Super Easy, Super Quick Soft Pizza Recipe

Pizza for Dinner

I'm not an expert. I've just baked enough and studied enough to have a strong understanding of how baking works. It's easy for things to go wrong. As long as you can use a kitchen safely, it can only only go so wrong. This is just baking after all. Most of the time, the worst case scenario is wasted ingredients.

The more you learn about baking, bread dough and the general principles. The more you can customize the recipe to meet your ultimate pizza. I like my pizza dough soft and this recipe is tailored to that.

Ingredients

2 cups warm water
2 Tbsp instant yeast
4 1/2 to 5 c. flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
Extra Flour (to roll out)
Mozzarella cheese
Tomato sauce

A Stand Mixer makes pizza dough so much easier. It's not required but it makes pizza dough quick and easy.

Steps

1. Run your tap till the water is warm to the touch.
2. Add the water and yeast to your mixing bowl.
3. Let the yeast sit to proof to ensure your yeast is alive and ready to rise to the occasion.

Do you need to proof your yeast?

Proving isn't strictly necessary for the yeast to work. It's just proof that the yeast is working. Depending on the variety of yeast, it can be unnecessary. I still do it every time. I tend to buy yeast in bulk and leave it in the freezer for a long time. I want to make sure the little guys are still alive when I call them into action. Whether you proof or not, it's important to dissolve your yeast in the water because that results in even incorporation of the ingredients.

4. Add flour 1 cup at a time and mix to fully incorporate.
- After 2 cups, add a tablespoon of oil.
- After 4 cups, add another tablespoon oil.
- Once you get to 4 cups, start going slower and pay attention to the texture of the dough. It shouldn't be sticky, it shouldn't be stiff. If it sticks to your fingers, add more flour. If it's stiff, dry or the flour won't incorporate, add olive oil.

A Digression

Once you make pizza a couple times, you'll get a feeling for what the texture should be. Baking's a science but recipes are flexible. You can make a lot of changes to the recipe and still have a good outcome. With pizza dough, it's important that the dough is easy to handle, has well developed gluten, and that the dough rises.

5. Knead or let your dough hook knead the dough to develop the gluten.
- You can perform the window pane test by pulling a chunk of dough and stretching it to test the gluten. Or just stop when you think it's done and hope for the best like me.
6. Coat a bowl in oil and put your dough in there. Roll it to get it coated in oil.
7. Put a tea towel over the bowl and leave it to rise. You can leave it in a warm place to rise (or a cold place. The pizza dough will rise in the fridge.)

8. Turn into pizza.
- The best tool for this is typically your father. He knows what to do.
- Alternatively, sprinkle a work surface with flour. Knead your dough a couple times to get all those air bubbles nice and distributed. Roll out with a rolling pin coated with flour. Put the dough on your pan, add the tomato sauce and mozzarella. Cook in a 450 degree oven until it looks too good not to eat. This will happen fast.

Note About Pizza Stones

I'm not a fan. They wind up messy. They're cumbersome. I don't know about you but I don't have room for a giant slab of stone. I like my old pizza pans. They do the job.