Crisp Pizza Dough
I have been experimenting for a number of years (since I moved from NYC) trying to perfect Sicilian style pizza. I first started this odyssey because, lets face it, pizza outside of New York is not as good as pizza inside New York. Some say the key is the water, but I have found that not to be the key. This dough is crispier then the usual and I think quite an improvement on the original slices I used buy.
Ready
- 3 ¾ cups bread flour
- 2 ½ Tbl dry active yeast
- 1 Tbl sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 cups water (use filtered if you have it)
- Olive oil
Set
- Medium bowl
- Large spoon (wooden)
- Plastic wrap
- Firm Spatula
- Rolling pin
- 13 x 18 baking sheet with rims (or thereabouts)
Go
- Mix flour, yeast, sugar and salt in bowl.
- Add water and stir with large wooden spoon until mixed.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours.
- Sprinkle some flour on a clean smooth surface (preferably stone or marble counter or cutting board)
- Remove dough from bow. Use spatula to get all of the sticky dough
- Roll dough into a ball. No need to over work it.
- Divide dough into half.
- Moisten dough balls with a little water, cover and let sit for ½ hour.
- Sprinkle more powered on clean surface.
- Roll first dough ball as close as you can get it into the shape of the baking pan.
- Oil baking sheet.
- Lift dough into the baking sheet.
- Using your hands stretch dough to fit.
- Top with your favorite toppings and bake at high heat until done.
- Repeat with second ball of dough.
What you should know
for the picture above I topped the crisp pizza dough with thin slices of prosciutto, homemade tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella and chopped rosemary.
There is no need to pre-bake the dough. It gets plenty crispy.
Looking for more pizza recipes?
Here are some of my favorite pizza toppings with this crispy pizza crust each one in order that the toppings are applied:
- Homemade tomato sauce, fresh mozzarella (in water), basil
- Thinly sliced tomatoes, sprinkled olive oil, crushed garlic, fresh thyme, fresh mozzarella
- Mushrooms (take your pick), grated gruyere cheese
- Shredded radicchio, olive oil, fresh mozzarella, tiny chunks of pancetta, chopped rosemary
And of course a healthy sprinkle of salt and pepper over all of the pizza’s listed above.
Does anybody else have suggestions? I am always looking for something new.
I love sausage and onions with tomato sauce and cheese. I chop the onions into long strips and then sprinkle olive oil on them and toss them in a bowl. This helps keep the onions from burning.
The sausage I remove from the casing, fry in a pan and then sprinkle on top after i have added the sauce, cheese and onions.
I am ashamed to admit that I uses canned tomatoes more often than not. It still tastes great.
This pizza does look great. We are trying it this weekend too. I can’t wait. It’s been too hot to bake at high temperatures, but now the heat has broken and it is time to try this delicious pizza recipe. Thanks for posting
Great looking pizza. I am going to try it this weekend. What are some of your favorite toppings for this extra crispy pizza dough?