Pizza

Pizza!

Ingredients
     1 tsp Active Dry or Instant Yeast
     2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
     1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
     1 tsp salt
     1/3 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
     8 oz. Mozzarella cheese
     Two tomatoes
     Two garlic cloves
     Extra olive oil
     Any other toppings you like (I like mushrooms, and sometimes I also add onions, basil, or arugula)


Note: I like to put whole wheat flour in my pizza dough for a healthier, more robust crust. However, it is totally optional and you can use four cups of white flour or mix flours as much as you like, as long as there are 4 cups of flour.

Sprinkle yeast over 1 1/2 cups warm water. Let stand for 5-10 minutes.
In a mixer, combine flour and salt. Drizzle olive oil over flour mixture while the mixer is on low speed. Pour in yeast/water mixture and mix until just combined.

Coat a separate mixing bowl with a light drizzle of olive oil, and form the dough into a ball. Toss to coat dough in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and store in the fridge until you need it. You can make this as far in advance as 3-4 days, and the dough works better if you wait at least 24 hours to use it, but it still makes great crust on the day of, as long as you wait at least one hour.

Chop up the garlic cloves. Heat some olive oil in a small pan. Saute garlic and any other toppings you are using (other than the mozzarella and tomatoes) until they are lightly browned.

Thinly slice mozzarella and tomatoes.

Preheat oven to 500 degrees (I like to use the convection bake option).

Drizzle olive oil on a large baking sheet (or use a nonstick pizza pan) and use fingers to coat thoroughly. Remove HALF the pizza dough from the bowl. Stretch pizza dough into a large rectangle or circle, depending on the shape of the sheet, pressing with fingers to finish forming. Dough will be very thin.

Lightly drizzle a little olive oil on the dough and use fingers to spread. Lay mozzarella slices over the surface of the dough. Spread tomato slices  over the surface of the cheese. Add any other toppings. Top with Parmesan cheese.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and the cheese is slightly bubbly. Remove from pan and slice with a pizza cutter. Enjoy!


Adapted from Pioneer Woman