This pizza dough recipe is a long-standing tradition in my husband’s family, so I felt it was only appropriate that he write about it! We’ve taken a little liberty with the recipe itself, and discovered that it makes an excellent dough for focaccia as well! Today I’m just sharing the recipe for the dough and photos of the focaccia version – if you’d rather make pizza, you can be creative with your own toppings!
A while back my in-laws gifted us one of those three-ring-binder-church-cookbooks full of recipes from families in the church where Tim’s mom grew up. I love it because I know that there is family history within the pages of that book – each recipe has a story behind it and belongs to a family that enjoyed it enough to share with the whole church. I know that on page 58 I’ll find a recipe for “Pizza From Scratch,” with notes scribbled in the margins. Without further ado, I’ll let Tim share his family’s story of this recipe.
My family likes traditions. Traditions like riding in the car all cozied up on Christmas Eve looking for the neighborhood with the best light display, gathering around the Thanksgiving table with the plethora of family on my mom’s side, celebratory birthday banners that appeared the morning of each of our birthdays – sneakily designed by someone in the family, and french toast every Sunday morning (but seriously, every Sunday morning). These are just some of the fun traditions I had growing up.
Another wonderful tradition that we started when I was in middle school was weekly homemade pizza. We’d usually rent a movie from one of the local rental stores and top the pizzas in whatever way our hearts desired. Inevitably my mom would try to sneak healthy things like green peppers or wheat germ into the recipe, but it still made for a tasty meal! I love how the pizza crust isn’t a thin crust, but also isn’t so doughy that you feel like it’s more bread than toppings. Growing up we usually made 3 or more pizzas, went downstairs to watch our movie while we ate, and put the left-overs (if we had any) in a ziploc bag to be enjoyed the next day for lunch. If I ever had friends over to share in the tradition, they’d always tell me (and mostly my mom) how delicious the pizza was.
When dressing the pizza, I fully recommend using a spoon to spread the sauce on the dough, and because I’m not a huge crust person, I would try to get the sauce as close to the edge as possible (within a half inch or so). Get a good mozzarella cheese blend to top the sauce, and then ever so carefully spread your desired toppings equally spaced along the top. I like to think that with all the years practice I’ve had growing up, I’m pretty good at spreading the toppings on the pizza in the most precise manner possible! (Asharae’s note: Tim takes this very seriously. Can you tell he’s more of a mathematician than I am?)
One thing to note, my mom loved it when she got a bread machine that could mix the ingredients together for her. Even if you don’t plan ahead, you could easily get inspired to make pizzas while reflecting on a delicious lunch, and still have plenty of time to make the homemade pizza dough and get it ready in time for dinner. I have used store-bought pizza dough in the past, but it never has been as good as this recipe.
I hope that you’re reminded of your own family traditions as you make this recipe, and who knows, maybe it will get a new spot in the rotation of your family’s traditions!
Simple Pizza Dough / Focaccia
Ingredients
For Dough
- 1 1/4 c warm water
- 2 Tbs vegetable oil
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 c flour
- 1 package dry yeast 2 1/4 tsp
For Pizza
- Pizza sauce of your choice
- Mozarella Cheese
- Toppings of your choice
For Focaccia
- Olive oil
- Kosher salt
- Italian Seasoning
- Fresh grated parmesan cheese
Instructions
- (With a bread machine) Place ingredients in bread machine in the order listed (unless your bread machine manufacturer recommends something different). Choose the Dough setting and the largest loaf size. Let the bread machine work its magic!
- (By hand) Sift flour and salt together, set aside. In a separate bowl dissolve yeast into warm water, stir in 2 Tbs vegetable oil. Pour into flour and salt mixture and stir until it comes together. Knead vigorously until smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball. Place in a greased bowl, brush with oil, cover and let rise until doubled in size.
- Once dough is ready, divide in half and spread on two floured baking sheets.
- (For pizza) Brush crust lightly with olive oil (this keeps it from getting soggy from the sauce), top with sauce and toppings of your choice. Bake 15-20 min at 400. Broil for a minute or two if your cheese isn't bubbly enough.
- (For focaccia) Once dough is spread out, make divots in the surface of the dough with your fingers. Try not to poke through the dough - these divots will hold the olive oil. Drizzle several Tbs of olive oil over the top of the dough, allowing it to pool in the divots you made. Sprinkle dough with kosher salt, Italian seasonings, and freshly grated parmesan cheese. Bake for 10-12 min at 400. Broil for a minute or two if you'd like the top to be crispier.
Notes