Gluten Free Deep Pan Pizza Crust

Gluten Free Deep Pan Pizza

As with regular pizza around here, I get tired of making one kind of gluten free pizza crust for my gluten limited son. Since the kid really loved eating Pizza Hut pizza before going gluten free on his pizza, I figured that I needed to try a pan pizza for him. For this recipe, I just used the recipe for Gluten Free French Rolls that originated with a Gluten Free French Bread recipe on the Better Batter Flour website.
I don't know that this pizza tastes like Pizza Hut, but my son said it tasted "like a slice of heaven," and "a little more crispy [than other pizza crust], but it's good." We'll see how he feels after eating the other two pizzas in the freezer. For now, though, I'm calling it a success. Deep pan pizza for my gluten limited son. Good stuff.


Gluten Free Deep Pan Pizza Crust

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups warm water
• 3 1/2 cups Better Batter Gluten Free Flour
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
• 3 tablespoons (approximately) vegetable or olive oil
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 450 to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, place the water, flour, salt, and yeast. Mix on low until flour is moistened. Scrape the sides down and then turn mixer on medium to medium high for about 4 minutes.
• While dough/batter mixes, spray three 9-inch cake pans with nonstick cooking spray. Drizzle about a teaspoon or so of vegetable oil in the bottom of each pan and then sprinkle with a little garlic salt.
• When dough/batter is mixed, scoop about 1/3 of the batter into the center of each pan.
• With wet fingers, spread batter to the edges of the pans, re-wetting fingers as needed to prevent sticking. Drizzle the tops with a little more oil--about 1 to 2 teaspoons each.
• Allow dough/batter to rise for about 40-45 minutes, uncovered.
• Right before baking, poke each pan of dough about 10 times with an oiled finger.
• Place pans in the oven and bake for about 14-18 minutes, or until crust is puffed, set, and starting to brown on the bottom (you'll need to get a spatula or tongs to help lift the crust to get a peak at the bottom).
• Now you have two choices: 1. Top your pizza with your favorite toppings and place back in the hot oven until the cheese is melted and bubbly, or 2. Remove baked crusts to a wire rack to cool completely, place in zip top freezer bags when cool, and freeze until ready to use. Place on parchment or back in a pan when ready to use.

Makes 3 nine-inch pizza crusts

These crusts are frozen and ready for more pizza at a later date.

Garlic Butter Sauce

Garlic Butter Sauce is fabulous on pizza crust.

Garlic butter and bread, such a happy pairing. I've always enjoyed these two together, but here in Des Moines we have a pizza delivery place called Northern Lights Pizza. They have these amazing breadsticks served swimming in a salty peppery garlic butter sauce. Warm, puffy logs of soft pizza crust with just the right amount of butter, salt, pepper, and garlic. Mmm. I always eat too many. 
Since we've been trying to eat homemade food more lately, I finally tried making my own garlic butter sauce, and it's surprisingly easy to make an equally delicious sauce at home. 
We enjoy dipping our crust from Bubbly No Knead Pizza in this sauce, and it tastes pretty awesome spread on fresh hot homemade baby French Batards (need to post that recipe still).  
Any place you like a savory butter, this would work, in my opinion. So good.
What's nice about it, too, is that you can keep it in the refrigerator, and it firms up to a very soft butter consistency, so it's spreadable out of the fridge. At room temperature, it's mostly liquid, and good for dipping.
So here you go. Another simple and delicious way to enjoy butter and garlic together.

Garlic Butter Sauce

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 large garlic cloves, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

Instructions:
Place butter and olive oil in a small saucepan or saute pan over low heat. While butter melts, mince the garlic. Add garlic to melted butter & olive oil. Add salt and pepper. Cook on low for one minute and then turn off the heat and allow to sit until cool. 
Serve with pizza (crust) or hot bread.
Cover and refrigerate leftovers. Use within about 10 days.

Makes about 2/3 cup
 

The sauce becomes semi-solid upon refrigeration.

