Homemade Crispy Thin-Crust Pizza
Takeout pizza is a thing of the past, in our home. Homemade pizza dough isn't difficult to make, I promise. It's far less expensive that delivery (or pick up). This thin-style pizza crust is perfection in every way-- it's thin, it's cripsy, it's delicious! Even better, you make it in a food processor! The homemade pizza sauce is just as easy to make. Plan on making the pizza dough at least one day ahead. The next day, you can have homemade pizza in about 20 minutes-- much faster than delivery!
Servings 16 servings
Calories 150kcal
Equipment
- Food processor
- Baking Stone
- Rolling pin
Ingredients
For the Pizza Dough (Makes Two Crusts)
- 10 ounces unbleached all-purpose flour about 2 cups, , protein content no higher than 10.5 percent (I used King Arthur Flour Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- ½ teaspoon instant yeast
- ½ teaspoon honey
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- 6.2 ounces water about 3/4 cup plus 1 1/2 teaspoons, preferably filtered or spring, 100 to 105 degrees
- ¼ cup olive oil
For the topping:
- 8 ounces whole milk mozzarella about 2 cups, shredded
Quick Tomato Pizza Sauce
- 1 14.5-ounce can crushed tomatoes
- 1 large clove garlic minced, or pressed through garlic press
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
Instructions
One Day Ahead
- Combine flour, yeast, honey, and salt in the workbowl of food processor fitted with steel blade. With machine running, add all but 2 tablespoons water through feed tube. With machine still running, add olive oil through feed tube and process until dough forms a ball, about 30 seconds. Turn dough out onto work surface. The dough should feel soft and pliable, and not dry.
- Place dough in gallon-sized, heavy-duty zipper-lock plastic bag and seal. Refrigerate overnight or up to 48 hours. (NOTE: I saved the second dough for five days, and it was still as good as the first one that we used.)
Quick Tomato Pizza Sauce:
- NOTE: I prepared the sauce a day ahead. Can be stored in an air-tight container up to a week.
- Process tomatoes in work bowl of food processor fitted with steel blade until smooth, about five 1-second pulses.
- Heat garlic and oil in medium saucepan over medium heat until garlic is sizzling, about 40 seconds. Stir in tomatoes; bring to simmer and cook, uncovered, until sauce thickens enough to coat wooden spoon, about 15 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Bake Pizza:
- Remove dough from plastic bag and divide in half with pastry scraper. Set each half in center of lightly floured large sheet parchment paper. Cover each with two 18-inch lengths plastic wrap overlapping in center (alternatively, use one 18-inch length of extrawide plastic wrap); let doughs rest 10 minutes.
- Adjust oven rack to lowest position, set baking stone on rack, and heat oven to 500 degrees. Heat baking stone 1 hour before proceeding.
- Setting one dough aside, roll one dough into 14-inch round with even thinness of 1/32-inch, using tackiness of dough against parchment to help roll. NOTE: I set down a baking mat that sticks to the counter when wet; then set a piece of parchment paper on top and lightly sprinkle with flour. Set the dough on top, and roll from the center out, turning the dough every so often to get an even thinness.
- Evenly spread half of the pizza sauce and cheese. NOTE: Feel free to add additional toppings of your choice.
- Slip dough with parchment onto pizza peel, inverted rimmed baking sheet, or rimless cookie sheet, then, slide onto hot baking stone. Bake until deep golden brown, about 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven with pizza peel or pull parchment with pizza onto baking sheet. Transfer pizza to cutting board, slide parchment out from under pizza; cut pizza into wedges and slide onto wire rack. Let cool 2 minutes until crisp; serve.
If baking both pizzas:
- While first pizza is baking, prepare second pizza; allow baking stone to reheat 15 minutes after baking first pizza, then repeat step 6 to bake second pizza.
Notes
Recipe source: Slightly adapted from Cook's Illustrated Jan/Feb 2001
Recommended Baking Stone I use: Old Stone Oven Baking Stone
Notes from Cook's Illustrated:
All-purpose unbleached flour with a protein percentage no higher than 10.5 makes the lightest, crispiest pizzas. We recommend weighing the flour and water, but because many factors affect the flour's capacity to absorb water, heed visual and tactile clues to achieve a dough with the proper consistency. For rolling out the dough, we prefer commercial- sized parchment paper sheets, though parchment sold in rolls 14 inches wide also works. Keep in mind that it is more important for the rolled dough to be of even thinness than to be a perfect circle. Bake quickly at high heat (500 degrees) and dress simply. We recommend buying a chunk of whole milk mozzarella and shredding it by hand; do not use fresh or prepackaged shredded mozzarella, and resist the temptation to sprinkle on more cheese than is recommended. Between baking pizzas, allow the baking stone to reheat for 15 minutes.