Pizza

Now, I know that I put a lot of recipes on this blog. And, I know that they are not universally appealing. I wouldn’t cook the things that I do without the financial, time and picky eater constraints that are presently upon me. This recipe is different. I would probably make it even if I had no constraints. A friend gave it to me months ago and I’ve made it once a week. Now, it is hard for me to even think about ordering a pizza. That is how good this crust is. Now, not only is this crust good, but it is easy. There is no misting of the oven with water, no kneading of dough by hand, no semolina or bread flour needed, no heating of a pizza stone. You just need a standing mixer (you actually could do it by hand, but I couldn’t instruct you on that) and three 9-inch cake pans. And, you can let it rise for 2 hours. I find this particularly convenient. So, you can make up the dough and go play outside, run to the store, etc. If you like pan pizza, please give it a try. It is really, really good and super easy.

Pan Pizza
Dough:
1-1/3 cup warm water
1/4 cup non-fat dry milk
1/2 t. salt
4 cups flour
1 T sugar
1 package of dry yeast or 2 t. instant yeast
1 T oil (for dough)
9 T oil (for the pans/3 T per pan)

Put yeast, sugar, salt and dry milk in the bowl of your standing mixer. Add water and stir into mix. Allow to sit for 2 minutes. Add 1 T oil. Stir again. Add flour by the cup pretty quickly while the dough hook is running in the mixer. Knead it for 4-5 minutes with your dough hook, until the dough has a smooth, elastic texture and isn’t too sticky. I know that it is getting close to being ready after the dough has cleaned the inner surface of the bowl. Remove it from the bowl to a floured work surface and knead it a few times. Divide into 3 even sections.

Divide the 9 T. oil between 3 cake pans. Tilt the pans so that the oil spreads out. Roll out each section of dough with a rolling pin until it is the size of the pan. Put the dough into the pan and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise for 1-2 hours.

Top with toppings and bake at 450 degrees for 10-12 minutes or until cheese is starting to turn brown.