3½ cups unbleached all purpose flour, plus more as needed
2 tablespoons olive oil
¾ teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar Ingredients to add to the dough:
a) Minced garlic
b) Thyme, oregano, basil, rosemary/ whatever your choice fresh or powdered
c) Liquid smoke – one drop- be careful!
Instructions
Pizza Dough:
In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a mixer attachment, combine the yeast and warm water. Stir it around and let sit for 5 minutes or until the yeast is foamy and dissolved. Add flour, olive oil, salt, and sugar. Add a, b, or c (your choice – be creative, take chances)
Once all of the ingredients are mixed, knead for 7 minutes by hand or with your dough hook on low-medium speed. If your dough is too wet, add up to ¼ cup more flour. After kneading, your dough should be smooth and elastic. Poke it with your finger – if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading.
Shape the dough into a ball and place in a large mixing bowl that has been coated lightly with olive oil. Turn it over to coat all sides. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and allow to rise in a warm environment (about 75-80°F) for about 1 – 1½ hours.
Punch the dough down to release the air.
Divide the dough into two. Roll each half into a ball and let rest in two separate greased bowls, lightly covered for 15 minutes.
After 15 minutes, flatten each ball of dough, one at a time on a lightly floured surface or silicone baking mat. You could also do this directly on your cornmeal lined pizza pan. Flatten into a 12-inch round circle, flattening and stretching the dough. If using a pizza stone, place the dough directly on baker’s peels dusted with cornmeal.
Grill pizza 5-10 minutes until cheese melts and crust is crispy
Remove from heat, rest 5 minutes and slice Pizza Stone (for wood flavor add one chunk of wood to gas grill)
Place cold pizza stone on cold grill
Turn grill on low for 5 minutes
Increase heat to medium for 5 minutes
Goal is to get grill to 500 Preparing the Pizza:
Use a liberal amount of cornmeal on pizza peel
Prepare pizza (see toppings recipes below for: A) Goat cheese spinach B) Teriyaki chicken and smoked gouda C) Mozzarella, Basil vinaigrette