This past weekend I made homemade pizza crust for the first time! My first attempt of the recipe failed, I confess, though that was due more to my following the letter of the recipe rather than trusting my own instinct and experience (seriously, in what world do you make yeast dough with “hot” water? “Warm” is a much better descriptor of the temperature needed for yeast activation. Too high and it kills the yeast; too low and it the yeast will fail to activate. I haven’t done much yeast baking in recent years but these are aspects of the process I know. I was just thrown by the recipe. Also, the first time I used the food processor method to make the dough, which is really unnecessary. Firstly, it creates a mound of harder-to-clean dishes and secondly it robs you of the joy of kneading dough to elasticity with your hands!

Anyhow, I thought I’d share the recipe with you in case you, like me, have never been in the habit of making your own pizza dough. I never realized it was so easy and so quick, though to some the hour-long rising time might not count as “quick.” To me, it’s easy enoug to mix together four ingredients and set the thing aside for an hour, during which time you can putter around getting everything else ready for the meal. Also, the pizza only takes 10 minutes in the oven to cook, so it’s not really that long after all.

Here is the recipe:

Handmade Pizza Dough
from The Complete Canadian Living Cookbook by Elizabeth Baird

2 cups	all-purpose flour	500 ml
1 1/2 tsp	quick-rising (instant) dry yeast	7 ml
3/4 tsp	salt	4 ml
3/4 cup	warm water (50C/120F)	175 ml
2 tsp	olive oil	10 ml

In bowl, combine flour, yeast and salt. With wooden spoon, gradually stir in water and oil until dough forms, using hands if necessary.

Turn out onto lightly-floured surface; knead for 8 minutes or until smooth and elastic. Shape into smooth ball. Place in greased bowl, turning to grease all over. Cover with plastic wrap; let rise in warm draft-free place for about 1 hour or until doubled in bulk.

(Make-ahead version: Refrigerate unrisen dough to rise for 24 hours. Or freeze in plastic bag for up to 1 month; let thaw and rise in refrigerator overnight.)

Once dough has risen, turn out dough onto lightly floured surface. Form into a 12-inch pizza base. Let rest for 15 minutes.

Cover with sauce and toppings. Bake at 500F (260C) for 10 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and crust is golden and slightly puffed.

As you can see in the photo above, I used a pizza stone, which apparently improves the quality of homemade pizza crusts to the Nth degree, so I don’t know how it would turn out using a pizza pan or whatever. Also, when I made this, I neglected to let the dough sit for 15 minutes after I formed it into a disc; the crust was still delicious, thick and chewy, but who knows how much better it could have been!

The toppings I put on were: red peppers, fresh mushrooms, chicken, tomatoes, black olives, mozarella cheese.