Easy Pizza dough

I've been trying to bake bread for a while now with varying success. I usually knead by hand but for Christmas as a massive surprise Santa brought me an Artisan mixer, and so I've been trying out making dough using this.

I think it takes a lot of practice and experience to get the dough just right- I feel I'm ALMOST there!

Today I decided to try making dough for pizza bases, and found this recipe on BBC food by Silvana Franco:

Ingredients:

-650g strong white flour

-7g sachet of easy quick acting yeast

-2 tsp salt

- 25ml olive oil

-50ml warm milk

- 325ml warm water

-I also threw in about a teaspoon of sugar- just because I've never made dough without it and I was worried the yeast wouldn't work, but I assume it isn't needed

Method:

-throw all the dry ingredients into a bowl/your mixer bowl, adding the salt and yeast at separate ends so the salt doesn't kill the yeast

-add the milk and olive oil

-gradually add the water as you mix together

-mix on slow for 2-4 minutes or hand knead for 10 minutes, until the dough becomes smooth and elastic

-place in a bowl and cover with a towel or clingfilm. I like to use clingfilm with a little olive oil to stop it all sticking

-place in a warm area for 1-2 hours until doubled in size. Mine goes in the airing cupboard!

-knock back (squash out all the air by folding the sides inwards until back to its original size) and knead lightly to smooth out

-leave again in a warm place for up to an hour until doubled

-separate into 6 balls and roll each out on a floured baking sheet until a 20cm diameter circle (or whatever pizza shape you're aiming for)

-spread over your tomato sauce and toppings

-bake for around 15 minutes on the oven's highest setting until crisp and the topping is cooked- keep an eye on them!