Bubbly No-Knead Pizza Crust

I think my family let me have the bubbliest piece because they love me.

I ran across this recipe while browsing King Arthur Flour's blog Flourish a couple of weeks ago. The post was written by one of the KAF owner employees I met when I was there for a baking class--Julia Reed was assigned to take some pics in the Baking Education Center and she was such a warm person with a great sense of humor. At any rate, she titled this post "The Best Pizza You'll Ever Make" and it's true. I've made a LOT of pizzas in my day, and I really think this one was the best--and simplest. The crust got delightfully bubbly, crisp, and chewy, and it had a fabulous flavor all on its own. Then with the toppings...mmm. Just perfect. And the dough prep involved no kneading at all--just a little stirring, folding, and waiting. If you want to see a great tutorial with detailed pics of the process, click here. Below is how I did it, but know that I referred back to the Flourish post several times just to be sure I was on the right track.
So, if you're into pizza and want to experience an airy, bubbly homemade crust, you have to try this recipe. You just have to.


No-Knead Pizza Crust
    --adapted from Flourish/KingArthurFlour.com

Ingredients:

• 4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose Flour, plus more for dusting (Note: I used half AP and half bread flour one time and it made this pizza even better.)
• 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 1/2 cup warmish water

Instructions:
Note: This pizza turns out best if you have a baking stone, or even better, a sheet of baking steel (which I do not yet have).
Mix all of the ingredients in a large bowl. Dough might look a little dry now, but it will turn gooey and wet over while it ferments/rises. Cover bowl and allow dough to rise 24 hours. 
When dough has risen and you're about 1 1/2 hours from wanting to eat pizza, preheat oven to 550 degrees Fahrenheit.
Turn dough out onto a heavily floured surface and cut in half. Working with one piece of dough at a time, stretch one end of the dough and fold over the middle third of the piece of dough. Then stretch the other end and fold over like a letter. Go to an unfolded side, stretch, and fold just like you did before, but with the opposite sides. Tuck all of the ends to the underside and place in a floured bowl. Cover. Repeat with the other piece of dough and allow to rise for 45-60 minutes.
Get all of your toppings ready. Line a pizza peel or underside of a baking sheet that will act as a peel.
Turn a piece of dough out onto a well-floured surface. With gentle fingertips, press and stretch dough from the center taking care not to squash the outer 1/2 to 1 inch of the circle you are forming. Then gently lift dough circle with your knuckles and allow dough to stretch with the force of gravity, gently moving your knuckles around the edge to stretch and enlarge the crust. Stretch to about a 12 inch diameter and then place on the prepared parchment. Cut the parchment in a circle about 1/2 to 1 inch larger than the crust.
I topped my pizzas with homemade pizza sauce, pepperoni, sliced mozzarella, Roma tomatoes, and fresh sliced garlic.
Slide topped pizza onto the baking stone/steel, turn oven to broil, and bake/broil for about 6 minutes. (Note: if your broiler is less than 8 inches from the pizza surface, don't do the broil, just bake at 550 degrees until bubbly and melty.)
Pizza will start to char on the top of the big, bubbly edges and cheese will be melted and probably start to brown.
Slide back onto pizza peel or inverted baking sheet, cut, and serve. Be careful not to burn you mouth.

Makes two large pizzas (approx 12-inches in diameter)

Right after mixing the dough, it's lumpy and kind of dry.

Surprising how wet the dough gets after 24 hours.

These dough balls are sitting for their second rise. See the original post on Flourish for more pics.

I've really been liking the sliced mozzarella that I've been using lately on pizza.

Can you hear the angels singing? Oh my goodness. So good.

Cheesy Pizza Crust

Cheesy Pizza Crust

Sometimes you just want some garlicky cheesy bread. For me, this is the easiest way, especially if I have some pizza crusts in the freezer, which I usually do. This is one of those recipes that I'm not sure really needs its own post, but it's just different enough, and well, I had the pics, so here you go. I do love this pizza crust in particular right now, so I've been making it a lot. This would probably make a good side for a salad meal, which we never do around here. It's also great as a side for a tasty soup, like my favorite Vegetable Beef Soup.
Enough. Just know this is cheesy and satisfying. Enjoy.

