Pizza Dough

So if you've tried my bread recipes, the technique here will seem familiar.  Incorporating the flour slowly while beating is the best way to get perfectly soft and elastic dough.  This pizza recipe is great for pizza or bread-sticks.  You could even use it to make a foccacia-like bread topped with delicious goodies like olives, sun-dried tomatoes or cheese. It is great if you have time to make it fresh, but it also freezes well and it makes enough for 3 pizzas, so make one batch and have it for weeks to come!  In the winter, I use it to make traditional oven-cooked (on a pizza stone) pizzas, and in the summer I love to use this dough for grilled pizza!  I have made it 50% whole wheat plenty of times and it turns out great that way too.

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup water, heated to 115 F (use a microwave and a thermometer!)
5 tsp active dry yeast (make sure its fresh!)
3 tbsp corn syrup
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp Kosher salt
5-6 cups all purpose flour

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the water and yeast and allow to bloom for 5 minutes or so.  
2. Once the yeast is foamy and smells yeasty, it is ready.  Place the dough hook on the stand mixer.  Add the corn syrup, olive oil and 1 cup flour and begin mixing on low until combined.  
3. Add the salt and another cup of flour and continue mixing until combined. 
4. Continue adding one cup of flour at a time, mixing in between until the flour is incorporated before adding the next cup.  
5. Once you have added 5 cups, add a little bit of flour at a time, up to another cup, until the dough comes away from the sides of the bowl.  Allow to knead for about 5 minutes.
6. Remove the dough from the bowl and knead by hand for a minute or 2 until it all comes together into a nice soft ball.  Place in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and place in a warm location to rise to double, about 1.5 hours.  
7. Once it has risen, punch it down, divide it into 3 equal balls, roll them out as thin as possible and top with your favourite pizza toppings.  Bake at 425 F for 10-15 minutes.
8. Alternatively, divide the dough into six smaller portions.  Roll them into circles or ovals and place them, no oil needed, onto a very hot grill.  Watch them closely, but don't move them right away, and have your toppings ready.  After about a minute, as soon as you see grill marks on the crust and it is starting to firm up and set, remove it from the grill. Turn your grill down to low., Place your toppings on the cooked side of the crust, then place the pizzas back on the low-heat grill, uncooked side down to the grill, and put the lid down for 3-5 minutes, until the crust is golden all over and the toppings are heated through and melted. 

*The key to being successful with this dough, especially when making grilled pizzas, is to keep the toppings very minimal so that they don't weigh down the crust and make it soggy.

*For breadsticks, roll out one third of the dough into a thick rectangle.  Use your pizza cutter to score it into one inch strips. Drizzle with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder, oregano and parmesan cheese.  Place it on a heavily oiled pan and pop in a super hot oven (425 F) and cook until golden, about 25 min.  Serve with warm marinara sauce.

*To freeze, allow the dough to rise and then punch it down and separate it into 3 balls of dough.  Place any portions you want to freeze into separate containers, put the lids on and place in the freezer for up to a month.  When you are ready to use it, take it out of the freezer the night before and place it in the fridge.  By the following afternoon it will be starting to rise up again in the refrigerator.  Just punch it down again and form it into whatever you want to make!