Hello Everyone! It been a while since I last posted, and I had my reasons for that. If you aren’t following my page on Facebook, then you would’ve missed out on the announcement I made over there. I decided to take two weeks off as during those past weeks I was busy finishing up a submission so that I can hopefully graduate from my degree, finalising my packing (seriously packing up 4 years of your life was a pain), and travelling to two countries altogether in that span of two weeks. I’ve finally settled down in my hometown Brunei and have a whole lot of recipes lined up for the next month. During this time I will also be travelling so I do apologise if things aren’t running as smoothly as it was before.

Before I left the beautiful city of Sydney, I had been firing up the oven and creating a few homemade pizzas. So for the next two weeks on the blog, I will be covering these recipes, kicking off with how to make your own basic pizza dough! Now, if you don’t have a pizza oven, you can still make pizzas in a regular oven. It is highly recommended that you get a pizza stone as well if you want to cook them in the oven so that your pizza cooks all the way through without taking forever to do so.

I was inspired to try out making my own range pizzas from the lovely Tara; she celebrated her birthday last year with a DIY pizza night at her place. And the pizzas that came out of the oven that night were to die for! I simply had to do a repeat – all for myself that is! *cheeky grin* Anyway, this simple pizza dough recipe should be able to make one large pizza or two small pizzas. Also, you can find the original recipe that I followed on American Food.

PREP TIME 2 HOURS 35 MINS | COOKING TIME — | MAKES DOUGH FOR 2 REGULAR-SIZED PIZZAS

INGREDIENTS

• 2 & 1/2 cups bread and pizza flour, plus 1/2 cup extra
• 1 cup lukewarm water (not hot!)
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra
• 1/2 tbsp white sugar
• 2 & 1/4 tsp instant dry active yeast
• 1 & 1/2 tsp salt

METHOD

1. Start by adding the water, yeast, and sugar, and a 1/2 cup of the flour into a large mixing bowl. Stir well and let it sit for at least 20 minutes to proof. The mixture should become bubbly, if not then your yeast is probably dead and you will have to start your mixture all over again. To check if your yeast is still alive, proof it first by using the same ingredients excluding the flour.
2. Then, add in the olive oil, salt, and the remaining 2 cups of flour, and mix with a spatula or wooden spoon until it is together enough to turn out onto a lightly floured work surface to knead.
3. Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, while adding more flour a little at a time. The dough should be soft, elastic and slightly sticky dough. Add just enough flour to keep it from sticking to the work surface as you knead.
4. Form the dough into a ball and place in a large oiled bowl. Drizzle a few drops of oil and coat the top of dough to prevent the surface from becoming dry. Place a kitchen towel over the bowl and place in a warm spot for 2 hours, or until the dough doubles in size.
5. Punch down the dough and divide into 2 balls. Place in large zip lock plastic bags and refrigerate overnight.
6. When ready to use, remove from fridge, and let the dough come up to room temperature before using.

Stay tuned for the next upcoming two weeks for some easy pizza toppings that are sure to please either yourself or a crowd! Likewise, you can get creative yourself and come up with your favourite flavour combinations to top your own pizza now that you’ve got the dough down.

BON APPÉTIT

– Ally xx