Quick Cider Infused Pizza Dough

The key players

The Inspiration

Raise your hand if you are someone that tries to plan out your meals for the week. Keep your hand up if it doesn't always happen that way. I start out my week with the best of intentions, then life happens and you need some quick meals at the spur of a moment. As much as I love to cook I don't have time to spend hours and hours making dinner when it's just the two of us. But I love good food, so I'm always looking for ways to make quick and delicious meals. Enter no-yeast pizza dough—made with Woodchuck Cider! 

The Know-How

Making this pizza dough is more similar to a quick bread than a yeast bread—Capt. Obvious everyone—what I mean is that, the rising this crust will do is due to the baking powder. And without the yeast it doesn't have to rise which makes this a simple and quick option, when you are craving pizza, and don't want to order out. With the semolina and lack of yeast involved, you shouldn't expect to get a very fluffy crust out of this dough. It is going to be a nice dense yet soft (unless you over bake it) thin crust.

The cider: The carbonation helps with the rise just a tad, but mainly gives the crust a nice flavor. I love the flavor of all of the Woodchuck ciders but the Pink and Amber are my favorites. I had the Pink on hand, so that is what is used here. And Yes! the cider is actually pink, love it. 
I'm the type of person that will almost never use water when a recipe needs some moisture. Why miss out on a flavor opportunity.

The semolina flour: I had once read that a lot of what makes a professional pizza not compare to homemade is the fact that they use semolina. I'm not sure how much this is true, but I wanted to try it out for myself to see how much of a difference it made. It makes a difference. I bought the Bob's Red Mill semolina flour. The semolina gave the crust it's gorgeous yellow color along with a deeper flavor than only using all-purpose flour. It has a much grittier texture than flour so I only subbed 1 c of the flour for the semolina.

Semolina

The How-To

Quick Cider Infused Pizza dough

Prep time: 20 min
Cook Time: 8-10 min

Ingredients:
3 c Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 c Semolina Flour
1 (12 oz) bottle of hard cider (I used Pink Woodchuck)
1 Tbsp Baking Powder
1 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil (plus extra for rolling out dough)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp each: oregano, basil, parsley (feel free to substitute to your liking)

This will make two medium sized pizzas (The pictures show a 14" and a 12" because I was not careful separating the dough in half.)

-Preheat over to 450° F.
-Gather all your ingredients. I like to measure everything out a head of time so I can just throw it in when I'm ready.

I love the pink cider!

-Stir/Mix all dry ingredients together. I didn't use a mixer but you can. Just do it on low so you don't make your cider a foam.
-Bit by bit, add the cider as you stir, and add the oil.
-The dough may be very sticky; add a little more AP flour to make it knead-able if needed.
-It will still probably be a fairly sticky dough...you have been warned. Knead the dough until a fairly smooth texture is achieved. No need to let it sit and rise

-Spread a bit of olive oil on a pizza pan, Roll the dough out on the pan. You can also use parchment paper—I think next time I will so the bottom crisps just a little more. If you like a slightly soft crust use a pan.

-Prick the dough with a fork a few times
-Pop the rolled out dough in the oven for about 2-3 minutes, only if you are using a pan.

-Top pizza dough with sauce, cheese, and toppings.
-Bake at 450° F for about 8-10 minutes.
-Enjoy the fruit of you labors with a delicious beverage.