My dad once said, “I would eat pizza everyday if I was allowed.” When I was growing up, my dad would occasionally make pizzas. And boy, were they the best! We would go to the local Italian market and buy our dough balls. Fast forward to my married life and our wonderful Italian market. My husband and I almost choked at the price of a little dough ball. We decided it was worth the effort to make our own. The recipe we have used for years is a basic pizza dough recipe from my California Pizza Kitchen cookbook. This recipe is for two 9” pizzas, so we will usually double the recipe to make three 12” pizzas.

Pizza Dough
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1 tsp. yeast
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon warm water (105 – 110 F)
1 ½ cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 T. extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp. extra virgin olive oil

Dissolve the yeast in the water and set aside for 5 to 10 minutes. Be sure the water is not hot; temperatures of 120 F and above will kill the yeast, and your dough will not rise.

If using an upright mixer, use the mixing paddle attachment because the batch size is too small for the dough hook to be effective. Combine all other ingredients (except the additional teaspoon olive oil) and combine them with the dissolved yeast in the mixing bowl. (Do not pour the salt directly into the yeast water because this would kill some of the yeast.) Allow these 2 ingredients to mix gradually; use the lowest 2 speeds to mix the dough. Mix for 2 – 3 minutes, until the dough is smooth and elastic. Over mixing will produce tough, rubbery dough, and friction will cause dough to rise too fast.

Lightly oil the dough ball and the interior of a 1 quart glass bowl. Place the dough ball in the bowl and seal the bowl with clear food wrap; seal air tight. Set aside at room temperature (70-80F) to rise until double in size; about 1 ½ – 2 hours.

About 2 hours before you are ready to assemble your pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Use a sharp knife to divide the dough into 2 equal portions.

To Stretch and Form the Dough for Pizza:
Sprinkle a medium dusting of flour over a 12×12-inch clean, smooth surface. Flour the dough liberally. Place the floured dough on the floured smooth surface.

Use your hand or rolling pin to press the dough down forming a flat circle about ½-inch thick. Pinch the dough between your fingers all around the edge of the circle, forming a lip or rim that rises about ¼-inch above the center surface of the dough. You may continue this outward stretching motion of the hands until you have reached a 9-inch diameter pizza dough.