Vox et praeterea nihil

I warned you this might be a rather random blog!

And so, with no further ado, I proudly present Mr. Mike’s perfect pizza dough recipe–if for no other reason than to be able to find it myself in the future!

Well…maybe just a bit more ado. I’ve tried various recipes and techniques for making pizza dough–with and without bread machines, with different flours, different yeasts, slight variations of ingredients, different mixing/resting.proofing methods, and so on down the line. This is the best I’ve managed to figure out. It makes enough dough for 2 “medium” round pizza pans.

1. Combine 1 Tbsp. yeast (Fleischmann’s Traditional seems to work best for me), 2 Tsp. sugar (I’ve tried honey but sugar seems better), and 1.75 Cups slightly warm water. Let stand in warm place for 15 minutes.
2. Combine 20 Oz. (4 cups) of bread flour (you want the higher gluten content of bread flour) and 2 Tsp. coarse (kosher, sea) salt.
3. Add yeast mixture and 2 Tbsp. olive oil. That’s it for ingredients.
4. With stand mixer on lowest setting, mix for 2 minutes.
5. Cover and let stand for 20 minutes.
6. With same mixer setting, mix for 6 minutes.
7. Turn mixer up 1 level, mix 2 more minutes.
8. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, cover with damp tea towel (or similar), and proof for 75-90 minutes.

And that’s that.