Do you have any weekend traditions?
We celebrate Peterson Pajama Pizza Picnics every Friday and Saturday night. We make a homemade pizza, get comfy in our pajamas, and watch a movie or show. With a two and six-year-old, the show is typically Bluey, but occasionally we branch out.
This pizza dough is adapted from Janssen’s from Everyday Reading. There’s only a few tweaks I’ve made to double the recipe and use it for three doughs. If I make the dough on Friday evening, I can then divide it into three, place each dough into a ziploc bag, and freeze whatever won’t be used in the next day or two.
The frozen dough will keep for a month or so. Not that they’re ever in our fridge that long since this is a weekly tradition.
Because the dough is so large, I always mix it by hand.
I take a large mixing bowl and add my warm water. It should be between 100 and 110 degrees Farenheit. I add my yeast and honey and then let the yeast get all foamy.
All the other ingredients get dumped into the bowl. The honey adds a nice sweetness and balance to this dough. I mix it with one of my favorite gir spatulas. Either a regular sized one or this jumbo one. Because the dough is so sticky, I use the spatula to kneed it. If I’ve got the time, I’ll kneed it for about 10 minutes. If I’m in a rush, I’ll kneed it for 2 minutes. It always come out just fine.
And then I let it rise. While it’s best to let it rise for 60-90 minutes, to be honest, I’ve had many a Friday when I realized last minute I forgot to make the dough. And it’s been ready to go within about 45 minutes!
I cook my pizza on a pizza stone at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 7 minutes and then turn and bake the pizza for another 6-7 minutes. The crust should be golden brown and the cheese melty and bubbly.
While we typically keep our pizza pretty basic with turkey pepperoni, we also like olives and artichoke hearts; black olives, mushrooms, and pepperoni; Hawaiian. I’ll also occasionally make a fancy pizza crust by mixing a bit of olive oil, a pinch of salt, a pinch of garlic powder, a pinch or oregano, and a pinch of basil in a ramekin. I’ll then brush the mixture on the outer crust of the pizza before baking.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups of warm water (100-110 degrees Fahrenheit)
1 Tablespoon of instant yeast
4 Tablespoons / 1/4 of a cup / 52 grams of granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon of salt
2 Tablespoons of olive oil
2 Tablespoons of honey
400 grams of whole wheat flour
410 grams of unbleached all-purpose flour
Directions:
- Add the warm water to a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast and sugar. Stir to combine. Let rest for 5 minutes until the yeast is foamy.
- Add the salt, olive oil, honey. Measure in this order and you won’t need to dirty more than one Tablespoon, plus the olive oil will help the honey to not stick to the tablespoon. Stir to combine.
- Add the flour. Using a spatula, stir the dough until well combined. Use the spatula to kneed the dough for about 5 minutes. The dough will be very sticky.
- Oil the bowl with olive oil. I push the dough to one side, add oil, push the dough to the other side, and add oil. Cover the bowl with a clean cloth or plate and allow to rise for about 60-90 minutes. If I make the dough in the morning, I’ll then stick the entire bowl in the fridge and separate it in the evening when it’s time to make the pizza.
- I separate the dough for three pizzas. It comes out to about 500 grams per pizza dough. I store any dough that I won’t be using within 24 hours in the freezer. The dough will keep in the fridge for about 24 hours.
- To use the frozen dough, remove from the freezer 2-4 hours before using and allow to come to room temperature.
Novel Bakery 
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