What’s Cooking in Gail’s Kitchen? The Daily Special: Impressive Pizza Crust! When it comes to making homemade pizza, two factors are critical to taste: Crust and Sauce. (We’ll address pizza sauce another day.) It becomes personal whether you prefer a thin and crispy crust or a deep dish pizza pie. Fortunately, my husband and I are partial to a thin crust. Choosing your “method of madness” takes practice as well. Experts recommend kneading the dough and getting pretty rough to develop the gluten. Others use a bread machine for maximum results. I found my food processor passed the test with this impressive crust. Later on, I may try another.
IMPRESSIVE PIZZA CRUST
Ingredients:
2 cups bread flour, plus more for work surface
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more for work surface
1/3 teaspoon sea salt
Cornmeal for pizza pan
Instructions:
In food processor fitted with metal blade, process flour, sugar, and yeast until combined, about 2 seconds. With machine running, slowly add water through feed tube. Process until dough is just combined and no dry flour remains, about 10 seconds. Let dough rest for 10 minutes. Then add olive oil and salt to dough. Process until dough forms a satiny, sticky ball that clears the sides of the bowl, 30-60 seconds. Remove dough from bowl and knead briefly on a lightly oiled countertop until smooth, about 1 minute. Shape dough into a tight ball and place in a large, lightly oiled bowl. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days.
After 24 hours divide the dough into 2 equal portions. (Wrap one tightly with plastic wrap and return to the refrigerator for later use if you are only making one pizza pie at this time.) Shape dough on lightly oiled baking sheet; cover loosely with plastic wrap coated with nonstick cooking spray. Let stand one hour. Preheat the oven to 425°. Then coat the ball of dough with flour and place on a well-floured countertop. Knead and stretch the dough without breaking. Spread olive oil lightly to grease pizza pan. Sprinkle corn meal over the olive oil forming a thin even layer. This keeps the crust from getting soggy and adds a nice crunch to the texture of the crust. Transfer dough to pizza pan. Using fingertips, gently flatten and stretch as you go, until it reaches the edges. Press down around the edges of the pan to create a border, which will keep the sauce and toppings from seeping while baking. Place in oven and bake crust for 10 minutes without toppings. Remove and add pizza sauce plus desired ingredients. Reduce oven heat to 400° and bake an additional 20 minutes until crust is crispy and toppings bubbly.
Looks amazing 🙂
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Any secrets you care to share about making your special pizza crust?
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I must say it’s all in the crust for me. I like mine more bread like whereas my husband prefers a thin crust. I remember my mom always brushing her pizzas (around the edges) and calzone with a good extra virgin olive oil just as it comes out of the oven. A wonderful way of adding another layer of flavor 🙂
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Excellent idea. Sometimes I use French butter with sea salt. I’m bad. lol
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The crust sounds and looks wonderful. It might even tempt me away from the quick fix of buying refrigerated, prepared crusts. Yes, I’m ashamed to admit it, but that’s what I do. My mother would be appalled.
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Hahahaaaa.. About a year ago, I was doing the same thing! Truth. 🍓
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That crust sure does look impressive.
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I appreciate your compliment! Thanks very much. 🍓
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Beautiful crust! The cornmeal looks perfectly course…did you find it locally?
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How astute of you to notice. There is an old grist mill about an hour from where I live. They still operate enough to sell cornmeal to the public. It’s wonderful! 🍓
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Oh how wonderful! You can’t find cornmeal such as this just anywhere…it’s beautiful 🙂
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