Pizza Dough/Cheesy bread

In case you can't tell, I've never met a carb I haven't loved.
I stumbled upon this delightful treat and made it last week.
Definitely a keeper. (Ok, the new format to write blog posts is making me nutty. Pictures will now be at the BOTTOM of posts?!?!)

Start with the following basic pizza dough which yields 2 12" pizzas.
1 c. warm water
2 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
1 Tbsp. honey (or sugar)
2 tsp. salt
2 Tbsp olive or canola oil
3 c. bread flour (give or take 1/2 c.)*

In a large mixing bowl, stir yeast and honey into warm water. Let sit for 5-10 or mixture starts to bubble and foam. Pour in salt, oil, half the flour and mix. (I use my bread hook from the get-go.) Once that is incorporated, start adding flour in bit by bit (1/2 cups increments) until you get the dough to the consistency you want: slightly tacky, but when you touch it it doesn't stick to your hands. (I add another 1 c. of flour and then just a little at a time of the last 1/2 c. until it's to where I want it.) Once you reach this stage, turn the mixer on high to knead for 6 minutes. Resist the temptation to stop earlier! The dough should be smooth, easy to work with and the bowl should be clean.
Lightly grease two bowls and the dough so it doesn't dry out (oops - forgot this and I was fine), cover with greased plastic wrap and let it rise for 1-2 hours.

To make the delicious cheesy bread below, brush spread dough with garlic butter (add 3-4 cloves minced garlic to about 1/2 stick melted butter per two rounds - to taste - or about 1/2 tsp. garlic powder) and then sprinkle on parmesan cheese and mozzarella cheese. Bake about 8 minutes or until brown and bubbly. SOO good!


To make pizza, spread out the risen dough onto parchment paper, preheat oven WITH pizza stone in it (or overturned cookie sheet) to 500 degrees, add toppings, transfer pizza AND parchment paper to heated stone/sheet and bake for about 15 minutes.

PRINTABLE RECIPE




*If you don't have bread flour, add 1 Tbsp. vital wheat gluten for each cup of flour you use. I "made" a big batch of bread flour and then just measured the cups of flour from that. It turned out fine!