Flash the Magic Pizza Dough

Okay, I'm going to share a very, very dangerous recipe with you.   If you love homemade pizza and don't know this trick, consider the consequences very seriously before you click on the cut below.   I will not be held responsible for your sudden addiction to impulse pizza making.*


3 cups all-purpose flour (or bread flour)
2 1/2 teaspoons of active dry yeast.
2 tablespoons olive oil (vegetable works fine, too, flavored oil is divine)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons sugar
1 cup warm water- this should feel like comfy bath water.  Any hotter, and you'll kill your yeast.

(Optional: garlic powder, fresh herbs, dried herbs.  I always use 1/2 tsp of dried garlic, and a good tsp of whatever dry herb strikes my fancy with the toppings I'm using)

Start by combining the water, yeast and salt in the bottom of a big bowl.   Let it bloom for at least five minutes- when it starts to bubble and foam, you know you're golden.   (If it's still lumpy and sullen after 10 minutes, your water may be too hot or your yeast is a bitch. Try again.)

Add all other ingredients, and mix it until it forms a nice soft dough.   You don't have to knead this.  You don't have to do squat.  Just make a dough.

Optional step:  wait 10 minutes for the dough to relax.

Optional step 2:  fuck that noise and pat it out on your greased pizza pan immediately.

You don't have to roll this, either.   You can, it works just fine.   But you can just as easily pat it out by hand.  

This completely covers a large pizza stone if you want a thin crust.  

Bake at 400.  

Do you understand what this means? In the time it takes your oven to preheat, you have homemade pizza dough, completely from scratch.  You can use part whole wheat in this, as well.   You can use honey rather than sugar.   You can use less sugar- as little as a tablespoon.  

The worst part?  It's awesome.   It's my favorite version of pizza crust.  You can par-bake it for a few minutes.  I like to, but it's optional, too.

For me, figuring this out was like cracking the atom.  I did not wield this great power with responsibility, friends.  This recipe probably represents a pants size.  

(*Blame my sister Nora.  She's the one who requested this one.)