Tasty Tuesday - Quick Mix Pizza Dough

We make our own pizza about once a week, usually on Friday nights. I've been through a lot of recipes - some using the bread machine, some that need to sit overnight, some that use my kitchen-aid mixer, but this is our new favorite pizza dough recipe. And to make it even better, it comes with directions to freeze it, and doesn't take any special equipment.

Quick Mix Pizza Dough



1c. water
2T olive oil
3-3 1/2c. flour
1 pkg. (2 1/4t.) active dry yeast
1t. sugar
1/2t. salt

Recipe yields 2 medium or large crusts, depending on thickness.

Cooking day instructions
Heat water and olive oil to 120 degrees. In bowl, combine 1 ½ cups flour with yeast, sugar, and salt. Add warm water and mix with electric mixer for 3 minutes. Stir in 1 ½ cups additional flour by hand to form a soft dough. Knead on a floured surface for 10 minutes, adding rest of flour as needed. Dough should be smooth and elastic but not sticky. Shape into a ball and place in greased bowl. Cover with damp cloth. Let rise in a warm place about 45 minutes or until doubled in size. Punch down and divide in half. Wrap each half in plastic wrap and freeze in freezer bag.


Serving day instructions
Thaw completely. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Roll out pizza dough directly onto pizza pan or baking stone. Prick crust with fork, then parbake in oven for 10-15 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from oven, add toppings, and return to over to continue baking for 10-15 minutes more until done.  (I usually parbake for about 8 minutes, and bake for about 10.)