Cheesy Pizza Crust
    --Adapted from Tyler Forence's Pizza Dough Recipe at FoodNetwork.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons warm water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose Flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

• 1 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
• 3/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions:
Place the warm water and olive oil in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment.
Add the flour. Then add the sugar, salt, and instant yeast.
With the dough hook, mix on low until ingredients are incorporated. Turn speed up to medium and kneed dough on medium for about 4-5 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic. (My dough sometimes separates into two pieces.)
Scrape dough off hook and out of bowl and form into a single ball. Return dough to bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. 
Allow dough to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. While dough rises, preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. (Note: Your oven should have a baking stone for optimal results.)
Scrape risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut dough into 4 pieces.
Form each piece of dough into a nice round ball. Cover dough balls with plastic wrap and allow to rest for about 15-20 minutes.
Line a semi-rimless baking sheet or a pizza peel with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface, roll, stretch, pull, and press dough out to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness. Place on prepared baking sheet or pizza peel. If you're making 8 small crusts, you should be able to fit four of the crusts onto the baking sheet/pizza peel.
Before sliding crusts into the oven, tap all ten of your fingernails, like claws, into each crust about 3-4 times to perforate the dough (see below). If you skip this step, you will end up with puffy pita pockets instead of pizza crusts. 
Bake for 3-4minutes at 500 degrees, or until there are browned spots on the bottom of the crust.Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Note: If for some reason one of your crusts puffed up like a balloon (pita bread), just set the other crusts on top of that one until it's flattened. Do not attempt to flatten it with your fingers or hand, or you'll get a steam burn.

Take a baked crust and spread butter all over the surface. Sprinkle with garlic salt, pepper, and then the cheese. Put back into the hot oven and bake for 3-4 more minutes, or until cheese is completely melted and starting to bubble. 
Remove from oven and cut into wedges.
Repeat with remaining crusts, if desired, or you can use them for regular pizza, or freeze for later.

Makes 4 medium pizzas

Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix--Just Add Water

Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix

Thin crust gluten free pizza

My gluten-limited kid usually has his pizza on Gluten Free French Sandwich Rolls, but it just seems so, I don't know, boring. Not that he minds redundancy in his diet--the kid has been eating the exact same lunch since like second grade. Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating; he switched from deli turkey to deli roast beef in seventh grade. Otherwise, he's had the same lunch for seven years.
I digress. The thing is, my son's favorite pizza is Domino's gluten free pizza, which we don't buy very often for a couple of reasons. Mostly, I prefer making pizza at home for a fraction of the cost of buying it. So I thought I'd try a new gluten free thin crust with my favorite gluten free flour. I found this recipe on the Better Batter website, and my son likes it--not as much as Domino's, of course, but he likes it. I like it because I mix up a batch of mix that makes four pizzas. I make one crust at a time and leave the mix in the refrigerator for next time. Easy peasy.
I do use a pizza stone to bake this, although in the instructions below, I tell you to use a baking sheet lined with parchment. Do what you have to; I think it will turn out great either way. In the original recipe, Naomi over at Better Batter constructed an outdoor pizza oven with a bowl of hot coals and a cardboard box, so I think it's safe to say you can bake pizza on this crust in many ways. It's just a simple, straightforward thin pizza crust that's super easy to make.

Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix
      --Adapted from BetterBatter.org

Ingredients:

• 4 cups Better Batter Gluten Free All Purpose Flour
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon instant dry yeast

Instructions:
Mix flour with olive oil until incorporated, and then mix in the salt, sugar, and yeast. Store mix in a sealed zip-top bag in the refrigerator.

