1-1/2 cups All purpose white flour
1-1/2 cups Bread Flour
2 1/4+ teaspoons yeast (2-1/4 tsps = 1 packet)
1 TBS Honey
1 cup warm water
2 TBS Olive oil (extra virgin)
Proof yeast with two teaspoons of flour. Stir flours to blend. Mix honey and olive oil into proofed yeast. Slowly add yeast mixture to flours, stirring to moisten flour evenly. If dough is too dry, add a little additional water. Knead dough on floured surface 7-10 minutes. Divide dough into two. Place in plastic bags (vegetable bags from supermarket) and refrigerate overnight. Take out dough about one hour before ready to make pizza so to bring to room temperature.
Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. After one hour, press dough into lightly greased or oiled pan. But the best preparation is to spread a tablespoon or two of cornmeal on the pan to allow sliding the pizza off. Using cornmeal gives a drier bottom to your pizza instead of being wet with grease. If you like ’em oily, have at it. (Tip: I don’t really use a pizza pan, I prefer a flat cookie sheet) Brush olive oil on what will be the exposed edge of the dough after toppings are put on the dough. Cover and rest dough 10-20 minutes. I time the preheat to last 30 minutes because I use clay tiles. You can adjust your time if you don’t use tiles or you use a thicker stone. Using some kind of material like tiles or stones is probably important because of the absorbed heat controls the baking of the dough best. Put your toppings on the pizza dough. The best position for baking pizza in my oven is in the middle, not near the top of the oven. Put the pizza pan on the tiles for five minutes. Slide pizza out of pan onto tile for a few more minutes. This is why I use a flat cookie sheet; just a slight sharp pull and off it slides. But, if it sticks, don’t try to shake the pizza off, run a metal spatula or long knife under it. Again, the cookie sheet makes this really easy. (You might need to re-oil the edge if it appears to be browning too fast. Judge this by the undersurface of the dough.) Remove cooked pizza using pizza peel…or cookie sheet (see, no extra tool to clean, love that cookie sheet).
This made the best darn home-made pizza crust I’ve ever made. I’ve listed the steps I went through. If one was unnecessary, I don’t know. Letting the dough age overnight seems to enhance the flavor. All bread flour gives too bread-like a product, all all-purpose flour produces a bland crust. Honey leaves a tang that sugar can’t supply. One final tip: I don’t ever cut things on a metal surface (the cookie sheet or pizza pan) or a counter top. My cutting boards are too small; so I put a brown grocery bag, unprinted side down, on the counter, then place a section of newspaper on the bag. Now I slide the pizza onto the newspaper for cutting into slices. The paper also absorbs any excess oil and run-off after the cutting of the pizza. You’ll want the paper bag because newspaper can leave marks on some countertops.