Mcsweens Stone Baked Pizza Crust Recipes

Steps:

• 1. Gather all your ingredients and have them at hand.
• 2. Warm the cup of water up to 100f (38c), and stir in the sugar, until completely dissolved, then stir in the yeast and allow it to sit for 10 minutes.
• 3. Chef's Note: As you probably know, this is called "proofing" the yeast. Within 10 minutes, the top of the water should start looking foamy, as the yeast proofs. If it doesn't get foamy, you need new yeast.
• 4. While the yeast is proofing, add the salt and the flour to a large bowl, and stir to combine. And then add the softened butter.
• 5. Chef's Note: It's not necessary to mix in the butter; just add it to the bowl.
• 6. Slowly add the yeast/sugar water to the bowl, and mix (I use a fork), until you have a nice mass of dough.
• 7. Remove the dough from the bowl, and turn out onto a lightly floured surface.
• 8. Knead the dough, adding a bit more flour as needed until you have a nice clean elastic ball of dough, about 6 to 8 minutes.
• 9. Put some olive oil into a large bowl and spread around the inside surface.
• 10. Add the dough ball to the bowl, and turn to coat with the oil.
• 11. Cover the bowl with a tea towel, or cling film, and place in a non-drafty part of your kitchen. Allow it to rise until double in size, about two hours... give or take.
• 12. At this point, you could make a pizza, but don't. Punch it down in the bowl, cover the bowl, and allow to rise a second time, until double in size, another two boring hours.
• 13. Punch down the dough (the punching part is fun), remove from bowl, and reshape into a ball.
• 14. Use a bench scraper, or knife, and cut into two pieces. Or three pieces, if you want a smaller pie.
• 15. Chef's Tip: If you really don't want to eat two pizzas, you can always freeze the unused portion. Simply rub it with some good olive oil, wrap it tightly with cling film, place in a freezer bag, squeeze out all of the air, and then pop it into the old freezer. If you wrapped it tightly, it should last for up to 3 months. Take it out of the freezer the day before you need it, and place it in the refrigerator to slowly defrost. Let it rest on your countertop for 30 minutes before stretching.
• 16. Place a rack in the lower position, and place a pizza stone on the rack. Preheat the oven to 475f (245c), and allow it to heat up for 1 hour before adding the pizza.
• 17. Chef's Tip: A pizza stone is an essential part of making good pies. You could use a baking sheet, but the structure and crispness of the crust would be different. If you like good pizza, invest in a pizza stone.
• 18. Lay down a sheet of parchment paper, and using your hands, press the dough ball into a 12-inch circle, for a thin crust, or 10-inches, if you want a slightly thicker crust. All good pizzas are made with your hands... don't use a roller.
• 19. Chef's Note: The use of parchment paper helps keep everything nice and proper. This way I don't have to use additional flour, or cornmeal to slide the pizza onto the stone. Once the pizza is stretched out, trim the excess paper with some kitchen shears. The paper will brown a bit, but it won't impact the taste of the pie.
• 20. Use a fork to poke holes in the center area of the dough; leaving about a 1-inch border around the pie, and then let rest for 30 minutes before putting in the oven.
• 21. Chef's Note: Poking a bunch of holes in the dough is a process called, "docking." It will prevent the dough from forming bubbles during the baking process. By docking the center of the dough, the outer edges will rise and form a nice area for holding in place our toppings.
• 22. Use a pizza peel to move the crust to the preheated oven... parchment paper and all.
• 23. Allow dough to bake for 5 to 7 minutes, and then remove from the oven. Notice how the outside edges puffed up, but the center didn't. Mine was in the oven for 6 minutes.
• 24. Brush the puffed edges of the crust with your favorite extra virgin olive oil. I have an olive oil that I infused with garlic that's excellent.
• 25. Chef's Note: This is where I back off... Add your favorite ingredients to the pie. Everyone has their own idea of what they want for toppings.
• 26. Pop your tricked out pizza back into the oven for 5 to 7 minutes. Mine was in the oven for 6 minutes
• 27. Pull back out, brush a bit more olive oil on the edges, cut into slices and enjoy.
• 28. Keep the faith, and keep cooking.

Steps:

• Stir water, sugar and yeast together until dissolved. Add the olive oil and the salt. Stir in the flour until well blended. Let dough rest for 10 minutes.
• Pat dough into pan or on to a pizza stone using fingers dipped in olive oil. If desired sprinkle basil, thyme or other seasonings on crust. Top with your favorite pizza toppings and bake for 15 to 20 minutes in a preheated 425 degree oven.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the oil, sugar, salt and 1-1/2 cups flour. Beat until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to form a firm dough. Turn onto a floured surface; cover and let rest for 10 minutes. , Roll into a 13-in. circle. Grease a 12-in. pizza pan and sprinkle with cornmeal. Transfer dough to prepared pan, building up edges slightly. Do not let rise. Bake at 425° until browned, 12-15 minutes. Add toppings; bake 10-15 minutes longer.

Steps:

• Place flour, brown sugar, warm water, salt, olive oil and yeast in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
• Place pizza stone in oven and preheat to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Oven must be preheated at least 30 minutes before baking.
• Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Form dough into two loaves. Place the loaves seam side down on a cutting board generously sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover the loaves with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 40 minutes.
• In a small bowl, beat together egg and 1 tablespoon water. Brush the risen loaves with egg mixture. Make a single long, quick cut down the center of the loaves with a sharp knife. Gently shake the cutting board to make sure that the loaves are not sticking. If they stick, use a spatula or pastry knife to loosen. Slide the loaves onto the pizza stone with one quick but careful motion.
• Bake in preheated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom.