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Quick Rise Pizza Crust

Quick Rise Pizza Crust

Course Bread
Servings 1 large pizza
Author Christina Lakey

Ingredients

Dough:

  • 2 cups – 2 ¼ flour
  • ¼ oz package instant yeast 2 1/4 teaspoons
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 2/3 cup hot water not lukewarm, not scalding, just hot to the touch when it first comes out of the tap
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for coating
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • Cornmeal for dusting surface

Special kitchen gadgets:

  • Pizza peel
  • Baking stone

Instructions

  1. With a spoon, stir together ¾ cup of the flour, yeast, sugar, and water in a large mixing bowl. Let mixture stand until dissolved, about 1-2 minutes.
  2. Mix in remaining ingredients. Add additional flour if needed until non-sticky to the touch. (You may have to incorporate the last of the flour in by hand.)
  3. Knead for 5 minutes.
  4. Loosely create a ball. Put back in mixing bowl and coat with olive oil.
  5. Let dough rise for 10-20 minutes.
  6. While dough is rising, place your baking stone on the middle rack and preheat oven to 425 F.
  7. Generously sprinkle cornmeal over a pizza peel. Take risen dough, place on peel, and start spreading out by hand, working from the center out until approximately 1/4 inch thick. Dough should be soft and easy to manipulate. If dough feels too sticky, try oiling your hands a little to help out. If you need to, use a rolling pin, but try not to overwork the dough.
  8. Put on desired sauce and toppings.
  9. Slide onto preheated baking stone. Cook in oven for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown.

Recipe Notes

Quick Tips:
1. Does the dough seem tough after kneading? Make sure to coat with olive oil before the rise. Additionally, put the bowl over the oven as it's heating up and cover bowl with a moist warm towel. That has always done the trick for me if this occurs.
2.I just get a general circular idea for my crust and then call it good! It gives the pizza a rustic feel and adds a little character.
3. This dough is a little on the soft side, so be generous with your cornmeal. This will save you from having it stick to the peel when you are transferring it to the stone. If having a hard time transferring, give the peel little shakes to help it move. If somehow it has stuck in a spot, run a metal spatula under that spot to help it out. In a worst case scenario when it doesn't want to budge (I have experienced when getting a little too excited and overloading the pizza with toppings, making it very heavy), get a helping hand to hold the peel and using two big spatulas, slide under the dough and transfer to stone.
Dress it Up: During the first dough mixing phase (before adding the additional flour), try throwing in some dried herbs (Italian seasoning, basil, etc.) minced garlic, or Parmesan cheese.
Change it Up: Don't have a pizza peel or baking stone? Roll out dough on a flat surface (generously sprinkled with cornmeal) and then slide onto baking sheet.