My brother Steven lived in Rome, Italy, for two years and is quite the snob when it comes to pizza. He even built himself his own pizza oven so he could make the perfect pie anytime he wanted. He has a phenomenal pizza dough recipe, one where he doesn’t measure anything. I finally got him to nail down some measurements, and I’m including his dough recipe below.

When he makes a pizza, he buys sauce made from crushed tomatoes and salt, spreads it on the dough, and tops it with fresh mozzerella, olives, artichoke hearts, fresh basil and red peppers. You could experiment with any combination you wanted to, though. Check out his homemade pizza oven, and his dough recipe.

Steven’s Homemade Italian Pizza Dough

8 cups flour

50 grams fresh yeast (available at the Provo Bakery)

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon sugar

1 cup plus 2-3 cups hot water

Fill stand mixer with flour and salt. Mix with bread dough hook. In separate bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in 1 cup hot (just hotter than lukewarm) water.  Stir until yeast begins to foam. Add yeast to flour and salt mixture, then add 2 cups of hot water. Mix for one minute. Dough should not stick to the sides, but should still stick to the bottom. If needed, add more water, ¼ cup at a time. When mixture reaches desired consistency (a bit thicker than cookie dough), stir for 8 minutes. Put in bowl and let it double in size (this takes about 30 minutes), then smash it back down. Let it double in size again, then smash back down. You can use dough immediately, or refrigerate. If you refrigerate dough, let it rise to room temperature before shaping into pizza pies.