Basic Pizza Dough

Note from Cheri: My friend and business partner, Mitch Mandell claims to make the world's best pizza dough. By his own admission, any time you bring the word "world" into a description (Disney World, Camping World, Burger World), it must be good. After a lot of coaxing, I got Mitch to share his pizza dough recipe with the Fabulous Foodies who visit this site! Since this recipe is his baby, I'm going to let him take it from here. Mitch's Pizza Dough Notes: I know it's called "Basic Pizza Dough", but the only thing basic about it is how to make it. Most people say "this is the best crust I've ever had." Many times with grocery store or take out pizza the edge of the crustis left on the plate. Well, that won't happen with this crust. Your family and friends are sure to eat the whole thing. When all your friends ask you for the recipe, you can come to the top of this page and email it them at the click of a button (we figured this would save you a lot of time copying or printing it out. ;) This dough is easiest to make in a food processor or bread maker. You can, however, make it by hand (there's just a lot of mixing and kneading that way). Feel free to add ingredients to the dough to make it more interesting. I've often added minced garlic or rosemary or basil. I've even added chopped peanuts for the Thai pizza. It's your pizza, be creative.

3 1/2 cups flour 1 cup warm water (between 95° and 115° F.) 2 T yeast (2 tablespoons, I like my dough a little yeasty. You can use less) 2 T honey 1/4 cup olive oil 1/2 tsp. salt

You have three choices in mixing your dough: In A Food Processor In A Bread Machine By Hand Food Processor Some food processors come with a dough blade. If you have it use it. If you don't, just use the standard cutting blade. My dough blade broke from over use (some would call it pizza abuse, but that's another story) and the regular blade works fine. Pour in warm water. The water should be about 85 to 115° F. Test it with your hand. It should feel very warm, but comfortable. Add the honey and salt. Mix on low for about 20 seconds. Add the yeast and mix on low for another 5 seconds. Add 1 cup of flour, mix on low for 10 seconds. Add the olive oil and mix until blended (about 15 or 20 seconds more). Add the rest of the flour (and any other additions) and mix on high for about a minute or two. The dough should turn into a ball and roll around the processor. If the dough does not ball up because it's too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does. If your mixture is more like a batter, add flour one tablespoon at a time. Adding water or flour as needed to get the right consistency will assure you always get a perfect dough. Just remember to do it in small amounts. Once the dough is balled up, place the ball on a floured board and knead for about a minute. This builds the gluten which helps the dough to rise and become fluffy when cooked. Place the dough in a plastic grocery bag or a covered bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise. After about 45 minutes the dough should have about doubled in size. Show it who's the boss and punch it down. That's right, give it a good smack so it deflates. Let it rise for another hour to an hour and a half. The dough is now ready to be rolled out. You can punch the dough down one more time if you want and wait another hour or two before rolling out. The choice is yours. You're now ready for the next step: Rolling out the dough! This dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or so, or even frozen. Be sure to let the dough come to room temperature before using. Bread Machine Throw all the ingredients in, set to dough only setting, push start and walk away. That's it! No work, no hassle. If you don't work for something is it really worth having? In this case, you bet! Once the machine "beeps" and your dough is ready, it's time to go on to the next step - Rolling Out The Dough. This dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or so, or even frozen. Be sure to let the dough come to room temperature before using. By Hand Pour warm water into a bowl. The water should be about 85 to 115° F. Test it with your hand. It should feel very warm, but comfortable. Add the honey and salt. Mix on low until well blended. Add the yeast and mix. Let this mixture sit for about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of flour and the olive oil and mix until well blended. Add the rest of the flour (and any other additions) and mix well. The dough should turn into a ball. If the dough does not ball up because it's too dry, add water one tablespoon at a time until it does. If your mixture is more like a batter, add flour one tablespoon at a time. Adding water or flour as needed to get the right consistency will assure you always get a perfect dough. Just remember to do it in small amounts. Once the dough is balled up, place the ball on a floured board and knead for about a minute. This builds the gluten which helps the dough to rise and become fluffy when cooked. Place the dough in a plastic grocery bag or a covered bowl and store in a warm, dry area to rise. After about 45 minutes the dough should have about doubled in size. Show it who's boss and punch it down. That's right, give it a good smack so it deflates. Let it rise for another hour to an hour and a half. The dough is now ready to be rolled out. You can punch the dough down one more time if you want and wait another hour or two before rolling out. The choice is yours. You're now ready for the next step: Rolling out the dough! This dough can also be made in advance and refrigerated for a day or so, or even frozen. Be sure to let it come to room temperature before using.