Three Cheese Supreme Pizza- The Dough

Okay, so I made a pizza using this dough (with a great about of fear) a couple of weeks ago.  All the recipes I looked at for pizza dough involved a bread hook.  Something, surprisingly, I don't own.  Although my plans are to have this available to me soon, I went through a long trial (we are taking months) to come up with simple, delicious, perfect pizza dough without a machine.  After all, being from Chicago, I know how the crust is what makes the pizza.  This crust is so so so simple and does NOT disappoint.  Not to mention, it is much cheaper than buying the pre-packaged crusts or pizza dough.  It does require some planning ahead, but it is SO worth it!

My Homemade Dough
1 packet active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
1 1/4 cups cold water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
5 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour, divided, plus additional for kneading
Cooking spray

Dissolve yeast packet in the one cup of warm water.  Let stand for 5 minutes.

Combine cold water, oil, sugar, and salt in small bowl.  Whisk together.

Measure out 5 1/4 cups flour.  Make sure flour is light and level.  Baking is a science.  Measurements must be precise.  Combine flour, yeast mixture, and ice water mixture in a large bowl.  With a hand mixer, mix until it becomes to difficult/thick to do so.

Let dough stand for 2 minutes.  It will be moist and sticky.  Sprinkle some of remaining flour over dough.  With floured hands, scrape dough out of bowl and onto a floured, smooth surface.

Knead the dough until it is smooth and elastic-like.  As you are kneading, add remaining flour one tablespoon at a time to prevent dough from sticking.  Once dough has been kneaded and doesn't stick to your hands, divide dough in half.  Place each half in a gallon-sized zip-top bag coated with cooking spray.

Seal bags and refrigerate over night or up to 2 days.  Let the dough stand for one hour at room temperature before using.

This dough can be a standard for any homemade pizza.

I'll be posting the recipe for my Three Cheese Supreme Pizza along with my Fire Roasted Tomato Sauce next!  Be watching for it in a couple days!

Note- the picture of the pizza dough shown is not a picture of the pizza dough I made.  I found this picture online.  I was stupid and forgot to take a picture of my dough, but it looked exactly the same, so I am using it!