How to Make Homemade Dough
The great thing about pizza crust is that you can make variations of it depending on your taste and needs. With a variety of flours available on the market, you have more to choose from. Of course, there is the traditional all-purpose flour but you can also choose bread flour, gluten-free flour, buckwheat flour, organic flour, spelt flour, whole-wheat flour or self-rising flour.
You can also make your own self-rising flour. For each cup of all-purpose flour you use, add 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder. Mix all of the ingredients together.
Shaping Your Pizza Dough
The fun thing about using your own dough to make a pizza crust is that you can fashion it into any shape you like. Although the traditional shape of a pizza crust is round, you can also make it into a square or rectangle, or experiment by trying a triangle, heart or anything else that comes to mind. You can even use it to create a calzone by folding the ingredients into the middle and creating an "envelope" with the dough.
The Right Dough for the Right Crust
You need to use the right dough for the right crust. If you prefer a higher, puffier type of crust then an additional 2 teaspoons of yeast in your favorite pizza dough recipe will do the trick.
If you like a thicker crust, make sure the dough is about 1/2 inch thick and allow it to slightly rise. How thick you roll out your dough will determine how thick the crust is going to be, and how high you allow it to rise will determine how chewy it will be.