To make the crust: 
(Now is a good time to preheat your oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.)
Combine 1 cup flour with 1/2 cup warm water. Mix until it reaches the consistency of Play Doh. Dust work surface with some Better Batter flour. With your hands, shape dough into a ball and place on the dusted work surface. Generously flour the top of the dough and flatten with your hands into a thick disk. Then flour some more and roll out with a rolling pin to about 3/8 inch thickness. Carefully move to a parchment lined baking sheet either with your hands or by folding in half or quarters, transferring and then unfolding on the pan. If the crust breaks on you, just press it back together; it's pretty forgiving.
You might want to let it rise a bit before baking, but I'm usually in a hurry and I only let it rise for like 10-15 minutes.
Top with desired toppings and bake for about 8 minutes at 450 degrees, or until toppings are done and pizza edges are lightly browned.

Fried Pizza Crust

Totino's Pizza, although super duper unhealthy, is just a special kind of pizza. In the days when I could still eat Totino's pizza (thanks a LOT, hypertension), I would even bake one up and share it with my eating buddy son for breakfast. Yes, I said for breakfast. The thing about those cheap frozen pizzas is that they have this amazing crust. I like to bake them on a baking stone, so the crust gets extra crispy on the bottom and really chewy in the middle. No pizza crust I've ever made tasted anything like that--not that I was really going for that crust, but I just had no idea how they made it. 
Now I think I know. I think they fry it. I know, it sounds crazy, but it would explain the unique texture and flavor of the crust as well as the ridiculous amount of fat and calories in a single pizza. I'd also seen on Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives that some pizza place somewhere in the U.S. fries their pizza crust before topping and baking, so that's what I thought I'd try. I really think it works. My pizza even smelled like Totino's as it was baking. I don't have a recipe for the sauce, though, so I just used my favorite jarred sauce today (Classico), and it worked fine.
This crust is crispy and chewy, just like Totino's. And my tummy felt a little uneasy after I ate the whole experimental pizza for lunch this afternoon--a reminder that I should not do this very often--for so many reasons.
So there you have it. If you also are a lover of those frozen Totino's Party Pizzas, and you're into making things from scratch, give this a try and let me know what you think.


Fried Pizza Crust

--Adapted from Tyler Forence's Pizza Dough Recipe at FoodNetwork.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons warm water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose Flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast
• Canola oil for frying

Instructions:
Place the warm water and olive oil in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment.
Add the flour. Then add the sugar, salt, and instant yeast.
With the dough hook, mix on low until ingredients are incorporated. Turn speed up to medium and kneed dough on medium for about 4-5 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic.
Scrape dough off hook and out of bowl and form into a single ball. Return dough to bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Allow dough to rise until doubled, about 40-60 minutes.
Scrape risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut dough into 8 somewhat equal pieces.
Form each piece of dough into a nice round ball. Cover dough balls with plastic wrap and allow to rest for about 15-20 minutes.
Working with one ball of dough at a time, toss a ball of dough in some flour and place on a lightly floured surface. Roll dough out to about 1/6 to 1/8 inch thickness. Then with fingernails or a sharp knife, dock the dough at about 1/2 inch intervals. 
In a high-rimmed frying pan over medium-high heat, bring 1 inch of canola oil to about 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a cooling rack with paper towels and set aside.
You will need to either roll out all the dough and stack with layers of waxed paper or parchment in between, or get into a rhythm of rolling out and frying the crusts. I'll leave those details up to you.
To fry the crusts, when oil is heated to 375 degrees, gently place one crust into the oil. Use metal tongs to gently push the dough down in the middle and to "swish" the crust in the hot oil so that some hot oil gets onto the top of the pizza crust. When the crust starts to brown slightly on the edges, carefully use the tongs to turn the crust over. Fry on the other side until crust is a nice golden brown color. You will only get the bubbles on one side of the crust when you fry it in the pan like this. Remove fried crust to the paper towel lined cooking rack to cool. Keep rolling and frying remaining crusts.
They are now ready to be topped and baked like any other pre-made pizza crust.
Makes 8 pizza crusts (10-11 inches in diameter)

My husband likes cutting up Totino's like this.

