Pizza has always been one of my favorite things to make and eat.  When my husband and I first got married we started our own little Saturday night tradition of a pizza date night.  We would make the pizza together and then enjoy it while watching a movie. After years of pizza making, we learned some things along the way to make our pizza dough/crust that much better, I thought I’d share a few of my favorite most helpful tips!

1.) Blast your heat:  Turn your oven up to the highest that it can go and bake it at a short time until golden brown. The hotter the oven the better contrast between a crispy exterior and soft interior will be.

2.) Use bread flour:  Bread flour gives your crust a better texture, with a chewier crumb and a better hole structure.

3.) Spice up your crust: Make a garlic herb butter to brush on your crust during the last few minutes of baking. It adds a little extra thing to your pizza! To make it melt together a couple tablespoons of butter with italian seasonings & garlic salt.

4.) Cold Ferment your dough:  After making and rising your pizza dough, put it in a large resealable bag or plastic container and let it refrigerate over night. When ready to use, let it sit out for an hour before shaping it. By cold fermenting the dough This allows the gluten to digest the carbohydrates and improves the flavor and browning of the crust.  I don’t always plan that much in advance for pizza, but when I do I notice a difference with the dough!

5.) Sugar the dough: If you already have a favorite dough recipe, make sure there is at least a couple of spoonfuls of sugar in it. The sugar allows the yeast to feed off of it and gives your crust color when baking.

yields 2 medium sized pizzas

1 tbsp. yeast

1 cup warm water

2 1/4 cups bread flour (or all-purpose if you don’t have bread flour)

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 tsp. salt

2 tsp. sugar

extra flour for dusting

Place the yeast and warm water in the mixer bowl, double check to make sure it foams up and bubbles.

Once the dough has formed a nice ball and isn’t sticky, it is ready to rise.  Get a clean big bowl, spray it with oil and put your dough in the middle. Cover the bowl and set it in a warm place to rise.  Let it rise for a minimum of 20 minutes or up to an hour.

Once it has doubled in size, punch it down and preheat your oven to 500F. Split the dough into two and roll out the dough. Top with desired toppings and bake until golden brown.