Pizza!! :)

Pizza Dough:

Ingredients:

1 package active dry yeast (about 3 tsp)

1 C warm water (105-115 degrees)

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp salt

2 TBS vegetable oil

2-1/2 C flour

Original Directions:

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Stir in remaining ingredients. Beat vigorously 20 strokes. Let rest 5 minutes. Pat onto cookie sheet or divide in 2 and pat into 11" circles and place on 2 cookie sheets.

My Take:

So I dissolve the yeast as it says and then add the other ingredients in the order listed. Once I start adding the flour though I only put about 2 C in to start and then mix it up. I generally have a cutting board or something right next to where I'm working and I sprinkle the surface with flour. Because I don't have a mixer and I do everything by hand (you know, the old-fashioned way) instead of "beat vigorously 20 strokes" I use my hands to knead the dough on the in the mixing bowl. You will probably want to add more flour at this point. You know it doesn't have enough flour when it sticks to your hands and you can't get it off. Just add a little bit and see if the texture is better and to ensure it sticks to itself better than it sticks to you. Once there is enough flour in the mix I take it out of the bowl and knead it on the cutting board until all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed together. Make sure its smooth, not chunky.

After the dough is mixed well, I put it back in the bowl and let it rise for however long...usually at least an hour. It doesn't really need to rise, I just like it to rise so its lighter and fluffier for when I am fitting it to the pan.

You can use whatever pan you want for the pizza. The recipe says circle, I use rectangle, no difference. Make sure you spray the pan with non-stick spray first!

I usually split the dough into 2 at this point and make 2 pizzas. If you like thicker crust you can just make one pizza, but I think its sufficiently thick enough to make 2, that's my opinion. I manipulate (? for lack of a better word?) the dough into 2 balls (I learned it at a pizza restaruant I worked at and don't know how else to describe it) because that works for me. You can do whatever you want. I just use my hands to pull the dough equally apart for a bit until its a good size and then place it on the pan and manipulate it out to the edges, making sure there are no holes. This can take a bit of time and lots of patience - don't give up.

Once you are done with the dough, just put the sauce and toppings you want on the pizza and cook it in the oven at 425 degrees for 20-25 minutes. I would suggest the lesser time first and then check on it. You can know its done if the cheese is melted all the way through on top and if you stick a knife or something flat under and pick the crust up on one side to see if the crust is golden brown on the bottom.

Good luck and have fun! :)