Cheesy Deep Dish Pizza

Cheesy Deep Dish Pizza
Pepperoni and Roma Tomato 

This is about the third deep dish pizza recipe I've got here on this blog. The first is a simple recipe to be made in a large cast iron skillet. The second is a Chicago-Style Deep Dish Pizza, and this one is my most recent favorite. The recipe comes from a book titled Pasta & Pizza Presto. I think this dough recipe is the only recipe I've tried from this book, but it makes such a good crust, that I keep this book in my favorite recipe book collection on my kitchen counter.
I use this awesome pizzeria pan that my husband purchased for me one Christmas. It's a pan that was used in an actual pizza restaurant, so it came to me all dark and well-seasoned. That sounds sort of strange as I type it, but it's really a perfect deep dish pizza pan. It's 14 inches in diameter, so the resulting pizza is large enough to feed our whole family of four.
The crust of this pizza is thick and, well, crusty on the outside. It's soft, tender and chewy as well. It holds up to the pound of cheese on top, but I do like to eat mine with a knife and fork. I like putting a little bit of garlic salt on the bottom of the pan before putting in the dough just for an extra yummy layer of flavor, and for the bit of crust left at the end. So good. This is just a nice, simple, and delicious deep dish crust. I think you'll like it. 

Cheesy Deep Dish Pizza
       --adapted from Pasta & Pizza Presto

Deep Dish Pizza Dough Ingredients:

• 4 cups King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose Flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons instant yeast
• 1 1/3 cups warm water
• 4 tablespoons olive oil

Pizza Sauce Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/4 cup grated onion
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1/2 to 1 teaspoon dried basil (depending on the tomatoes you buy)
• 2 medium garlic gloves, minced
• 1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes (If they have basil already in them, only add 1/2 teaspoon dried basil)
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Pizza:

• 1 batch of Deep Dish Pizza Dough
• 1 cup (approx.) Pizza Sauce
• 2 tablespoons canola oil
• 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt
• 1 pound mozzarella cheese, shredded
• pizza toppings

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
In the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook* mix the flour, salt, and yeast. Turn the mixer on low and add the water and olive oil. Knead dough on medium low speed for about 4-5 minutes. Remove hook and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Allow dough to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Reattatch dough hook to mixer and knead dough for about a minute. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and cover with inverted bowl and allow dough to rest under the bowl for about 10 minutes.
*If you do not have a stand mixer, you can mix with a wooden spoon and then knead dough on a lightly floured surface for 8-10 minutes.

While dough rises, prepare the sauce.
In a skillet over medium heat, melt the 2 tablespoons butter. Then add the grated onion, oregano and basil. Cook over medium heat for about 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until liquid is evaporated and onions turn golden. Add minced garlic, stir, and allow to cook for about 30 seconds. Add tomatoes, honey, and red pepper flakes. Stir and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for about 25-30 minutes, or until sauce is reduced to about 2 1/2 cups. Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit.

Add 2 tablespoons of canola oil (or other oil) to the bottom of a 14 inch deep dish pizza pan. With your fingers, spread oil all around the edges and bottom of the pan. Sprinkle with about 1/4 teaspoon garlic salt. Set aside.

Push, pull, and/or roll the dough out into a 14-inch circle. Place in the bottom of the pan and make sure the dough pretty much goes up to the edges of the pan. Spread the pizza sauce across the entire surface of the dough. Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella cheese. Top with your favorite pizza toppings (I used about 1/3 pound pepperoni and 2 diced roma tomatoes).

Bake at 425 degrees for about 20-30 minutes, or until edges of crust are golden brown and the cheese is very melted and toppings are cooked and browned. 

Remove from the oven and run a metal spatula all around the edge of the pan to loosen any stuck parts. Carefully use the spatula to move the pizza out of the pan and onto a cutting surface. Cut with a pizza cutter into slices and enjoy.

Makes 8 servings

Such a nice, chewy, tender crust.
That's a piece of burned pepperoni on top there.

