The Best Pizza Dough You’ll Ever Make

So even though we have finally moved away from the college campus we seem to be reverting back to our old college ways by eating pizza  at least once a week. Correction, homemade pizza of course (okay second correction, there might have been this one time we ordered pizza but that is neither here nor there)!

It’s not that we are getting lazy and don’t feel like cooking some nights (although this does happen every once and awhile); we started to make more pizzas because we found the best recipe for homemade dough. This recipe came in a book that came with our KitchenAid stand mixer. Although we have the technology to create this dough in four minutes, it is easily adaptable to make it the old fashion way – by hand.

We also added a little bonus recipe at the end of this post for one of our favorite pizzas to make – BBQ chicken. If you have any questions don’t hesitate to reach out to us on twitter (@cook_in_college).

Oh and two other random things we forgot to mention:

1. Last week was our 2 year blogiversary and we totally forgot! Hopefully the same doesn’t happen on our first wedding anniversary.

2. We were featured in a Pittsburgh magazine this past week, “Edible Allegheny” (pronounced Allie-gain-ee). Here is a link to the online issue, we are on page 14 of the magazine. We are super pumped so please check it out and let us know what you think!

Pizza Dough

Print this recipe!

It’s not delivery, it’s not even Digiorno, it’s Cooking in College!

• Servings – 1 ball o’ dough
• Prep time – 5 minutes
• Wait time – 1 hour

Ingredients

• 1 packet of active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (105 to 115F)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 2.5 cups of all-purpose flour

Protocol

1. In a mixer bowl, dissolve your yeast in the water and add in the salt and olive oil.

2. Mix in the 2.5 cups of flour and turn on your stand mixer to speed 2 for 4 minutes (or mix the dough in the bowl with your hands and transfer to a floured surface to knead for 5 to 7 minutes).

3. Place the dough in a greased bowl and let rise for one hour or until it doubles. Punch it down when it is finished rising.

Before Rising

Doubled in Size

For bonus recipe see below…

A little further down…

Warmer…

Almost there…

Here! Okay so you got the dough now what? Well, heat your oven to 450F. Sprinkle some cornmeal over a pizza stone and evenly spread out the dough. Bake for an initial 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and top with your favorite toppings. We like to add BBQ sauce, sauteed chicken, some corn, green onions, and mozzarella cheese. Bake for another 12-15 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Serve and enjoy!

Pizza Bagels

This recipe post is a bit too easy, we know. Pizza bagels have been an American staple since 1974 because they are cheap and easy to make. But after last weeks marathon of a recipe for bagels, we decided to keep it cheap and easy for today.

Now you may be asking yourself, “Did D&E really go through all the trouble of making homemade bagels only to use them for pizza bagels?”

There is no easy way to say this: yes, yes we did.

Please don’t revoke our cooking blogging credentials.

Print this recipe!

Contrary to popular belief, the pizza bagel was made popular because of the Great Canadian Bagel company. O Canada!

• Servings – 4 pizza bagels
• Prep time – 5 minutes
• Cook time – 12 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 whole bagels sliced in half
• 1/2 cup marinara sauce
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• Any pizza toppings you like

Protocol

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F.

2. On a baking sheet, lay the bagels cut-side-up and evenly spread out the marinara sauce and then sprinkle with cheese.

3. Add any of your favorite pizza toppings to the bagels and bake for 10 minutes in the oven.

4. After 10 minutes, switch the oven setting to broil and set the bagels under the broiler for 2 minutes.

5. Serve and enjoy!

-D&E

Almost Homemade But Still Not Delivery Pizza

Other than Ramen Noodles, Pizza is probably the second most stereotypical meal a college kid can eat. It’s cheap, easy, and kind of well balanced (that’s still debatable). Even though we love to cook, we still crave pizza every once and awhile. But, we try our best not to order delivery, instead we make our own…well, sort of. We usually have most of the ingredients for pizza on hand in case we need to make a quick dinner.

Remember how we said that we like to make our own pasta sauce and don’t use jarred sauce? Well, we fibbed a little. We usually keep on hand a jar of marinara sauce in case of emergencies. We like to buy the good stuff that doesn’t have any corn syrup or anything we’ve never heard before (try finding it at a  local Italian market or Trader Joe’s like we did!). Anyway, if you have a jar of sauce, you’re almost there.

Our grocery store has a little bakery inside, and most likely your’s does too. They often have pizza crusts for only $0.99. We snag a couple of these and put them in the freezer. If not we just buy a pre-made crust (you’ll find them near the pasta or Italian section) and freeze that instead.

Cheese, well we always have cheese on hand. You can buy shredded pizza cheese in the dairy aisle, or buy a block of your favorite and shred it yourself. Either way works for us.

Pizza

Straightforward. Easier than answering your door for delivery. And of course, healthier (just as long as you don’t eat it everyday!).

• Servings – 4 (2 slices a serving)
• Prep time – 5 minutes
• Cook time – 10 minutes

Ingredients

• Pizza crust (10-12 inch)
• 1/2 cup marinara sauce
• 1 cup shredded cheese (pizza blend, mozzarella, etc.)
• Your favorite pizza toppings

Protocol

1. Preheat your oven to 425°F.

2.  If you have a pizza stone prepare the pizza on that. If not, prepare on a large cutting board or an upside-down baking sheet so you can slide it directly onto the oven rack.

3. We hope you know the rest of the way…if not, follow these pictures.

4. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the cheese is bubbly. If you aren’t using a pizza stone, carefully slide pizza onto oven rack. You’ll get an extra crispy crust this way. To remove, carefully use a spatula to slide off onto a flat surface.

5. Wait for pizza to cool, about 2 minutes, serve and enjoy!

-D&E