Pizza Dough

Pizza Dough is probably the most hassle free bread item one can make. A few simple ingredients, a few trials and a few errors should be enough to get a damn good dough routine down. Like all breads, keep track of the process to make corrections for the next preparation. Recipes are abundant, the one listed here is from the notoriously perfection obsessed Rose Levy Beranbaum, the master of the baking domain. My personal twists and comments are included at the end. Note that this recipe is a slightly simplified version of hers (lacking some of her attention to detail found in her "Bread Bible").

Ingredients

3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. unbleached all-purpose flour (don't be afraid to start w/ bleached if you have it in the cupboard)
1/2 tsp. instant yeast (a.k.a. rapid rise)
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/3 cup water @ room temperature (slightly cool to the touch)
4 tsp. olive oil (vegetable oil if you are a poor grad student....)

Procedure

- Combine dry ingredients (minus salt) in a mixing bowl and whisk together
- Whisk in salt (keeps salt from murdering the yeast)
- Mix in the water with a wooden spoon just until it comes together, careful not to overmix or it will become sticky
- Put into a tupperware container to let it rise to ~ double the size (~1 hr. @ room temp., or overnight in the fridge + 30 min. @ room temp.)
- Preheat oven to 475, preferably w/ a pizza stone for good heat distribution.
- On a lightly floured surface shape the dough as you wish (I like ~ 1 cm thick), let rise 45 min.
- Put the sauce and toppings on the pizza dough**
- Toss the dressed pizza in the oven and bake for 5 min.

*From what I understand there are two options when mixing the dough. One, just mix it until it's incorporated. Two, mix it a long time (10 min.) until it redevelops structure, no in betweens here. I've had better results with the second, though occasionally just go with the first out of laziness.
**More importantly, perhaps due to an insufficient oven, I find it necessary to pre-cook the dough until it's pillowy and golden just before the last step. Not forcing it to rise w/ ingredients on top of it seems to incorporate a more pillowy structure.
***Brushing the crust with olive oiled that has been sitting with roasted garlic makes for an insanely good crust. Brush before the pre-cook, after the pre-cook and finally after the final cook.
****My pizza recipe uses an olive oil base. For a red sauce use you favorite marinara. I like to use Emiril's Red Pepper pasta sauce. You can find it in the market for cheaper than the link.