The Easiest Dough You’ll Ever Make

The easiest dough you’ll ever make is also the most versatile. Use it for pizzas, artisan bread loafs, foccacia and even delicious fry bread in the morning! Read on for how to add this simple dough to your weekly meal plans.

How I Found The Recipe

The original recipe came from a book called “Artisan Bread in 5 Minutes A Day” by Jeff Hertzberg M.D. and Zoë François. You can grab the book on Amazon. They have a new edition as well. When I first started baking my own bread at home this was the bread I made. I was in my second year of marriage and still trying to figure out what I was doing in a kitchen. I grew up with home cooked meal basically every night. It was a treat to go out to eat or order pizza! But I had never been in charge of a kitchen myself and I found it to be a bit overwhelming. While I still cooked most nights, I was using quite a bit of processed boxed foods. It may have been cooked at home, but it certainly was not from scratch like I do now.

The bread was a hit though and it prompted me to continue finding things to make at home rather than purchase at a store and heat up at home. I continued making the bread and inherited a bread machine from my mom. I used that as well and got pretty good with it. Then it broke. I did not want to buy a new one. Mainly because the loaves were made vertically and I wanted a horizontal loaf like the machine I had been using. So back to kneading and forming I went.

My Own Easy Dough Recipe

After making the artisan bread recipe for years, I started to learn how I could make some tweaks and changes to fit more of what I wanted in a dough. It has been years of doing so, but I finally have a recipe that I truly enjoy and go back to all the time. The family loves it as pizza dough. We typically have a family pizza night on a weekly basis. This dough has saved me in a pinch many times when I forget to mix it up early.

This recipe doesn’t include sourdough starter, but you can add it in if you want. Just cut down on the water and the yeast. For example, if you want to add 1 cup of sourdough starter to the dough, cut back on the water by 3/4-1 cup. If you mix the dough in the AM omit at least half the yeast. It will have time to develop during the day. If you are like me and forget to mix the dough until late afternoon, add a good amount of yeast to get good rise out of the dough before using it. You may need to add some water back in depending on your starter’s hydration. Add the sourdough first and then add water accordingly when you mix the dough. Another reason this is the easiest dough you’ll ever make. So simple and allows for a lot of flexibility. Two absolute musts in my kitchen.

The Easiest Dough You’ll Ever Make Recipe

Now that you know how the recipe came about and what you can do with it, here it is. Feel free to play around with it and make it work best for you. That is what I did and am quite pleased with the results.

What You’ll Need:

• Organic All-Purpose/Bread Flour
• Yeast (not instant)
• Water (about 100 degrees)
• Kosher Salt
• Honey/Organic Cane Sugar/Sucunat
• Sourdough Starter (fed within 8-12 hours)
• Olive Oil
• Large mixing bowl
• Sturdy Wooden Spoon
• Plastic Wrap/Damp Floursack Towel/Beeswax Wrap

Optional

• Sourdough Starter (fed within 8-12 hours)

How To Make the Easiest Dough

Warm the water to about 100 degrees. In a large mixing bowl mix together your dry ingredients.

Gradually add the liquid to the dry ingredients and stir. I usually start by adding about 1/2 the water and stir. Then I add the olive oil followed by the sourdough starer. I then add more water until I get the consistency I want. I go for dough that cleans the sides of the bowl pretty well but still has tackiness to it. By the time you use it, it will be even stickier, trust me.

Rise Time

After the dough is mixed thoroughly, it’s time for it to rise. Depending on what you chose to use, your rise time can vary. If you used only yeast, you won’t have a super long rise time. If you used only sourdough starter, you will need a solid 8-12 hours of rise time. A mixture of the two will need about 4-5 hours rise time. The temperature of your house will also be a factor in the time needed. Cooler temps slow the rising process. If you are making this dough in the middle of winter, plan ahead for extra time. Making this dough in the heat of summer will cut down the rise time quite a bit.

Once your dough is mixed, cover tightly with a damp tea towel or plastic wrap. Set the bowl in a draft free area to rise. Once the dough has risen to at least double it’s size, you can use it for whatever you like. Personally, I use it for pizza dough the most. Just grab some parchment paper and make sure you get your fingers wet before grabbing and chunk of dough. It will be sticky so you’ll have to work at just pushing it out and forming it to the shape you want. This is not a dough that you can use without parchment paper so keep that in mind. Try this amazing French Onion & Feta Pizza! You will not be disappointed.

Variations

If you want to make bread with this dough, you’ll just need to split it into a couple loaves. Flour your hands and the counter generously and shape the dough into a ball as quickly as you can. Pull the dough down from the top and tuck it under the ball. Then place it into a smaller bowl with parchment paper to rise more. Bake @ 400 degrees in a preheated Dutch oven for 30-40 minutes. Remove lid for last 10 minutes of baking. When you knock on the bread and it sounds hollow, it’s ready to be taken out of the oven.

Another way to use this dough is a focaccia bread. You’ll just need a well-oiled rimmed cookie sheet. Press the dough out and then let it rise again. Poke your fingers all over and add oil and seasonings on top. Bake @ 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until you can see a nicely browned crust if you lift up on the bread a bit. Let cool slightly and remove from pan to prevent the bread from becoming soggy on the bottom.

Now It’s Your Turn

Try this recipe out and let me know what you think! I would love to know how you use it in your own home! Let me know in the comments!