Pizza Dough

I'm a New Yorker.

No, not that kind of New Yorker.  Not the Upper East Side-dwelling, subway-riding, Saks Fifth Avenue-shopping, taxi-hailing, Central Park-jogging urbanite you're familiar with in the movies.

The truth is, there is a ginormous chunk of land above NYC that is still a part of the state.  And I live at the tippy toppest part of it.

Nonetheless, I love New York-style pizza.  I love the thin, chewy texture.  The dusting of cornmeal on the bottom.  The air bubbles that accumulate around the edges.  Amazing.

New York pizza usually has a pretty plain red sauce and dry, grated mozzarella.  But, I like to experiment with sauces and toppings to spice up my dinner.  I am a firm believer that any sandwich can make a good pasta dish, and anything you can put on pasta, you can toss onto a pizza.  So, I like to have a good store of ready-to-go dough whenever I get a craving for carbs.

This recipe calls for whole-wheat flour (don't tell anybody).  I'm a big fan of the texture and color of the whole wheat flour.  Also, this recipe takes at least one day to complete, so I recommend making a big batch or several big batches at once.  That way, you can use what you want and freeze the rest for later.




Pizza Dough

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast
1 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup warm water (not too HOT!)

Combine flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl or mixer.  Add oil and water and mix well.  The dough form a ball while remaining tacky.

Grease a large bowl with olive oil and place the dough in the bowl.  Cover and refrigerate at least overnight.  For best results, refrigerate 1-2 days.

When ready, remove the ball from the fridge.  Knead and stretch the dough for 2-3 minutes.  Let sit at room temperature for 1-2 hours to allow dough to rise.

Fashion a pizza crust by stretching the dough to desired dimensions.




Listening to:   Blake Shelton - God Gave Me You