and sugar in which it was proofed. Stir the flour into the water.
    If not proofing the yeast, just add the yeast and sugar to the flours and oil, mix well. Add ¾ of the water and proceed as below.
  • Don' t add all the water at once. Add about ¾ and then use your hands to mix the flour into the liquid till you get a rough dough. If the dough is very dry, add the remaining water little by little and then up to 2 tablespoons of warm water if required.
    Once the dough forms roughly into a ball, let it rest for 5 minutes.
    Tip the dough onto a clean work surface and knead for about 10 minutes till it is smooth. The dough would initially be sticky and loose and it is meant to be like that, so try not add any more flour or if at all, add as little as possible. As you knead, the dough becomes less sticky and you can make it smooth. Shape it into a ball.
  • Drizzle oil into a large clean bowl and turn the kneaded ball of dough in it, so that the surface is completely coated with a thin film of oil. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave in a warm spot for the dough to rise. The dough needs to rise to double its volume. This may take between 1 to 2 hours, maybe more if the weather is dull.
  • Once the dough has risen, place it on a clean work surface and knock it back by gently lifting it out the bowl, with your hands. You don't really need to punch it, just lifting it will knock most of the air out. The dough will fall back to its original size, and is now ready to be made into the Pizza base.
  • The dough will make 3 thin crust pizzas. Place the dough on a clean work surface and divide into 3 equal portions. The dough can be cling wrapped ( I wrap each of the 3 portions separately) and kept in the freezer for up to a week. Unwrap and bring to room temperature before using.
  • For recipes on baking the pizza with different toppings and for the basic Basil Tomato Pizza Sauce, please see the links in the write up to this Post.

Nutrition

Serving: 3persons | Calories: 628kcal | Carbohydrates: 130g | Protein: 19g | Fat: 2g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 1210mg | Potassium: 226mg | Fiber: 6g | Sugar: 1g | Calcium: 25mg | Iron: 8mg