Lunch / Dinner
Baking Sheet Pizza Dough
If you love pizza (and who doesn’t?), you’re going to eat this one up! Based on Sicilianstyle pie, this crust is thick, but light — similar to focaccia. It takes no time to whip up and the toppings can be prepared while the dough rises.
When kneading this dough you’ll notice it doesn’t form a ball like typical pizza dough does, and that’s because it’s so wet. But that’s good since wet doughs are known to produce the lightest bread, which means you won’t end up with a heavy belly-bomb of a pizza.
Once the dough has risen, gently press it into the pan. Oiling your fingers makes this go smoothly. And don’t worry about getting the dough all the way into the corners — it spreads more as it bakes. But you don’t want to work the dough too much or it will deflate, creating a flatter, less airy crust.
What really makes this pizza special, though, is how it bakes — with a good dose of olive oil. The oil keeps the wet dough from sticking to the baking sheet and essentially fries the dough, producing crispy edges. With this crust, you can make a Spicy Meat Pizza or a Chicken & Mushroom Pizza with spinach & artichoke pesto.
Ingredients
WHISK:
ADD:
POUR:
Test Kitchen Tip
Instant yeast is more foolproof than active dry. Since it doesn’t need to be proofed, the water can be room temperature.
Instructions
Coat a large bowl thoroughly with nonstick spray.
Whisk together flour and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer, then whisk in salt.
Add water and 2 Tbsp. oil; mix with a dough hook on low speed until all flour is moistened. (You may need to scrape flour down from sides of bowl and check that all flour from bottom of bowl has been mixed in.) Increase speed to medium and knead dough until it pulls away from sides of bowl, 5–15 minutes. (Dough will not form a ball.)
Transfer dough to prepared bowl, cover, and let rise until doubled in size, 1–2 hours.
Preheat oven to 400° with rack in lowest position and baking stone on rack.
Pour ¼ cup oil in center of a 16½ ×11½ × 1-inch baking sheet. Transfer dough to baking sheet. Using greased fingertips, gently press dough outward to fill pan.
Top dough with desired toppings and bake on baking stone until crust is golden, about 30 minutes.
You’ll know it’s been kneaded enough when the wet dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl.
For ease, use a greased bowl scraper to scrape the dough from the bowl to the oiled baking sheet.
Since the dough is so sticky, oil your fingertips before pressing the dough out towards the edges.