Basic Pizza crust dough

     This is a good basic pizza crust recipe ; it also makes great baguettes.

Dough for one 14-inch deep-dish pizza

• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup warm water (105F to 115F degrees)
• 2¾ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup whole-wheat flour
• 1¼ teaspoons salt
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1. Stir the yeast into the water and let it stand until the yeast is foamy, about 5 minutes.
2. To mix and knead the dough in a food processor fitted with the metal blade or in a mixer with the dough hook, put the remaining ingredients into the bowl.
3. Turn the machine on and slowly add the yeast mixture ; mix until the dough cleans the sides of the bowl.
4. Once the desired consistency is achieved (moist but not sticking to the sides), mix the dough until well kneaded, uniformly supple, and elastic, about 40 seconds in the food processor, about 6 minutes in a mixer. 
5. Or by hand, put the remaining ingredients into a large bowl and make a well in the center ; pour the yeast mixture into the well, work the yeast mixture into the ingredients in the bowl.
6. Knead the dough on a floured board until the dough is elastic and smooth, about 10 minutes.
7. Transfer the dough to a large plastic bag, squeeze out the air and seal the top.
8. Place the bag in a bowl and let the dough rise in a warm spot until doubled in bulk, about 1½ hours.
9. The dough can be used right away for the Chicago Deep Dish Pizza with sausage, mushrooms, and green pepper, or it can be refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for as long as 2 months, wrapped airtight ; thaw frozen dough, still wrapped, in the refrigerator.

Chicago deep-dish pizza recipe, click here

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