Ah…New Years Eve. A night of revelry, drinking and general celebration. Unless of course you have kids, then you are probably like me and will be sitting on the couch with your nice cold beer ringing in the new year with Dick Clark ( is he still alive?). That’s assuming of course that you can make it that long. Because we all know that no matter how late you stay up and party, the kids will be up at 7am no matter what.
For the sake of the blog though, lets assume that you ( unlike me) have a life and you are headed out to a fabulous party tonight. After a long night of drinking and dancing and…counting, I guess…you are gonna be hungry. What could be better to pull out of the fridge than some cold pizza.? Nothing I tell you. Nothing.
So, do yourself a favor and do a little preemptive cooking. The dough doesn’t take long, about an hour. And you can get 3, 12-14 inch pizzas out of it. It’s a good dough, thin and crisp, but strong enough to hold some toppings. You could even double or triple the recipe and make a few crusts, parbake them , then freeze them. Only if you wanted to of course.
Now, you go put your high heels on and get all pretty. Go out and have a good time. BE SAFE! Have one for me and have a Happy New Year!
Pizza Dough
1 package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon kosher salt
Extra-virgin olive oil
3 cups flour, 1 cup AP and 2 cups Bread Flour, plus more for dusting
In the bowl of a standing electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water; stir gently to dissolve. Let the mixture stand until the yeast comes alive and starts to foam, about 5 to 10 minutes.
Turn the mixer on low and add the salt and 2 tablespoons of olive oil. 
Add the flour, a little at a time, mixing at the lowest speed until all the flour has been incorporated
When the dough starts to come together, increase the speed to medium; stop the machine periodically to scrape the dough off the hook. Get a feel for the dough by squeezing a small amount together: if it’s crumbly, add more water; if it’s sticky, add more flour – 1 tablespoon at a time. Mix until the dough gathers into a ball, this should take about 5 minutes.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and fold it over itself a few times; kneading until it’s smooth and elastic. 
Form the dough into a round and place in a lightly oiled bowl, turn it over to coat. Cover with plastic wrap or a damp towel and let it rise in a warm spot (i.e. over a gas pilot light) until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Preheat your oven to 500. If you have a pizza stone, put it in. ( I don’t have a pizza stone)
Once the dough is domed and spongy, turn it out onto a lightly floured counter. Roll and stretch the dough into a cylinder and divide into 3 equal pieces. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes so it will be easier to roll out.
Roll out dough into 12 inch rounds. Place on a pizza pan (or a peel if you have a stone). 
Par bake for a couple of minutes in the oven.
Brush with olive oil, and top with your favorite toppings. 
Return to oven until crust it crisp and cheese its melted.
Slice and enjoy!
I love to make my own pizza dough. I've made it with half whole wheat flour before, but I'm about to tell you my big secret…I mix the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast and put it in quart-size baggies in my cabinet. When I want to make pizza I just dump it in the mixer, add some olive oil and a cup of water and go! One bag of flour makes about 6 of them. Hope someone finds this useful! 🙂
That's a great suggestion! Thanks so much Kim!