Homemade Pizza Crust Tutorial!

My Dad gave me a live in person tutorial on how to make homemade pizza crust a few weeks ago. I never had much luck with getting any dough to rise, lol. But I followed his instructions and we enjoyed fresh homemade pizza the other night. I thought I would share his tutorial with all of you. (Pictures included!). You can double this recipe. I've underlined the ingredients you will need below.

1st step: Combine 1 cup of hot water (the hottest you can get out of your sink tap), 1 teaspoon of sugar & 1 packet of dry active yeast in a bowl. Use a rubber spatula to give it a few quick stirs then let it sit for 15 minutes uncovered.

Hot water, sugar & dry active yeast
When you come back your bowl of yeast should look like it has beer foam on the top of it. (Which is how my Dad explained it to me, haha!) That's how you know your yeast is working.

See: "Beer Foam" lol!
Step two: Pour 2 1/2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of salt into your bowl with the dry yeast mixture. Use a rubber spatula again to fold the flour into the mixture using a circular motion, sometimes pressing the spatula into the dough like kneading. Once your dough begins to stick to your spatula add 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil and continue to work the dough in a circular & kneading motion with the rubber spatula. You will not need to touch the dough with your hands.

Dough ball!
Step three: Once your dough is in a neat little ball. Grab a dish rag or washcloth and run it under the hottest water you can. Wring it out a bit, then drape the rag over your bowl. You want a nice warm place for your dough to rise, so I always pop my rag covered bowl into the microwave and let it sit for one hour. (I keep my microwave unplugged when not using it). You won't be using the microwave- just storing your bowl of dough there for 1 hour.

Damp rag with hot water- let dough sit for 1 hour.
Step four: Take the damp rag off of your bowl of dough. It should have increased in size by now. You can give it a few more kneads with your rubber spatula, but then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it sit in your fridge for one whole day. Letting it sit for a day makes it easier to roll and work with the next day. And as my Dad said, he thinks it tastes better when you let it sit a day before using it. (Your dough can be stored for up to 5 days in the fridge).

After sitting for 1 hour- the dough has risen.
Step Five: Enjoy making homemade pizza with your homemade pizza dough! I know I did! Roll out your dough to fit your tray (don't forget to sprinkle a little flour before rolling), add sauce cheese & toppings. To cook your pizza, heat your oven 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

***If you want a thinner crust divide your dough in half before rolling***

This is supposed to be pepperoni & onion- next time... cheese first- then toppings, lol!

Our 2nd homemade pizza! Hawaiian! Mmmm!

 photo sarahlynn_zpse7845bbe.jpg

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