Fabulous Foods Pizza Dough Recipes

FABULOUS FOOD'S PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Place very warm water, yeast and sugar in food processor and pulse once or twice to mix. While most recipes will tell you to use lukewarm water when making yeast dough, I find that by the time you take hot water, put it into a measuring cup and then into a food processor, it has cooled significantly. I always use water that is almost too hot to the touch, and have always had great luck with this dough. Let sit while you measure out the dry ingredients.
• After 2-3 minutes you will see small bubbles forming in the liquid in the food processor, which indicates that your yeast is working. Dump in the dry ingredients and turn on the food processor. The machine will go all the work, including the kneading. After about a minute the dough should form into a ball going around in your food processor. Open the machine and take a look. If you think the dough is too wet, you can add a bit a flour, but know that too wet is better than too dry, and the dough will loose some of its stickiness as it rises.
• Place about a tablespoon of olive oil in a large bowl. Take the dough out of the food processor (putting a little olive oil on your hands will keep it from sticking) and form it into a ball. Place in the bowl and turn to lightly coat with the olive oil. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let dough rise in a warm, draft free place for about an hour or until doubled in size, before rolling out and baking. For a crust with a perfect pizzeria taste and texture, I recommend baking on a pizza stone in a very hot oven (500 - 550°F for about 10 -12 minutes.

DOMINICK'S BASIC PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Place the warm water, salt, sugar. yeast and olive oil in a bowl and mix well.
• Add flour and begin kneading immediately, using a mixing machine or by hand (I use my Kitchenaid with the dough hook).
• Dough has proper moisture content when it is sticky to the touch but does not stick to your hand--add extra water or flour to achieve this.
• After kneading about 15 minutes by hand or a few minutes in the mixer, form the dough into a ball and let it rise, covered or in a large plastic freezer bag about two hours at room temperature.
• Gently deflate and refrigerate up to 24 hours before freezing or baking (the longer you chill the dough, the chewier the crust--I like it chilled only briefly).
• Your dough is now ready to be used in your favorite way.
• I roll mine out very thin and bake at the highest temperature the oven will allow.

FABULOUS FLORENTINE PIZZA

Steps:

• Put the pizza dough ingredients in to a breadmaker (in the order specified by your breadmachine), and process on pizza dough cycle.
• When cycle completes, remove the dough from the machine and put it in a bowl sprayed with cooking spray; cover it and let it rest for about 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, roll out the dough and put it on a greased 15 inch pizza stone sprinkled with some corn meal.
• Bake in 375F oven for about 5 minutes. Because the toppings on this pizza will generate some moisture, pre-baking the crust for a few minutes will prevent the pizza from becoming soggy. There's nothing worse than a soggy pizza! After pre-baking the crust, remove the pizza from the oven, and raise the temperature to 430°F If your pesto and toppings aren't ready yet, cover the crust with a cloth and set aside while preparing the toppings.
• While pizza dough is processing, make the pesto. You will have more pesto than you will need for the pizza. But, it is better to have a little too much, than to come up short! Just save the extra in the fridge and use for something else. In a food processor or blender, blend the basil, garlic and pine nuts.
• Slowly add the oil and continue to blend.
• Add the parmesan cheese and blend until creamy.
• Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Set the pesto aside.
• Prepare the pizza toppings. Slice the mushrooms, chop the spinach fairly fine, julienne cut the sundried tomatoes; shred the 2 cheeses and mix the cheeses together.
• Prepare the pizza! Spread the pesto on the pizza dough. Depending on your preference, you will probably want between 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup of pesto. Spread it right out to the edges.
• Add the toppings; first the spinach, then the mushrooms, then the sun-dried tomatoes, and finally the cheeses.
• Bake in a 430F oven for about 15 minutes.