Pizza Dough......A Favorite Thing To Make!

Hello Sweet ladies!!!!!!!!

Every day or every other day... Monday through Friday, we (my girls and I) make up all the pizza dough for the pizza station at the college bakery. Taylor our youngest daughter mixes it in our huge mixer with 25 to 50 lbs of flour at a time. We flour our wood baking table and let the dough rise for about 45 minutes. Sometimes it has been known to go off the edges a bit, if we don't pay close attention! I enjoy working with the soft dough.  

If Tay has time we both work together or I will just cut it and weigh it into 20 ounce pieces. A favorite thing for me! 

Then I take each piece and shape it into little balls of round dough for each pizza. 

I then take and lay them on an oiled pan. Five down and 3 across. We put them on shelves and put them in the freezer until they are needed. I hope I never tire of making the rounds of dough! Smile. The dough smells wonderful and the pizzas are beautiful. The college kids are enjoying the new way we are doing the pizzas this year. 

At home we also make our own pizza dough, not with the same recipe. I had some ask for the recipe we use. I got it HERE. It is a wonderful dough and so easy to make up!!!!! We only let it rise about 45 minutes, instead of the 2 hours that the recipe asks for. 

Olive Oil Dough
From Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Makes 4-1lb loaves.

2-3/4 cups lukewarm water
1-1/2 tablespoon granulated yeast
3/4 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
6-1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Mix the yeast, salt, sugar, and olive oil with the water in a 5-quart bowl, or a lidded (not airtight) food container.

Mix in the flour without kneading. I used my stand mixer with dough hook, but you canuse a spoon.

Cover (not airtight), and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and colapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.

The dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container and use over the next 12 days.

To bake my pizza (I made a personal size pizza) I took a handful of dough and had to use some extra flour (it was a bit on the sticky side for me) and spread it out. I topped with my toppings and then slid the pizza in the oven that had been pre-heated with the pizza stone in it - to 500 degrees. I baked it for about 15 minutes. While I like this crust, I will be trying my friend Mike's recipe next. The one thing that makes this a good one - is that I was able to have it in my fridge and just pulled it out to make when I needed it. Convenience food at it's best!

We use our tomatoes, green peppers, onions, garlic and basil from the garden for the top! Oh, we also use mozzarella cheese on the top also. 

Let me know please if you try it and what you think.

Tonight I went to the garden to finish digging up the rest of the potatoes. It was relaxing to be outside after being inside all morning and afternoon! We have about 50 lbs.....it will be wonderful through the winter months. I still have to dig my sweet potatoes........that will have to wait!

Tonight I was listening to Francis Chan on Youtube click, as I was putting up this post. I love listening to sermons when I get home and early in the mornings. I put one on as we get ready for work. I have been doing that for sometime and it is really nice. Anyway Francis said, "do you know that God loves you more then anyone else?" Our parents, loved ones........ANYONE! I started to think on that thought. Amazing, if you really think about it. I know my parents loved me a lot, yours loved you.......but God loves us more. He knows what is best for me. I know this......but to really think about it was so encouraging~ 

Need to go out and pick weeds for Willow.......she doesn't like the prairie hay.......silly girl! 

Thank you for being such sweetie ladies!

Linda