Homemade Pizza

Ever since we got a stand mixer, we've been having fun making breads, cupcakes, and the biggest revelation, Homemade Pizza Dough!

We've made this recipe no less than 5 times, and every time I go through the most ridiculous process to find it:
1) Google "best pizza dough"
2) Go to link for Mitch's pizza dough
3) Search through the article for the link to his friend's recipe which is better than "Mitch's Best"
4) Think "I should write this down or put it on the blog."

So, finally, here it is!

Homemade Pizza Dough (Adapted from Cheri's Favorite Pizza Dough)

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups very warm water
2 teaspoons yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
16 ounces (about 2 3/4 cups) bread flour
3 1/2 ounces (1/2 cup) semolina flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 tbsp of olive oil

Also, set out a food processor or a stand mixer (or a bowl and spoon if you have strong arms!) and a(nother) large bowl. Take a splash of olive oil and lightly oil the bottom and side of the bowl you set aside.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Place very warm water, yeast and sugar in your mixer and give a couple spins to really mix it. You will need to let it stand for about 4 mins, so you'll have time to measure out everything else you'll need. If your yeast is alive (how you want it, of course), at the end of your sitting time it will have little bubbles in it or on top. If you don't see any give it another 5 mins and then if still nothing you may need to get new yeast.

Place your dry ingredients into the yeast mixture and mix with your dough hook attachment. You'll see the dough go from a stringy mixture to a ball. Add flour if you think you need it (you probably won't). When it is in a ball shape, take it out of the mixer and place in the oiled bowl to rise, covered with a paper towel. I like to place on one of the stove burners that has heat from the oven rising through it. Let it sit until it's doubled in size, 30 mins or so.

Once it's doubled, you can grab a hunk and roll it out on a floured board into a pizza shape. I like to make personal size ones, but if you want a bigger pizza you can roll out the whole thing.

Now the fun part: ADD TOPPINGS! See our suggestions below.

If you have a pizza stone, feel free to bake the finished pizza on that! Ours cracked in half, so now we use the alternative: a lightly olive-oiled baking sheet. Works great!

As I'm sure you know- you can put anything on a pizza. That's why they're awesome! While my fam was here visiting, Mik went and got supplies for pizza, and we made the following:
Asparagus, broccolini, goat cheese brie, tomato sauce
Tomatoes, peppers, tomato sauce and cheddar
Pesto, fresh mozzarella, artichoke hearts, red onion and shredded parmesan
Basil, tomatoes, tomato sauce and shredded mozzarella
ETC.
They were all great! Enjoy experimenting.