Pizza Night!

Every week - usually on Thursdays -- we enjoy pizza night.  Let me rephrase that.  Every week, my children enjoy pizza night.  Many of these nights pizza comes from the place down the block that only charges $5 a pie.  On those nights, I don't enjoy pizza as much as my children enjoy it.  My favorite nights are the nights that I have time to make my easy, thin crust pizza dough, and we whip up some of our own pizzas.  Tonight is one of those nights at our house.  I was inspired by the recipe at Whipped.  My modifications were minimal, and I know it's going to be delicious!!

Easy Thin Crust Pizza

1 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast

1 cup warm water

1 Tablespoons honey
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon rosemary oil

I used my Kitchen Aid to whip up this easy dough.  Measure your flour, salt and oil into your bowl.  In a separate bowl, measure your honey, yeast and water.  The water should be about 100 degrees - right as the temp turns from warm to hot on your faucet is usually about 100 degrees.  If it is too hot to keep your finger under the tap, it is too hot for yeast. Stir the water, honey and yeast together. Let it stand for 10 minutes, or until the yeast is foamy. Add your wet ingredients in with your dry.   Using a dough hook, or by hand, knead the dough for 10 minutes until it is stiff but smooth and elastic. I had to add a little extra flour because my dough was too sticky. You shouldn't need to add too much additional flour. If you do, add a tablespoon at a time, until the dough is not sticky. I recommend putting on a timer for 10 minutes -- It's really hard to gauge how long that mixer has been working once the dough looks like dough.

Now you have to let the dough rise for 45 minutes.  

This is why I don't make this every week.  Some weeks I don't plan well enough.  Here's my little trick for letting the dough rise.  Turn your microwave on (without anything in it) for 1 minute.  This will heat up your microwave.  Cover the bowl with your dough in it and stick it in the warm microwave.  It needs to rise until doubled, which will take 30-60 minutes.  About half way through the rise, take the covered bowl out of the microwave  and heat the microwave up again.  This makes the dough rise faster, and gives the dough a warm and draftless place to hang out.  

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

Once the dough has risen, it's time to make some pizza.  Split the dough in the bowl in half. This will make two, 14 inch pizzas.  Roll it out on a board or counter, using a little flour to keep it from sticking.  Put it in your pizza pan, prick it with a fork to prevent bubbles, and bake it for 10 minutes.  (When it's nice outside, I grill my crust.  Just plop it straight down on a clean grill grate.  On the grill, I usually flip it after five minutes.)  When it is done with the first bake, add your toppings.  Then bake it for another ten minutes.  Enjoy!

I have  cooked these crust for the first ten minutes and then saved them for use on another day. You could also freeze the crusts after that first bake.

Happy eating!

Sarah