Gen’s Birthday Pizza

Gen’s birthday was on Saturday and he asked for pizza, yum. I whipped up an easy and delicious pizza dough and topped it with simple ingredients. It was an great way to spend a Saturday night.

Pizza

Ingredients

  • 4.5 tsp active dry yeast
  • 2 cups warm water (not hot, don’t kill the yeast)
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 3 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 tbsp white sugar

Directions

  1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, olive oil, salt, sugar and the yeast mixture; stir well to combine.
  3. Using a strong wooden spoon (I stress this because I broke my Kel’s favourite) or your dough hook (if you have a mixer), mix until a dough that pulls away from the bowl has formed. Place in an oiled bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350°F.
  4. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. Roll into desired shape (I had no pizza pans so I used my cookie sheet covered with parchment paper). Cover with your favourite toppings and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes. This recipe makes two pretty huge cookie sheet pizzas, so we froze one of the balls of dough for later.

Soft pillows of dough.

My favourite toppings?

» Good tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, fresh basil, olive oil.
» Kalamata olives, marinated artichokes, feta, (roasted red peppers are great here too).
Brush your prepared dough with some olive oil, use the artichoke liquid if you are feeling feisty. This actually helps to prevent the crust from getting soggy. This also makes the pizza leftovers (if there are any) freeze well.

Oh yes, and one of the best parts of getting packages from my parents is the fantastic drawings my dad does on the outside.