Tastiest Pizza Ever

For the past few years, I've been trying to master the art of pizza dough. I've had some really good dough before (Greenfields, anyone?), but I've also had some disasterous dough that had the texture of a cracker and the taste of cardboard. I've tried a few different recipes and Robin Robertson's recipe is officially the best I've ever had. In fact, the carnivorous fam even said it was the best they'd ever had. You know it's got to be good!

The first time I made it, I made 2 pizzas. I used regular tomato sauce on one and the second I used a tasty pesto sauce. To be honest, I prefer the pesto! I topped both with various ingredients: artichoke hearts, pan-seared eggplant, toasted pine nuts, onions (except on Deidra's pieces)...that's the great thing about pizza. You can put WHATEVER your heart desires on it and chances are, it'll be marvelous!



Basic Pizza Dough
Prep time: 10 minutes, plus 1 hour rising time
Cook time: 30 minutes, or until done

1 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
2/3 cup plus 2 tbsp warm water
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil

1. In a small bowl, disolve the yeast in 2 tbsp warm water and let stand for 5 minutes.

2. Combine the flour and salt in a food processor to blend (I did mine by hand!). With the machine running, pour in the yeast mixture, oil, and remaining 2/3 cup water and process to form a ball.

3. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 3 mintues. Transfer the dough into a large oiled bowl. Spread a small amount of oil on top of the dough, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside in a warm place to allow the dough to rise until doubled, about 1 hour. The dough is now ready to be used. The pizza needs to be cooked at 450°F for about 12 minutes.

Once your dough is ready to use, get creative! Once I made a CoCo's Curry pizza...curry for the sauce and some fried chicken (yes, this was years ago) and lots of cheese. Have some veggies you need to use up? Throw 'em on there! It's your pizza...have fun with it!