Bread Machine Pizza Dough

All my friends ask me for the recipe and technique for my pizza dough, so here's the instructable! This is easiest with a bread machine, but you can certainly knead the dough by hand.

For a 2 pound lump of dough (good for 2 pizzas), you'll need these ingredients:

3/4 teaspoon salt

4 cups bread flour

2 teaspoon active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups beer (12 oz. bottle)

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 tablespoon sugar

Heat the beer in the microwave to a temperature of 100-110 degrees. Be careful, it can fizz and foam if you shake it or stir it too vigorously. Pour it in the bread maker pan.

Place all ingredients into bread machine pan. Insert pan securely into bread maker.

Close the lid on the bread machine, and plug it in. Depending on your model, select the Dough cycle. Press the Start button. The machine will begin to knead the dough. Keep an eye on it as you need to ensure that the dough is not too dry and not too wet. You SHOULD lift the lid occasionally in the first few minutes of the kneading process to check. If it is too wet, add a tablespoon of flour at a time, waiting a minute or so after adding. If it is too dry, add a tablespoon of water at a time, waiting a minute or so after adding. The dough should stick to the sides a little bit, yet congeal into a moist ball and move around from time to time in the pan. Check out my YouTube video for the way it should look.

Check out how that dough has risen! Let it touch the lid before you take it out, even if it takes longer than the dough cycle timer. I usually give it an extra hour, for a total time of 2 1/2 hours. The dough can now be turned out of the pan onto a floured surface and shaped into the pizza crust. Remember, this recipe makes enough dough for two pizzas. If you want, you can refrigerate the dough in a gallon sized Ziplock bag for a couple of hours up to a couple of days to make it a little less temperamental to work with. Have some fun pressing and shaping it into a pizza! Use a pizza stone if you have one. The crust will be crispier if you preheat the stone for 10 minutes at 450 degrees. Then, sprinkle a little corn meal, semolina, or flour on there, and finish shaping the pizza crust. Add sauce, cheese, and toppings. Bake your pizza for 10-15 minutes at 450 degrees. Cheese should be bubbly and have some very small little brown marks. Enjoy!