The Pizza Dough I Make Three Times a Month

Last weekend, our dinner guests arrived about five minutes after the wood fired pizza oven did. (The oven was in the back of our truck. The full story is in this week’s newsletter. Send us an email and we'll send you the story!) Within minutes of walking in the door, they were carrying it into the backyard.

I was nervous about most things that night. The oven, the fire, the timing, my own ability to cook a pizza anywhere near a furnace. The one thing I wasn’t nervous about was the dough.

In our house, pizza dough gets made at least three times a month. It’s quick to mix, it forgives almost everything, and it makes a lot more than pizza. Here’s how I make it.

Easy pizza dough (stand mixer method)

Ingredients

• 450g good quality flour
• 1 1/2 tsp yeast
• 1 tsp caster sugar, or a squeeze of honey
• 1 tsp salt
• A good slurp of olive oil (a few tablespoons)
• About 1-1 & 1/2 cups warm water, or a mix of warm milk and water

A note on the yeast: use a clean teaspoon out of the drawer. Don’t dirty an actual measuring spoon. I also “measure” the sugar by grabbing some out of the tub.  I’m not going to pretend otherwise.

Method

1. Put the flour, yeast sugar and salt in a large bowl, or better still the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook. Stir it together with clean hands or the teaspoon you’ve already used.
2. Add the olive oil (& honey if you're using honey instead of sugar).
3. Add the warm water. This is the trickiest part, because I never measure it. If you have a coffee machine and a bit of frothed milk still sitting in a jug somewhere in your kitchen (because SOME people can’t clean up after themselves), pour that in and top it up with warm water. Start with about a cup and mix until you have a clumpy, sticky mess.
4. Let the mixer do the work. If you’re mixing by hand, tip it onto a clean benchtop and knead.
5. Check the texture. Every recipe you’ve ever read says to end up with a smooth ball. I’ve always had better results from a stickier, wetter dough, so don’t be afraid to add a little more water. If you’re using a mixer, the test is that the dough sticks to the hook (and has to be scraped off) but does not come cleanly off the bottom of the bowl. If you can stick your fingers into the dough and have no dough on your fingers, add a bit more water and keep mixing.
6. Cover the bowl with cling wrap and leave it to prove for 60 to 90 minutes, until doubled in size.
7. Punch it down (literally), scrape it out onto a floured benchtop, then portion and shape however you like.

Can I double the recipe?

Yes. It doubles or quadruples without fuss. Just don’t ask a domestic mixer to handle more than a double quantity in one go, or you’ll be shopping for a new mixer.

What to make with it

Big pizzas, little pizzas, rolls, loaves, bread in whatever shape you can imagine. Same dough, same method. I make it for pizza night, and I also make it when someone announces they need bread rolls by Saturday.

How to cook pizza from this dough

In a home oven: top your pizza and cook it in a hot oven, preheated to 230°C fan forced. Pizzas will cook in 12-15mins depending on their size (and the quantity of toppings you've put on them).

In a wood fired pizza oven: several logs’ worth of fire, and a junior recipe tester who has appointed himself in charge of the wand. Pizzas cooked much faster in the wood fired oven.

Wetter dough: a quick FAQ

How wet should pizza dough be? Stickier than feels sensible. It should have to be scraped from the dough hook and cling to the bottom of the bowl.

How long does pizza dough take to prove? 60 to 90 minutes, covered, until it has doubled.

Can I use milk instead of water? Yes. A mix of milk and water works well, and it’s a good use for leftover frothed milk.

We cook for a living, and every meal we deliver helps us cook for a family living with disability. If pizza night isn’t happening at your place this week, you know where we are. → Browse our ready-made meals