First Time Pizza Dough-A Failure?

Homemade pizza-It has to be easy.  Right? Well……

I borrowed a recipe from my favorite baking cookbook. (for now-I have an amazing one on it's way to me from Amazon right now!!)

Here's the book. You can get it here : kids Baking by Williams-Sonoma

Here is the recipe from the William-Sonoma website: Pizza Dough recipe

Ingredients: 

all purpose flour- 2 1/2 cups plus extra for kneading

Rapid-rise Yeast-1 package

sugar- 2 teaspoons

salt- 2 1/2 teaspoons

olive oil-2 tablespoons

In a large mixing bowl use a wooden spoon, mis flour, yeast, sugar and salt.

Add warm water- must be between 115 and 125 degrees Farenheit. (Use a thermometer to check the temperature)  When water is the right temperature add to the mixture along with the Olive oil. Mix till a rough, shaggy dough forms.

Cover clean work surface with extra flour to prevent sticking

Kneading. This is the "hard" part. I usually turn on the TV or music to distract myself because otherwise 10 minutes can feel really long. Keep flour on the area where you are kneading and also on your hands to prevent sticking.

Knead for about 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and no longer sticky.

Lily wanted to help so I gave her a small piece to knead with me.

Gather dough into a ball. Wipe out a bowl with Olive oil or vegetable oil. (I prefer Olive oil) and place ball in the bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Seat aside in a warm spot and let rise for 45 minutes until doubled in size.

This is after 45 minutes. You poke to see if it's done. If the indent stays (as shown) the dough is ready. If it springs back then let it sit for 10 more minutes.

Once done, flour clean work area again and roll out dough (flour your rolling pin so it won't stick) into a large pizza pie shape.

Add sauce!

Add toppings. We didn't have an mozzarella so I used mozarella slices, string cheese, and Babybell individual cheeses sliced thin. I topped with salami (reasoning that it's almost, pepperoni-right?) and some cheddar cheese. I also added Oregano for seasoning and cut up a few Basil leaves.

The verict-meh

I think I had too much salt. I prefer a sweeter pizza dough so I think I might use less salt next time and maybe a little more sugar. The dough was pretty thick so I would roll it out thinner next time. Also, I definitely would add more sauce and for SURE wait until I had real mozzarella!!  So overall, was it a failure? Well it was all eaten so I think no. I'm going to call it a learning experience!  I WILL try it again.

On the good side-the Basil-YUM!!