Encore post: Make your won Copycat Little Caeser's Pizza Dough!

The following is an Encore post that was originally published in 2010.  It is one of the most popular posts on this blog, so we thought we would share it again for those who may not have had the chance to see it.  Happy baking!

Copycat "Little Caesar's Pizza Dough"

I have your attention with that title don't I?  We are continuing to focus on unique ways to use your flour.  This recipe can make some wonderful things.  It comes from a post from "Savory Seasoning" (See the recipe at the bottom of this post!).  My thanks to this blog for posting this fabulous recipe!

Now, we are not just going to make pizza.  We are going to make this a matter of convenience.  In all seriousness, that is exactly what we are going to do.  Remember that Bread maker we pulled out a few weeks ago, it should still be easy to access at this point.  Get it out.

  

The reason we are going to use this machine, is that it will do all the work.  This is very important to the LRH, and most likely everyone else, because I have a long list of things to do every day.  So, on a day you are home, and still have that long list, you can make up several batches of this and save them for later.

Pour in your warm water.

 Put in all your dry ingredients (yeast, sugar, salt).  Then add your honey, olive oil and flour.

Turn it on your dough cycle and leave!

  

 When the cycle is done, take the dough out and punch it down.

Place the dough into a gallon zip-lock bag.  My sister states that she keeps her bags and uses them over and over to put this same dough in.

This is how it looks just after I zipped the bag.

Put it in the refrigerator overnight.

This is how it looks the next day.

Lessons to be learned:

•  It took me about 3 minutes to put everything into the bread machine
• I only used my Food Storage ingredients.
• I got a lot done while the bread machine did the work for me.....did you catch that?  It did the work for me.
• Convenience:  If you make several batches in a day, you have dough for other days.  How does that work?  Take it out of the refrigerator, punch it down, wrap it in plastic wrap and get about 3 balls of dough into that same zip-lock bag and freeze them.  On the day you want to use it, take it out in the morning and let it defrost in your refrigerator.  By dinner time, it is ready to go.
• It is a lot less expensive to make this from scratch than to purchase dough from the store or from a mix.
• The hands on time was less than 10 minutes per batch.
• You can make more than Pizza dough with this.  The first thought are those wonderful bread sticks that can be made.  Watch the blog for more ideas of how to use it.

Here is the recipe for "Little Caesars Pizza Dough".  

Little Caesars Pizza Dough

http://savoryseasonings.blogspot.com/

1 1/4 cups (9.7 oz) warm water (approximately 120° F)

2 3/4 tsp. dry active yeast

2 TBSP sugar

1 TBSP Honey 

1 TBSP Olive Oil 

2 Tsp. Salt

1 1/2 cups (8 oz.) bread flour or all purpose flour

1 1/2 cups (8 oz.) whole wheat flour (optional, can use 100% bread flour or all purpose flour)

Mix water and yeast in mixing bowl and allow it to proof for 5 minutes. Mix in sugar, honey and oil. Then mix in 1 cup flour and the salt. Continue mixing in all the remaining flour until you get a nice, soft dough. Knead until dough is soft and smooth (approx. 10 minutes). 

Finish kneading on a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball. Place in the refrigerator in a covered container coated with olive oil for overnight. For the perfect flavor, it is best to time making the dough 24 hours before baking the pizza's (for pizza Saturday at 5pm, make your dough Friday at 5pm). If you are short on time you can sacrifice some flavor and make this dough first thing in the morning and place it in the fridge until dinner that evening. 

3 hours before baking: Remove from fridge and either divide dough in half for two 12” pizzas or leave whole for one somewhat thicker 16” pizza. Work each piece of dough into balls. Allow the dough to come back to room temperature (this process generally takes 3 hours).

45 minutes before baking: With your pizza stone on the bottom rack of your oven, preheat your oven to 475° F to allow the stone to get hot enough (this process generally takes 40-50 minutes).

15 minutes before baking: Shape dough into desired pizza crust, sprinkle pizza peel, wooden cutting board or upside down cookie sheet with corn meal, flour or rice flour. Place pizza crust on top, then add toppings. Gently slide pizza onto the hot pizza stone and bake for 9-11 minutes. 

Try it today!