I’ve finally come up with the perfect, one day rise, pizza crust recipe. Of course you can let it rise from 4 to 24 hours in the fridge after the first rise. But, this works and is full of flavor after the first rise.
I have another one that I love, but it takes 3 to 4 days to make. I’d been making one from a King Arthur recipe, but it rose out of control in an insane manner. Even when I decreased the amount of yeast it still turned into some gargantuan deep dish pizza with the never ending crust.
But now, this recipe works perfectly for a thin or thicker crust. All depends on your tastes.
Yield 2, 9-12″ crusts.
3 cups Unbleached All-Purpose Flour*
2 scant teaspoons yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 cups room temp water
1 tablespoon Honey
1 tablespoon powdered milk
2 tablespoons cultured dried buttermilk
2 tablespoons olive oil
*Replace 1 1/4 cups of the all purpose flour with semolina flour for an even richer crust with more complex flavors
For an even more tender crumb, replace 1/4 cup of the water with sour cream.
Mix the flour, yeast, salt water, powdered milk, and dried buttermilk and mix until they just come together. Add the olive oil & honey. Do not be tempted to mix the olive and honey before hand. There are some honeys that can kill yeast.
This is a sticky dough, be certain to keep a spatula in water to help scrape down the sides of the bowl and to help transfer the dough into a container to rise.
Once mixed, scrape the dough into a bowl with plenty of space to double in size. 1 1/2 – 2 hours.
Once doubled, separate the dough into 2 portions. Refrigerator or freeze the second half for later. If freezing, roll the ball in oil and wrap in saran wrap before placing in final storage container/bag.
Place the dough onto parchment paper and roll out to 9″-12″. Cover the dough, and let it rest for 30 minutes while you heat the oven to 500°F.
After 30 minutes, and once your oven has heated to 500°F, bake the crust for 4 minutes.
Remove from oven and top with your desired toppings.
Return to oven and bake for 8 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.