Pizza dough #4

6 servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
¾ cup Warm water (110-115 degrees)
1 pack Active dry yeast
3 To 3-1/2 C flour
¼ cup Olive oil
½ teaspoon Salt
½ teaspoon Sugar

Directions

Ok, let's start with the basics here...pizza dough. For this recipe there are only a few pieces of equipment you will need to have. Youll need a large mixing bowl and a wooden spoon (make sure it's a WOODEN spoon!).

Begin by warming the mixing bowl by running warm water into it. It is important that the bowl be warmed for proper rising of the dough.

Pour the water into the bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Stir gently with fork until yeast is dissolved and mixture is a light beige in color.

Add the olive oil, sugar and salt and stir gently until well mixed.

Slowly add the flour, one cup at a time and mix into the liquid with wooden spoon. When the dough begins to pull away from the side of the bowl, flour your counter area and begin to knead in remaining flour.

ONLY ADD AS MUCH FLOUR AS IS NEEDED TO MAKE THE DOUGH WORKABLE.

When the dough is no longer sticky, STOP working the dough! Overworking the dough will tend to make it tough after cooking.

Place dough back into the mixing bowl and allow it to rise for at least one hour.

The dough should now be ready for use. This dough is designed for "thick" crust or deep dish pizza but will work just as well for stuffed pizza.

A few tips for making dough...you can use a food processor or mixer to make the dough but you will find it is better (not to mention easier) to work the dough by hand. DO NOT use water above 115 degrees as this may kill the yeast. You can get by with a one hour rise of the dough but to eliminate the yeast flavor it is best to allow the dough to go through several rises. After an hour or so punch into the middle of the dough to cause it to "fall", repeat this process two or three times before rolling (or spreading if you're talented <g>) the dough. Be careful how much you "work" the dough, the goal is

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