Beer Base Pizza Dough
We like our pizza around these parts. During both our remodels, the Papa John’s deliver car visited our house at least once a week (and usually on Saturday after a super long day of hard labor). While convenient, take out pizza is expensive and questionable in nutritional value. And we could never resist whatever dessert pizza was offered alongside our dinner for free. Not the best.
Today I have a recipe for a pizza dough that is every bit as good as take out, comes together in your bread machine, and can be frozen. It’s sort of an amalgamation of a few recipes I’ve used over the years, and I finally have one we like time and time again. We all know beer and pizza are natural companions, and this recipe uses the beer in the dough.
You’ll have to forgive the lighting in this photo. The dreary and wet days make it hard to get enough natural light for nice photos!
Beer Base Pizza Dough
Skill Level (out of 5): 
2Chili’s Taster Rating (out of 5): 
Ingredients:
- 1 cup flat beer (doesn’t matter what kind, but I go with something light or amber because the flavor does come through)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons white sugar (or sugar in the raw)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour (or bread flour)
- 2 1/4 teaspoons yeast
Method:
- Put all ingredients in your bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough setting, and press Start.
- When cycle is complete, remove and roll out dough on a lightly floured surface, using more flour when needed if dough becomes sticky. I usually toss it in the air a few times, which really helps even out the thickness – but be careful!
- Place onto a prepared pizza pan or cookie sheet, pressing down the middle and leaving about one inch of crust around the edges.
- Brush lightly with olive oil. Cover and let stand 15 minutes.
- Meantime, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Prick dough all around where the toppings will go with a fork.
- Spread desired sauce and toppings on top of dough. We use 1/2 cup low sodium pasta sauce, 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese, one sautéed red pepper, and chopped pineapple.
- Bake until crust is lightly brown and crispy on the outside, about 24 minutes.
Tips:
- Set out the beer in a measuring cup on the counter and cover with a paper towel in the morning the day you wish to make the dough to let it get flat over the course of the day.
- Once the dough has risen in the machine, you can take it out, punch it down, place into a Ziploc bag and store it in the freezer for later. The morning of the day you’re ready to make the pizza, simply take it out of the bag, place it in a bowl sprayed with olive oil or nonstick spray, cover with a clean dishtowel and place it into the refrigerator. It will be thawed out, will have re-risen, and will be ready to bake by evening.
- I know I say it a lot, but it’s because I care. It would be wise to use low sodium pasta sauce here, because jarred tomato products are the highest offenders of excessive and unnecessary salt. Since the dough requires salt to really work, a low sodium sauce helps balance everything out.
Nutrition:
Based on 8 servings of pizza with 1/2 cup low sodium pasta sauce, 1 cup of mozzarella cheese, 1 cup of pineapple, and 1 red bell pepper.
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