Raised Pizza Crust
This dough is not only great for pizza, it also makes wonderful sandwich buns. You'll end-up with 3 pizzas or half a dozen large buns.
1 1/2 cups warm water
2 Tab. sugar
2 1/4 tsp. yeast
4 cups white spelt flour
1 Tab. salt
3 Tab. olive oil
1. Combine your warm water, sugar and yeast in a bowl and let it sit for 5 minutes.
2. In a mixing bowl combine the flour and salt.
3. After the yeast mixture becomes frothy add the oil then pour it all into your flour and salt.
4. Knead the dough by hand or with an electric mixer, either way knead it for 10 minutes until it's smooth and stretchy.
5. You can now place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with plastic wrap or a dish towel and let it rise for 1 hour.
6. After 1 hour take your dough and divide it into 3 balls*, place them on a floured surface, and let them rise for another 30 minutes.
7. After 30 minutes take each ball and shape it into a pizza the size of either your pizza stone or baking sheet (remember to oil your baking sheet first.) This dough doesn't need to be rolled out, I like to stretch it by hand to reach the desired size. Just be careful not to over pull or you'll have holes in the dough.
8. Once it's stretched I like to roll up the edges all the way around to form a perimeter. This helps to keep your toppings on and also makes it easier to pick it up when you're eating it!
9. Now it's time to add your sauce and toppings.** When your pizzas are assembled bake them one at a time for at least 10 minutes on low broil.
*At this point if you want to make buns instead of pizza crust, form the dough into 6 larger balls or 9 smaller balls and let them rise for 30 minutes on a floured baking sheet. You'll bake your buns for 10 minutes at 500.
**Along with our favorite sauce I like to add sauted Italian sausage and ground beef, sliced onions, peppers, and mushrooms. We also like ground chicken or turkey with spinach, onions and mushrooms. The great thing about making your own pizza is the ability to put anything you like on it!