Pizza Dough Recipe

This pizza dough recipe was taken from Jamie Oliver's Jamie at Home. The initial recipe yields 6 to 8 medium-sized thin pizza crusts and even if that amount might be too much for your planned use, I would honestly recommend that you make the whole amount of dough and then freeze it or chill it for later use. For me, who is constantly looking for shortcuts and quick ways round the kitchen, having pre-made pizza dough is a blessing. Yes! I am lazy and impatient. What I love about this dough is that it's quite versatile. You might use it for bread-making and use your imagination to add some ingredients such as sundried tomatoes, olives or herbs to the dough to yield some fancy breads! 

Let's move on with the ingredients, shall we?

Ingredients:

1 kg white bread flour 

200g finely ground semolina flour

1 teaspoon fine sea salt

2 x 7 g dried yeast sachets

1 tablespoon golden caster sugar

4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

650 ml lukewarm water

Method:

- Mix the yeast, sugar, olive oil and lukewarm water in a bowl and let that react for a bit. Yeast loves to "feed on" sugar and along with the warm water, this will activate the yeast.

- Sieve the white flour and add the semolina flour and salt, mix well and make a well in the centre of the dry mixture.

- Pour the yeast mixture in the flour well and gradually incorporate the flour to the wet mixture until you obtain a rough dough consistency.

- Work the dough by kneading it until you obtain a smooth and springy ball.

- Place the dough ball into a floured bowl and dust the top of the dough with some flour. Cover the bowl with either cling film or a damp cloth and let that prove in a warm place for about an hour.

- The dough should have doubled in size by the end of the proving.

- Now take out the dough and place it on a flour-dusted surface. Work the dough by knocking some of the air out. 

- The dough is ready to be used straight away or you can now chill it for later use. Cover the dough in clingfilm for chilling to prevent it from drying down in the fridge.

- When rolling out your dough, use some ground semolina flour for dusting. This gives a nice crispness to the pizza crust. 

Now you only have to top your dough with your favourite cheese and toppings and you're ready to go! The dough part is the toughest really. 

Total time required: 20 mins for the preparation, 1 hour proving time max.