Easy Artisan Pizzas

I recently discovered the joys of Artisan Pizza dough found in Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day: The Discovery That Revolutionizes Home Baking by Jeff Hertzberg and Zoe Francois and it has changed my life! I had a few minutes to spare before running out to Home Goods (my favorite store in the entire world) tonight so I mixed up some pizza dough and came home to dough ready to roll out and cook up for the kids for lunch tomorrow at school. You simply measure all the ingrediants into a container (I used my Le Creuset Dutch Oven), mix with a wooden spoon, loosely cover, and let it rise for 2 hours. IT'S THAT EASY! Really! If you are someone who has never made pizza dough before- this is the recipe for you. If you are a busy wife and/or mom- this is the recipe for you. The book contains many other recipes including an incredible Challah bread recipe and an Artisan Bread recipe that tastes and looks like it came from a bakery.
Here is the recipe which I found at Sidewalk Shoes:

Olive Oil Dough
From Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

2 3/4 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tablespoons granulated yeast
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
6 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Mix the water, yeast, salt, sugar and olive oil in a 5-quart, lidded container (or bowl).

Mix the flour in, without kneading. Use a wooden spoon, a stand mixer, or a food processor.

Cover, not airtight, and let sit at room temperature for about 2 hours, until the dough rises and then flattens on top.

Store in the fridge, keep it covered, but not air tight, and use within 12 days.

On the day you are going to make pizza, bring the dough out of the fridge. Dust the surface of the dough with some flour and pull off a one pound chunk (using a serrated knife or kitchen shears), this is about grapefruit size. Put the rest of the dough back in the fridge to be used another day. Using floured hands quickly shape into a ball and then roll out, just like you roll any other pizza dough. Using flour when needed to keep it from sticking. There is no need for it to rest, you can proceed directly with your pizza recipe!  

 I preheated the oven to 425 degrees and cooked the mini pizzas for about 10-12 minutes. 
Special thanks to my friend Taryn who introduced me to this recipe and the idea to make it for my kids for lunches. Check out her cute store Speckled Sunshine if you have a moment for adorable gifts for Christmas, birthday, baby showers, etc.