Running Mama Cooks

Last night I had a few girlfriends over for a Girl's Night In. Nothing beats good friends just hanging out with snacks and wine! We had some chips and dips (I made buffalo chicken dip that I posted about here) and I made a homemade pepperoni pizza.

I've posted about homemade pizza before, but I wanted to take the opportunity to share this recipe from Annie's Eats again for the perfect pizza crust because its so easy and so good!

This is the first time that I split the dough into two to make a thinner crust pizza and it was definitely the best yet. I topped the pie with my homemade sauce (I used my immersion blender to make a smoother pizza sauce), low fat mozzarella cheese, turkey pepperoni and shredded Parmesan.

And now for that crust recipe. Trust me, this is the way to go!!

Basic Pizza Dough
Recipe from Annie's Eats

Ingredients:

½ cup warm water (about 110°)
1 envelope (2 ¼ tsp.) instant yeast
1 ¼ cups water, at room temperature
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting
1 ½ tsp. salt
olive oil or non-stick cooking spray for greasing the bowl

Directions:

Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup. Sprinkle in the yeast and let stand until the yeast dissolves and swells, about 5 minutes. Add the room temperature water and oil and stir to combine.

Place the flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Briefly combine the dry ingredients at low speed. Slowly add the liquid ingredients and continue to mix at low speed until a cohesive mass forms. Stop the mixer and replace the paddle with the dough hook. Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Form the dough into a ball, put it in a deep oiled bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 ½ to 2 hours. Press the dough to deflate it.

To bake, place a pizza stone in the lower third of the oven. Heat the oven to 450° for at least 30 minutes. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into two equal pieces. Form both pieces of dough into smooth, round balls and cover with a damp cloth. Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no more than 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough and drizzle a little olive oil on the crust. Top as desired and bake for 25 minutes.