Weekend Thick Pan Pizza

Adapted from America’s Test Kitchen
 
Ingredients

2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/4 oz. envelope active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon sugar
3/4 cup 1% milk
2 tablespoons olive oil
6 tablespoons pizza sauce
1 1/2 cups shredded pizza cheese
sliced pepperoni (optional)

Directions

1. Turn the oven on at 2oo degrees F for 10 seconds, then turn it off. (This will be a nice warm place for the dough to rise, but you don’t want it to be so hot that it cooks the dough.)

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, yeast, salt, and sugar.

3. Combine the milk and olive oil. Warm the liquid in the microwave until it registers 120 degrees on your instant thermometer. Add the liquid to the dry ingredients. Stir until thoroughly combined.

4. Dust the counter with flour. Place the dough on top. Knead the dough until smooth (about 5 - 8 minutes.)

5. Spray a large mixing bowl with nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place the bowl in the warm oven until doubled in size (about 1 1/2 - 2 hours). If the dough doesn’t seem to be rising much in an hour, you can turn the oven to 200 degrees for 10 seconds and shut it off, so the oven remains warm.

6. When the dough has doubled, spray the 8 inch baking pans with nonstick spray. Divide the dough in half and press the dough into the pan. No need to roll it! Cover the two cake pans with plastic wrap and put them in the warm oven for 30 minutes, so the dough rises a bit.

7. If using pepperoni as a topping, place them between paper towels and microwave for 25 - 30 seconds. This will reduce the amount of grease on the pizza.

8. Spread the dough with 3 tablespoons of pizza sauce. Top with 3/4 cup of pizza cheese. If using pepperoni, place the pepperoni on top.

9. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Cook the two pizza pans for about 18 minutes. Slice the pizza on a cutting board.