The Best Damn Homemade Pizza...Ever
 
 
Makes 4, 12" to 14" pizzas
Author:
Ingredients
  • Must Haves - stand mixer, digital kitchen scale, quart size plastic freezer bags, baking steel or cast iron pizza pan*, parchment paper
Pizza Dough
  • DRY INGREDIENTS
  • 6 cups unbleached all purpose flour**
  • 1 tablespoon sea salt
  • 3 tablespoons organic cane sugar
  • 2 teaspoons instant yeast (not active dry yeast)
  • WET INGREDIENTS
  • 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 cups, plus 2 tablespoons water
  • additional extra virgin olive oil for coating dough balls before refrigerating
Vegetarian White Pizza with Potato & Asparagus
  • 1 pizza dough
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or garlic oil
  • 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
  • 1 cup freshly shredded whole milk, low moisture mozzarella
  • 1 small red potato, sliced thin with a mandoline
  • ½ cup, shaved asparagus (from about 6 asparagus spears) tossed in 1 teaspoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • sea salt
  • aged balsamic vinegar for drizzling (I like this brand)
Vegan Veggie Pizza
  • 1 pizza dough
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil or garlic oil
  • about ⅓ cup homemade or store-bought pizza sauce
  • sliced veggies of your choice (green bell pepper, mushrooms, onion, jalapeno, marinated artichokes, olives, etc.)
  • vegan cheese of choice (optional)
  • red pepper flakes & cashew parmesan for serving
Instructions
Pizza Dough
  1. Combine dry ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer. Use the whisk attachment to mix together.
  2. In a separate bowl, combine olive oil and water. Switch out whisk attachment for dough hook. Turn mixer to lowest setting and slowly pour in water/oil mixture, until a dough forms. Give the dough at least 30 seconds to come together. If dough is still too dry and is sticking to the sides, slowly add up 2 additional tablespoons of water. (Depending on the temperature and humidity in your kitchen on any given day, you might use slightly different amounts of water each time you make your dough.)
  3. Once dough forms, turn the mixer up one speed and allow to run for 4 minutes. (Do not knead dough for any longer or it will become tough.) Dough should be smooth and pulling away from sides of the bowl.
  4. Remove dough from mixer and turn out onto a well floured surface. (If dough is still a bit sticky, use some flour to help remove dough from bowl and dough hook.) Gently shape into a large ball. Use a bench scraper or knife, to cut dough into 4 evenly sized pieces. Use a digital kitchen scale to weigh pieces. (They should generally be between 370 and 395 grams each).*** Even out amounts of dough in each piece if necessary then shape into small balls by tucking ends under.
  5. Drizzle olive oil liberally over each ball and use your hands to generously coat. Place each ball in a quart sized ziplock bag. Remove as much excess air from bag as possible and seal tightly.
  6. Place dough in the refrigerator (lay flat, do not stack on top of one another) for 48 hours. Dough should have roughly doubled in size and some air bubbles may have formed on the surface.
  7. After two day cold rise, remove dough from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature (you can leave dough in the ziploc bag) while you preheat your oven.
  8. While dough is coming to room temperature, place baking steel in the center rack of oven. Preheat oven to 525 F (or the highest temperature setting your oven will go to****) and allow to heat for at least 45 minutes to ensure baking steel is screaming hot.
  9. Use scissors to cut open plastic bag and gently remove dough. (Don't pull dough out of bag or you will deflate it.) Place dough on a well floured surface and sprinkle top liberally with flour. Use your hands to gently shape into a circle and form a crust. Watch this video to get an idea of the basic technique! Do not use a rolling pin on your dough. Once you've shaped your dough into a 12" to 14" inch circle, lay onto a piece of parchment paper cut to roughly the size of your baking steel.
  10. Brush dough liberally with olive oil then add desired toppings. Slide parchment paper with dough onto a pizza peel. Use pizza peel to scoot parchment paper onto your baking steel. Baking time will vary depending on how hot your oven goes. If baking at 525 F, pizzas should take anywhere from 8 to 10 minutes to bake up golden brown, but begin to check for doneness at 6 minutes.
  11. Pull parchment paper onto pizza peel and remove pizza from oven. Slice and serve.
  12. To freeze dough, place directly in the freezer after 48 hour cold rise. Thaw dough in the refrigerator for 8 hours before following preparation instructions above. Dough can be frozen for up to a month.
Vegetarian White Pizza with Potato & Asparagus
  1. Sprinkle sliced potatoes with a few pinches of sea salt and allow to sit while you prepare dough.
  2. Shape dough as described above and place on a piece of parchment paper. Brush dough liberally with olive oil or garlic oil. Drizzle with heavy whipping cream then top with cheese.
  3. Potatoes should have released some moisture from the sea salt. Blot with a paper towel then layer onto pizza. Place asparagus on top of potatoes. Crush dried rosemary in your hand to release oils then sprinkle over pizza.
  4. Pull parchment paper with pizza onto pizza peel. Use the peel to scoot the parchment paper onto your baking steel. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes.
  5. Remove from oven. Slice pizza and drizzle with aged balsamic vinegar.
Vegan Veggie Pizza
  1. Shape dough as described above and place on a piece of parchment paper. Brush dough liberally with olive oil or garlic oil. Spoon on pizza sauce then layer on veggies. If using, sprinkle on vegan cheese of choice.
  2. Pull parchment paper with pizza onto pizza peel. Use the peel to scoot the parchment paper onto your baking steel. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes. Remove from oven. Slice pizza and serve sprinkled with red pepper flakes and cashew parmesan.
Notes
* I highly recommend investing in a baking steel like this one. A cast iron pizza pan, like this one, is the only substitute I recommend. No pizza stones! Baking steels and cast iron pans can be left in your oven at all times, they will actually help to regulate your oven temperature.
** Scoop flour using a measuring cup and level off with your hand or a knife.
*** For slightly larger & thicker pizza crust, divide dough into three balls, roughly 450 grams each. This is the size I make my dough balls when I know I'll only be making one pizza for my husband & I to split. It's the perfect size.
**** Many home ovens will only go to 500 F, which is fine. I recommend using an oven thermometer to accurately determine your oven temperature. When set to 550 F, the actual temperature of my oven is only 525 F, even after preheating for 1 hour.
Recipe by The Mostly Vegan at https://www.themostlyvegan.com/the-best-damn-homemade-pizza-ever/