New Year's Resolution: Pursuit of the Perfect Pizza

I don't make New Year's resolutions. Why resolve to make a MAJOR change ONCE a year? That's way too much pressure for this lazy hippie. Instead, I like to set up frequent, attainable goals for myself. My latest goal was to learn how to make the perfect homemade pizza. I vowed that I would accomplish this by the end of winter. 
I started my journey in mid-December and was able to accomplish it by New Year's Eve. Looks like I can relax until Spring

You'll need:
heavy duty stand mixer with dough hook
extra large pizza pan with perforated bottom
shallow oven-proof dish
(I'm way too lazy to knead this by hand, but I'm sure it can be done. If you try it, let me know how it works)

Ingredients:
1 cup "comfortably" warm water
1 T honey
2.5 tsp active dried yeast

2 tsp salt
2 T olive oil

2.5-3 cup BREAD flour  (This type of flour has extra GLUTEN. I know, gluten gets a bad rap, but it's what gives the dough its amazing, chewy texture.)

Preparing the dough:
Pour 1 cup "comfortably" warm water into the bowl of your stand mixer. Mix in honey until dissolved. Sprinkle in yeast and let sit until bubbly (a few minutes).

While the yeast is doing it's little yeast thing, turn oven on to lowest setting (about 200 degrees F) and continue on with the rest of the recipe.(Note: Whenever your oven is preheated, you can turn it off again. By the time you're ready to let your dough rise, the oven will be the perfect temperature.

Now, back to your yeast mixture. It should be nice and foamy and have a fresh bread aroma. Stir in salt and olive oil. Attach bread hook to mixer. Pour in 2 cups of BREAD flour. Turn mixer on low-medium until combined. Keep adding more flour, a little at a time, until dough pulls away from sides of the bowl and comes together into a pliable ball. Depending on freshness of the flour, humidity, and other factors, some days you'll need more or less than others. I've never needed more than 3 cups of flour, though.  

Once a ball is formed, let mixer knead the dough for EXACTLY 6 minutes. After the magical 6 minutes, turn off mixer, pull dough from dough hook and remove bowl from stand. Coat dough ball in a little olive oil, put dough ball back in bowl, cover with damp cloth and place in your already warm oven for 1-2 hours.

Making the pizza:

When you're ready to make your pizza, remove the dough from the oven and preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Fill a shallow dish with water and place in oven. (This will add humidity to the oven and will help keep the crust nice and chewy.)

Cut dough ball in half. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each half into an approximate circle. Cover circles with damp cloth and LEAVE ALONE until the oven has preheated. (This step lets the gluten rest and the dough will rise again, slightly. This keeps the dough from being too chewy)

 When your oven is good and hot, pick up one dough circle and let gravity stretch it out a bit, moving it through your hands like you're turning a floppy steering wheel. Place the dough on the pizza pan and continue to pull the crust out to the edges of the pan. "Dock" the crust by poking a bunch of little holes with a fork. (This will prevent giant bubbles from forming.) Top with your favorite sauce, toppings and cheeses. Place in hot oven for 10 minutes. Then prepare yourself for homemade pizza perfection!!

NOTE: Next time we make it, I'll try to remember to take pictures. We tend to eat it as soon as it comes out of the oven, but I'll try to practice a little self control in the future.