Print Recipe

Prep Time 2

Course Main Course

Servings pizzas

Ingredients

1 ½ Cups Flour
½ Cup Semolina
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Teaspoons Yeast
2 Teaspoons Castor Sugar
¼ Teaspoon Salt
¾ Cup Water warm

Instructions

Add the yeast, sugar and warm water to a glass bowl, stir to combine and then cover with clingfilm to rest for 5 minutes, until foamy
To the bowl of a stand mixer, add in the flour, semolina, oil and salt. Add in the yeast solution and mix together using the dough hook attachment on a low speed.
Increase the speed and knead the dough for 5 minutes, until soft and elastic.
Place the dough in a large, oiled bowl and cover with cling wrap or a tea towel to prevent drying out.
Find a warm dry place and leave the dough there to proof (rise up) for 1-2 hours, until doubled in size.
Divide the dough into 2-4 balls and roll each ball on a lightly floured surface to the desired thickness.
Prepare your pizza and bake for 16 minutes at 220 °C

Pizza has become a bit of a Friday night tradition in my household. The toppings usually vary each week, but we tend to have our favorites. The first part to a good pizza is always the dough, a pizza dough should be fluffy, and fresh, with just the right amount of thickness. Read on below for my fool proof dough recipe that is used on a regular basis.

Preparing the Yeast Solution

To create a soft and fluffy pizza dough starts with creating a yeast solution. Take the correct quantity of dried yeast and sugar and mix them together in a small glass container. Next add in 3/4 cup of warm water and stir the solution together. To finish the yeast mixture, cover it with some clingwrap and leave it foam up for 5-10 minutes in a warm drought-free environment.

Water temperature is key here, using anything with a temperature over 55 °C is going to kill your yeast, stopping it from multiplying and helping your dough rise. Also check your yeast is in date too.

Note: If you buy a large container of dried yeast, store excess unused yeast covered in the freezer until needed.

Preparing the Pizza Dough

While the yeast solution rests to become foamy, start preparing the rest of the ingredients for the dough. In the bowl of a stand mixer add the flour, semolina, salt and oil. Next add in the prepared yeast solution. Mix on a slow speed using a dough hook attachment, until the dough comes together.

With the dough combined, increase the speed on your mixer and mix for another 4-6 minutes to help the dough become soft and elastic. You will want to rest the mixer every couple of minutes (for another minute or so) so that the motor doesn’t overheat.

Note: When mixing the dough, if it is too wet, add in additional flour. If it’s too dry add in a little extra water to help bring it together.

Oil a large bowl, transfer the prepared dough into the bowl and cover with clingwrap. Leave the dough to rest here for about an hour or so to rise (known as proofing the dough). The finished dough should rise to roughly double its size. Room temperature and humidity will affect rising times, so try to find a warm and drought free place for the dough to be resting in.

Note: You can also knead the dough together by hand instead of using a stand mixer.

Finishing the Pizza Dough

With the dough sufficiently rested, the next part of the process is to roll it out. The recipes makes sufficient dough to create 2 reasonably sized pizzas, but you could also split the dough to make 4 smaller pizzas.

Divide the dough into the desired amount of dough balls and then transfer each ball to a lightly floured surface. Roll each ball out into a round shape by working the rolling pin in every direction, a little at a time.

Once your dough is rolled out to the desired thickness, transfer it to a pizza tray ready to top. Finish the dough base by docking your pizza. If you have never heard of this before, a pizza docker is a spiky rolling tool that creates holes all over your pizza. The purpose of docking your pizza is to ensure it rises evenly and that there is no large air bubbles.

Tip: If baking in the oven, cover your tray with baking paper to reduce mess and cleanup at the end.

You may choose to rest the docked dough for another 30 minutes to become a bit fluffier but you can proceed at the point to building your pizza and baking it straight away if you prefer.

Suggestions for toppings

Start with the sauce first, my go to for this is my Effortless Homemade Pizza Sauce. Try not to use too much sauce, a thin layer of sauce should be plenty. Next add the cheese, this will act as a sort of glue holding the toppings to the base. Lastly add your choice of toppings.

Toppings should be cut fresh and don’t over do it. Too many toppings can lead to a soggy base.

Topping suggestions include