I am not overly good at following recipes. Sure, I can read them through and I’m obviously capable of following directions (most of the time…). I, however, tend to think I can improve on things without trying them the original way first (the bonus of this method is that I never know if my changes were for the better or for the worst, so I can continue on my merry, and potentially oblivious way as long as everything tastes nice and nothing explodes).
This pizza dough recipe began with my love of the Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes a Day books (they’re brilliant), and then merged with my frequent inability to wait 2–5 hours for my pizza dough to be ready (so, yes, you will have to knead it). The end result is an easy, flavorful dough that is ready to use in about an hour. Awesome! And, yes, there are technically measurements here, but there aren’t many and I think they’re pretty easy to remember.
Feel free to use whichever herbs & spices you like—think about the toppings you have on hand and use them as inspiration. Right now I’m in love with adding garlic powder, thyme leaves, smoked hot paprika, lots of black pepper, and basil. You could go Mexican with cumin, oregano, coriander, and garlic; or perhaps Greek with oregano, anise, and some chopped olives.
My Favourite No-Recipe Pizza Dough
3Â 1/3 cups all purpose flour (measured with the ‘scoop & sweep’ method), more for needing
1/3 cup corn meal
2 tsp table salt
2 tsp yeast
Herbs & spices of choiceÂĽ cup olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada)
Warm water, as needed (about 1½ cups)Stir together all the dry ingredients in a bowl. Make a well in the centre and add the olive oil (pomace) (USA / Canada). Slowly add the warm water, stirring and adding water until you have a soft dough with some extra flour/dough bits left in the bowl. Tip everything out onto the counter and knead until smooth, adding in a bit more flour if you need it.
Once the dough is all kneaded up, coat with a bit of oil, wrap in clingfilm, and place in a just-warmed oven to rise for an hour (the oven should only be about 30–40°C).
After rising for an hour you’re ready to tear off a ball, roll it out, and have some pizza!
Store any leftovers in a leftovers tub, with a bit of clingfilm on the surface of the dough and the lid of the tub cracked.
Love the 5 minute Artisan Bread. It was published in a 2006? Charleston Gazette newspaper for the Saturday edition. It also had the pecan roll and cinnamon roll variations. I really want the cook book for all the ideas to make more delicious bread.
We also make a pepperoni/cheese bread with it. Roll out like you are making cinnamon rolls, coat with olive oil, garlic if you like. Place sliced pepperoni in overlapping rows, top generously with a grated cheese (your choice), and roll up from the short end, tucking as you go. Let rise, cut slashes on top, coat baking stone or pie pans with cornmeal, and bake as per the recipe. My family loves pepperoni rolls, so this is a good substitute and so much easier.
I have all three of their cookbooks (and they’re all awesome!), but I do find I end up using their master recipe more often than anything. It’s just so good and versatile! I once made pizza rolls from some of their dough, and my brother declared them to be the best thing he’d ever had 🙂 They were a bit different from what you described—I filled them with tomato sauce, pepperoni, and cheese, and then cut them up like cinnamon rolls, sprinkling with more cheese. Yum!
How many minutes do u knead? This sounds wonderful!
Knead until smooth—about 3–5 minutes 🙂 One of my favourite tests is the light test—take a bit of the dough and see if you can stretch it thin enough to see light through it. If you can’t, knead more; if you can, you’re done!
Awesome! Thanks. :d
🙂
I am curious as to what temperature and how many minutes to bake this pizza ? Thank you and have a great day !
It’s usually ~20 minutes at 400°F, but that varies with the size of the pizza and the toppings 🙂