Quick And Easy Dough

When I was on a strict budget, I use to make my own dough daily. While not a huge savings, it only costs about 33-50 cents to make. You can use dough for pizza, pizza fritta, bread and garlic knots.. When you learn how easy it is to make dough, you make it regularly with the kids. It is fun and is similar to making play dough.

Ingredients

3 1/2 to 4 cups flour - There are 3 types I have used. White Flour (Cheapest) Whole Grain/Wheat (Healthiest) and Bread Flour (Crispiest for Pizza for some reason)

1 teaspoon sugar

1 envelope instant dry yeast

2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cups water, 110 degrees F

2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons

 

Mix the flour, sugar, yeast and salt in the bowl. If you have a mixer, you can use the mixer.  While whisking/mixing, you should add the water and 2 tablespoons of oil and beat until you  create a texture that you commonly know as dough. I like to coat the bowl with flour once the dough begins to form. The flour allows you to roll the bowl easier to form a ball. It also avoids stickiness. The flour also serves as a way to firm up the ball of dough.

Coat a bowl with 1-2  teaspoons of olive oil. Next, add the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap. You should store the dough in a warm area. It will increase in size in about an hour. You should be able to divide the dough into 2 balls. I generally like to keep it as one ball. It all depends on what you want to use the dough for regarding your cooking needs.