Pizza Dough Recipe

Over the years I have tried dozens of dough recipes to prepare my pizza’s and Arabic pastries “Muajanat”’ until I settled on two favorite ones. Those are now nicely written in my recipe book.

Today’s dough recipe is my all time favorite that I use most of the time. It is an improved dough recipe as it includes powder milk and yogurt which give the dough flavor and make it crispier than the basic dough. This dough recipe is perfect if you are looking to prepare a pizza with a crust that is not thick but not too thin either!

Although the title of the recipe is Pizza Dough Recipe, this dough is perfect for preparing most Arabic pastries “Muajanat” including Sfiha, cheese pastries, spinach pastries, hotdog pastries, and my favorite Manakish. Manakish are popular Middle Eastern thyme pizzas.

Before preparing your dough, spare some time to read my two posts on preparing the perfect dough: Great Dough Part 1, and Great Dough Part 2. They cover the basic information you need to prepare the perfect yeast dough each and every time.

The recipe yields enough dough to prepare the crust for two 36 cm (14 inches) pizzas. I divide the dough into two parts, and spread each part on the bottom of one 36 cm aluminum tray. If I want to prepare mini pizzas or Arabic Muajanat I double the portion.

Pizza Dough Recipe

Prep time: 4 hours                 Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

1       cup warm water
1       tablespoon instant yeast
1½    teaspoon sugar
3       cups flour
1       teaspoon salt
3       tablespoons powder milk
2       tablespoons yogurt
1/3    cup oil (corn, sunflower or canola)

How to make pizza dough

• Mix the warm water with the sugar and instant yeast. Set aside until yeast grows. You know that that yeast started to grow when you see a foam layer on the surface of the water. If you don’t see the foamy layer that is due to the reaction of mixing the yeast with water, then the yeast is not good so don’t use it! It is very important to remember to use lukewarm water of a temperature similar to our body temperature. Why is this important? Read my post Great Dough Part 1.

• In a large bowl with a spoon we mix the flour, salt and milk powder.

• We then add the yogurt and oil to the flour mixture. We first mix them with a spoon then rub the mixture between our fingers.

• Add the water and yeast mixture to the flour mixture and mix well.
• Then knead the dough well on a flat surface between 5-10 minutes. It is very important to knead the dough strongly until it is soft and elastic. To test if dough is ready, we take a small piece of dough and stretch it between our fingers (the same as we pull on a gum if we want to make a balloon). If the dough breaks easily, it means we need to knead it more, if it stretches and forms a thin layer of dough, then your dough is ready.

• Grease the inside of the bowl with some oil (1 teaspoon oil), and place the dough inside the bowl.

• Cover the bowl with a damp cotton towel. I usually sprinkle water with my wet hands on the towel till half of it is covered with water droplets. Read my post Great Dough Part 2 to see why this step is important.

• Put the bowl in a warm place and leave it for a couple of hours until the dough rises and is double its size. We must give the dough ample time to rise! To test if the dough has had enough time to rest, press your thumb in the dough and remove it. If the dough springs back quickly then it needs more time to rest, if the hole made by your figure doesn’t fade, then your dough is ready.

• After the dough has risen, we knead it for a minute, then leave it in a warm place to rest and rise again. The resting period this time is much shorter.

• After the dough has risen the second time it is ready and we can start preparing our pizza or pastries (Muajanat).

Hope you enjoyed today’s easy recipe: Pizza Dough Recipe. Bon appetite.
Which do you prefer more: thin pizza crust or thick pizza crust?

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