Quick and Easy Foolproof Pizza Dough from melskitchencafe.com

  • IMG_48991 cup warm water
  • 1 tablespoon honey
  • 1 tablespoon oil
  • 1 tablespoon instant yeast
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2-3 cups flour
  1. In a large bowl or in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the dough hook, mix the water, honey, oil, yeast and salt. Add the flour gradually until a soft dough forms and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. The exact flour amount will vary so go by the touch and feel of the dough versus the exact cup measurements in the recipe. The dough should be soft and smooth (not leaving a residue on your fingers but not super stiff, either).
  2. Knead the dough for 2-3 minutes (more like 5-6 minutes if kneading by hand or if using whole wheat flour).
  3. Let the dough rest, covered, for 10 minutes. Shape the dough into pizza(s), spread with sauce and toppings, and bake at 475 or 500 degrees on a preheated pizza stone or on a lightly greased baking sheet for 8-10 minutes (for an in-depth look at baking methods, here is a great tutorial)

mel’s note: I almost always use 1/2 or up to 3/4 whole wheat flour with good results – I let it knead for a few minutes longer. Also, this recipe doubles, triples and quadruples really well. If doubling, use double the amount for all the ingredients. For triple and quadruple batches, increase all the ingredients accordingly except the yeast – only use 2 tablespoons yeast for a tripled batch and 2 1/2 tablespoons yeast for a quadrupled batch. Keep an eye on the flour if increasing the recipe. You want a soft, smooth dough – not too sticky and definitely not overfloured.