The Only Pizza Crust Dough Youll Ever Need Recipes

THE ONLY PIZZA CRUST DOUGH YOU'LL EVER NEED

Steps:

• Mix the flour, 3/4 cup water, lard, and vinegar in a bowl (preferably non reactive) until dough is quite stiff, almost too hard to knead, but not crumbly. Let this rest overnight, 10-24 hours.
• When time is up, heat remaining water till warm to the touch. Mix in yeast and molasses, and let it sit for 5-10 minutes, till very foamy. If nothing happens, yeast is dead or too old- try again with new yeast.
• Mix in the yeast mixture with rest of dough and knead until dough is smooth and elastic, adding water as needed. Re grease the bowl, cover with a lid or towel, and let it rest in a warm oven until doubled (to warm oven, turn it to 350 F/180 C for one minute, then turn it off and quickly put the bowl inside.) Let it rise until doubled, 1-2 hours.
• Do another rising, in a warm oven, for 20 minutes. At this point, you may cut the dough in half and freeze one or both pieces. Just put it in a plastic bag and let all the air out. It will last about 6 months in the freezer.
• Preheat oven to 500 F/250°C Grease one or two pans (8x11 or a round pizza pan) with lard or olive oil and CAREFULLY flatten out each pizza onto the pan(s). Brush pizza liberally with melted butter. Top with toppings just before putting in oven- not earlier, since the crust might get soggy. It can hold lots of toppings, so go crazy!
• Baked pizza for 12-15 minutes, one pizza at a time. Serve immediately or cool and freeze by covering with plastic wrap. Unfreeze in the fridge and reheat in the oven.
• Tips: If pizza doesn't rise, it can still be saved! Just add 2 tsp baking soda after the last rise. Unsweetened (check ingredients) yogurt or kefir can be subbed for 3/4 cup water and 1/4 cup vinegar. This pizza is best made without a crust, but if you want, pinch the edges of the pizza upwards to make one.

THE LAST PIZZA DOUGH I'LL EVER NEED

Steps:

• For the dough: Place each ingredient into the bowl of a stand mixer in the order listed. Install the dough hook attachment and mix on low until the dough comes together, forming a ball and pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Increase the mixer speed to medium and knead for 5 minutes.
• Lightly flour the countertops, then round the dough into a smooth ball by folding the edges of the round in toward the center several times and rolling between your hands on the counter. Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough in the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 18 to 24 hours.
• "Punch down" the dough by turning it out onto a clean countertop and shaping it into a rough rectangle, using your knuckles to work out as many of the large gas bubbles as possible. Then tightly roll the dough into a log 12 to 15 inches long. Cut this into thirds. Shape each third into a disk, then shape the disks into smooth balls. You may want to moisten the counter with water to up the surface tension a bit so that the ball tightens up instead of sliding across the counter.
• Cover each ball with a clean kitchen towel and set aside for 30 minutes at room temperature.
• At this point, you can also transfer the dough to airtight plastic containers and refrigerate for up to 8 hours. Just make sure you bring the balls to room temperature 30 minutes before use.
• Pizza time: Set a pizza stone on the lower rack of the oven (or the floor, if using a gas oven) and crank the heat as high as it will go, hopefully 550 degrees F. Give the oven and the stone a good 30 minutes to heat up.
• For the toppings: Press a ball of dough into a 12-inch round. (Save the remaining dough balls for another use.) Smear with the jelly, then top with the fontina and bacon. Transfer to the pizza stone and bake until golden brown and melty, about 10 minutes.