Basic Pizza Dough
By: Natalie
Published: Sunday, May 30, 2010 - 11:30am

Ingredients




250 grams plain flour
250 grams strong bread flour
teaspoon yeast
Warm water
Olive oil

Preparation

1 Place both types of flour in a large bowl along with the yeast. A spoonful at a time, add the water until a smooth but not sticky dough forms. 2 On a clean floured work surface begin to knead the dough and then add a splash of olive oil. This will give the dough even more smoothness. 3 Keep kneading the dough until it is very smooth, if you find it is a bit dry add some more liquid.  Shape into a ball and then place in a large clean bowl. 4 Cover the bowl in cling film or a tea cloth and place in a warm place i.e. an airing cupboard until the dough has doubled in size.  When it is ready, divide in to two if you are making large pizzas or divide up to make lots of little pizzas. 5 Roll them out on a clean, floured surface until they are a few millimetres thick. 6 Baking It.... 7 Turn up your oven to as hot as it will go (or if you have the luxury of a pizza oven, fire it up!), mine goes to 250c and this seems to work fine. 8 The professionals say to cook pizza on a pizza stone or granite that sits in the bottom of the oven but I use an up turned grill pan that has been lightly dusted in flour and then heated as the oven warms. 9 Bake for about 5-10 minutes, the outside will be crispy but make sure that the middle is not soggy. 10 Slice up and tuck in!

About


This pizza dough recipe is from the River Cottage bread book and it never fails me.  I am putting together a basics range of posts on my site and this is one of them. Basic recipes are the basis of so many dishes that we know and love. This dough can be made in to a pizza, a Calzone or  garlic bread to name a few.