Perfect Pizza Dough

We love homemade pizza and I’ve tried a lot of methods over the years to get it right. It’s really hard in a home oven to get a crust to be crispy on the bottom without a brick oven like they use at restaurants. What I’ve found works best is rather than just heating up the pizza stone, I cook the crust before I put any toppings on, just to a light brown color. Then I put the toppings on and cook on a high heat for a couple minutes until the cheese melts. It turns out great every time!

We got a pizza stone for our wedding and I’ve used it for years—it makes the difference for me when making pizza. If you don’t have a pizza stone you can still make your crust crispy on the bottom by just pre-cooking the dough on a sheet pan!

Dough:

• 2 tablespoons dry active yeast
• 2 cups warm water
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 2 tsp salt
• 2/3 cup nonfat dry milk
• 1 egg
• 6 cups flour

This is the same recipe as my basic roll dough, but I don’t let it rise as long for pizza, because I don’t want it light and fluffy but thicker and chewier. Let it rise for about 15 minutes, knead it really well (which makes it chewy), then roll it out with a rolling pin as thin as you can. Put onto your pizza stone or pan, fold the edges over and roll to be your crust. Poke holes with a fork all over the crust and bake at 415 degrees for 7-10 minutes or until a very light golden brown. Take out, add toppings, and put back in for about 5-7 minutes or until all cheese is melted. We like our cheese a little golden!