by Melanie Cossey

Created on: August 15, 2008   Last Updated: August 25, 2010

Homemade Honey Pizza Dough

This homemade crust is indescribably good. The kids will love to get involved while you make this pizza with your family and enjoy the rewards.

The preparation time is only about 15 min and the rest of the time is for the dough to rise, be punched down, and rise again. This recipe is the easiest yeast recipe you'll ever use and the honey in the crust makes it sweet and flavourful. You won't be disappointed!

This recipe makes one thick crusted pizza or two thin ones. Double the recipe to feed a family of four.

3 cups of flour ( use whole wheat for a more nutritious crust)
1 cup warm water (between 95 F and 115 F )
2 Tbsp yeast
2 Tbsp honey (The thin pouring type works best)
cup olive oil
tsp salt

Pour warm water into a LARGE bowl. It should feel very warm but not scalding or boiling. Add the honey and salt. Stir lightly with a spoon until well dissolved. Add the yeast and give it a light stir to ensure all the yeast is moistened. Leave it to active on the counter or in a warm location for about 5 minutes. It should foam up and want to overflow the bowl. When the yeast is well activated, add 1 cup of flour and the olive oil to the yeast mixture and mix with a wooden spoon until well blended. Add the rest of the flour and continue until the mixture forms a large ball. If the dough does not ball up it is too dry, so add more water a few drops at a time, until you have the right consistency. If the dough is batter-like then add more flour a Tbsp at a time until you get it just right.

Once you have a ball of dough, place it on a floured surface and knead it for a minute or two, pushing it down and out with the heel of your hand and pulling it back over itself with your fingers. This helps to form gluten which will help in the rising process. Once this is done, place in a bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and put in a warm location for it to rise.

After about 45 min the dough should double in size. When it does, you will next punch it down. So make a fist, wind up and give the dough a good punch in the face. One Two and it deflates back to its original size. Now form the ball again and let it rise for an hour to an hour and a half. The dough is now ready to be rolled out, or hand tossed.

To hand toss the dough, stretch it out so you can get two fists under it. In a curved motion you want to spin the dough as you launch it from your fists. If you are letting the kids try this, make sure you are ready to catch any dough that may go awry. I wouldn't recommend this for the little ones. The best bet is to probably not let on that there is such a thing as a hand-tossed pizza and instead get out the rolling pin, or you can use your palms to shape the pizza from the center out to fit into the pizza pan. Always oil your pan first and you can also sprinkle a layer of corn meal on the bottom to keep if from sticking to the pan.

Set your oven for around 350 F and top the pizza with your favourite sauces and fixings. To avoid a soggy crust you can pre-bake your dough for a few minutes before putting the pizza sauce on or if not try to make your sauce thick to avoid the soggies.

You can also get creative with it and put chopped garlic, rosemary or nuts into the crust during the blending process. For a really yummy Indian pizza, put chopped cashews in the crust and from an Indian take out, bring home some shahee paneer sauce to put on , add tomatoes, shrimp and mango for an Indian pizza you will never forget!

Buon appetito! And enjoy your family time!

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