Pizza Crust (by Tyler Florence)

Pizza crust with butter, garlic salt, and pepper

Make crusts any size you like. I made 8 mini crusts today.

I've got several pizza crust recipes on this blog, but this is the one I've used the most in the last year. Don't know why I'm only posting it now. Maybe because I use this for quick dinners on nights when I have no time for blogging.
My very favorite pizza crusts require a lot of time: Ciabatta Pizza Crust requires an overnight biga, and Thin Crust Pizza requires a 24-hour rise in the fridge. Most days I do not have that kind of time AND sadly, I need to avoid the ciabatta crust because my gluten-limited son loves it too much. To make that crust for the rest of us while he eats his gluten free crust would just be cruel.
So, this crust turns out a little bit thick, but not too thick, a little chewy, and a little bit crusty. It's a nice vehicle for any pizza, and actually, last night, I used it as the bread for meatball sandwiches, which were really meatball tacos in the end.
It also tastes great buttered with a little garlic salt and pepper on top. Mmm... one of my favorite ways to enjoy it.
So, if you're looking for a pizza crust that's ready in 2 hours or less (the "less" means that you bake and freeze crusts for later use), this is the recipe for you. Enjoy.

Pizza Crust
    --Adapted from Tyler Forence's Pizza Dough Recipe at FoodNetwork.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons warm water
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All Purpose Flour, plus more for dusting
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast

Instructions:
Place the warm water and olive oil in the bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment.
Add the flour. Then add the sugar, salt, and instant yeast.
With the dough hook, mix on low until ingredients are incorporated. Turn speed up to medium and kneed dough on medium for about 4-5 minutes, or until dough is smooth and elastic. (My dough sometimes separates into two pieces.)
Scrape dough off hook and out of bowl and form into a single ball. Return dough to bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. 
Allow dough to rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours. While dough rises, preheat oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit. (Note: Your oven should have a baking stone for optimal results.)
Scrape risen dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Cut dough into 3-8 pieces, depending on the size pizza (or pita) you want.
Form each piece of dough into a nice round ball. Cover dough balls with plastic wrap and allow to rest for about 15-20 minutes.
Line a semi-rimless baking sheet or a pizza peel with parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface, roll, stretch, pull, and press dough out to about 1/8 to 1/4 inch thickness. Place on prepared baking sheet or pizza peel. If you're making 8 small crusts, you should be able to fit four of the crusts onto the baking sheet/pizza peel.
Before sliding crusts into the oven, tap all ten of your fingernails, like claws, into each crust about 3-4 times to perforate the dough (see below). If you skip this step, you will end up with puffy pita pockets instead of pizza crusts. 
(At this point, you can also top the pizza crust at this time and bake your pizzas for 5-6 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and crust is golden brown. Either way, the crust is great.)
Slide parchment with dough on it onto the baking stone in the oven. Bake crusts for 3-4 minutes at 500 degrees, or until there are browned spots on the bottom of the crust.
Remove from oven and transfer to a cooling rack. Note: If for some reason one of your crusts puffed up like a balloon (pita bread), just set the other crusts on top of that one until it's flattened. Do not attempt to flatten it with your fingers or hand, or you'll get a steam burn.
At this point, you can either top the crusts with your favorite toppings and return to the oven for 4-5 minutes, or you can completely cool and freeze the crusts for later use. OR you can use them for meatball tacos (see final pic below).

My dough hook gives me two lumps of dough sometimes.

Pizza dough: pre-rise

Pizza dough: after about 1 1/2 hours of rising

I cut dough in eighths today.

Dough balls resting

Four little crusts fit on one pan.

Fingernails are a cheap and reliable dough docking tool.

Crusts ready to go into the oven

Four crusts; one dressed up

One of my favorite ways to enjoy pizza crust: buttered, with garlic salt and pepper

I forgot to take a pic before I'd eaten the other 3 slices of my mini pizza.

See? Just slightly thick

And this one became the shell of a meatball taco.