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Best Pizza Crust Recipe

Course Main Course
Cuisine American, Italian
Keyword easy, homemade, pizza
Author Bettina Zabel

Ingredients

  • 4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1 packet instant dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 cups 110 degree water
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tsp olive oil

Instructions

  1. Mix the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine. 

  2. With the mixer running, add the water and 2 Tbsps of oil and mix until the dough forms into a ball. If the dough is sticky, add 1 Tbsp of flour, until the dough comes together. If the dough is too dry, add 1 Tbsp of water.

  3. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a smooth, firm ball.

  4. Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap or lay a clean and dry dish towel over it, and put it in a warm area to let it double in size, this usually takes an hour. 

  5. Once it has risen, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cover each with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes. Don't skip this step! Preheat your oven to 475 degrees

  6. After the dough has sat for 10 minutes, it is ready to shape into pizza. Use a rolling pin and roll out the dough. Add your sauce and toppings and place on a pizza pan or pizza stone. Cook for about 10 minutes or until the edges begin to brown and the pizza cheese is melted nicely!

Recipe Notes

  • We use our own homemade canned sauce (recipe coming)
  • One of our favorite pizzas has giardiniera on it and instead using our regular sauce, we use the giardiniera, and the oil it is packed in, as the base to the pizza. This makes a crispier and thinner pizza crust... it is yummy but can get spicy.
  • If you use sausage do NOT put it on the pizza when you put it in, put it on about half way through to make sure it doesn't burn, as the sausage is already cooked. Though you could try putting it under the cheese but make sure it gets covered. 
  • Another of our favorite pizzas is fresh mozzarella, basil, tomatoes, with a olive oil base (instead of sauce), and a light sprinkle of salt.
  • You can brush a little melted butter onto the crust half way through and right as the pizza comes out of the oven to add a little more to the crust.