Pizza Dough – French Style

Servings: Equivalent to a 12 inch pizza

Note: See my entry on March 30th, 2008 titled ”Pizza Dough” for tips.  

Ingredients:

• Active Dry Yeast – 2/3 of an envelope
• Water, lukewarm (about body temperature)- 10 fl oz
• Sugar – 1 teaspoon
• All Purpose Flour, sifted – 1 pound
• Salt – 1 teaspoon

Directions:

1. In a bowl, dissolve the yeast in the water and add the sugar.
2. Mound the flour in a large bowl and form a well in the center.  Put the salt in the well. 
3. Gradually incorporate the yeast/water/sugar mixture into the flour.  Do this by pouring about 1 ounce into the well in the center of your dough at a time, and then working it in with your fingers.  Make another well, and repeat.
4. Once it is all added, use your hands and form a ball of dough (it will be very very sticky, but do not add flour, it will get better soon).  Remove it from the bowl and move to a clean work surface.  Knead the dough for 5-8 minutes.
5. Place the dough back into the large bowl and cover with a damp paper towel.  Let rest for 1-2 hours in a warm place (ex: on top of fridge).
6. After the rest, the dough should have about doubled in size.  Remove it from the bowl to the work surface and punch it down with your finger tips to remove excess air.  Knead a few times, about 30 seconds.
7. Divide the dough in half.  Spread each half out into a small circle with your hands.  Then crimp of the edges toward the center and form 2 smaller balls.  Let the dough rest another 15-30 minutes, on the work surface, with damp paper toweling on top.
8. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
9. When the dough is ready, spread it out with your hands or a rolling pin into a large rectangle and place it on a medium sized baking sheet pan (you do not need to oil the pan).  This makes 2 pizza doughs, you can freeze the other one for future use, or use 2 baking sheets.
10. Brush the entire top surface lightly with olive oil and put toppings on as desired leaving a 1-inch perimeter for crust.
11. Baked for 20-25 minutes (more time maybe needed if you have heavy amounts of topping).  The crust will be hard to touch and only lightly browned, if at all.
12. Remove with a large pancake spatula.  You made need to use a little force, but it will lift out of the pan.  Slice and serve!