Super Easy Pizza Crust Recipe

We came across this pizza crust recipe from Bob's Red Mill. It is BY FAR the best pizza crust recipe we've tried, and believe me, we've tried many recipes before this one!  We've tried them all - including sourdough recipes that used sourdough starter, and nothing has beat this one.  This pizza crust tastes like it was made in a traditional pizza restaurant! Additionally, some of its awesomeness is due to the fact that it's pretty much foolproof (when you follow the easy technique laid out below) and it's super easy to make.  

I will have to tell you that the BIGGEST part of what makes this pizza crust so great is the technique that we've come up with through trial and error. It has to do with exactly HOW you let your dough rise (you need to proof it at a good temperature for dough) and then how you bake it (you need to bake it on a hot pizza stone). If you do those two things, then this recipe will be AMAZING!

During a pandemic when going out for pizza is a bit on the scary side, having a homemade pizza coming out of your oven is absolute bliss. We have been making this pizza every Friday night for PIZZA NIGHT!!!  Yes, a fantastic Pizza Night is absolutely essential in spite of this horrible pandemic. Nothing boosts the mood like a traditional pizza hot from the oven.  To go with Pizza Night, we pour whatever drinks we want and put a movie on the TV, and then we take our delicious pizza out of the oven and sit down for a movie and an amazing treat.

Now, in the interest of full disclosure, I must tell you that there are the three essential items you will need to obtain in advance to make the most amazing pizza using this recipe.  Seriously, consider buying these if you don't already have them. They will result in traditional, restaurant-style pizza crust. Additionally,  you'll find many other great recipes to use these items for as well:

• A pizza stone (this is the rectangle stone we have from Pampered Chef)
• A seedling heat mat (this is the one we purchased from Amazon)
• parchment paper for baking

Below is the recipe from Bob's Red Mill.  

A note about the flour: Bob's recipe specifies using his Artisan Bread Flour. However, we've found that we can substitute the Artisan Bread Flour for any organic white flour or high quality bread flour and have just as good results.  (A grain other than wheat may not produce the same results - we have not tried other types of non-wheat flours.)

Here's the technique:

• When rising the dough: Put a bath towel on your counter, then place the seedling heat mat on top and plug it in.  Put saran wrap over the bowl that has the dough in it, and then put the bowl on top of the heat mat.  Pull up the sides of the towel to surround the bowl, so that you're trapping the heat around the bowl.
  
  
• When preheating the oven: put the pizza stone in the oven. The pizza stone should heat in there for 40-60 minutes, so that the stone is very hot.
  
  
• To make the pizza: put a big sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet and build your pizza on it.  Once you've built your pizza, cover it with saran wrap and let it sit on the counter for about 30 minutes. This lets the dough rise a bit more.  Then, slide the pizza (with the parchment paper still under it) onto the hot pizza stone in the oven.
  
  
• This recipe says it makes two pizzas. We've only ever made 1 large 9x13 sized pizza with it.  
  
  
• We roll some long strips of cheese into the edge of the crust when we make it. Yum!