Pizza Crust recipe

We eat a lot of pizza.  What true American family does not?  But we can easily drop $30 to $40 on a pizza night.  In efforts to keep things simple, cheap, and still be able to eat high quality foods (because Papa Johns is considered high quality, dontchyaknow?) I started just making it like pretty much everything else we eat in this house now.  Oh, and check it out...  I already had all the basic ingredients.  So, shhh- I am about to spill a family secret.



Pizza Crust recipe (Makes one crust)
1 cup of warmish water (105 to 110 degrees)
1 tsp of active dry yeast

Allow to sit until there is yeastly activity (ha ha ha)

Honey- 1 tbs to 2 tbs
Olive Oil- 2 tbsp
Salt- 1/2 tsp

Mix all of this together once yeast has shown signs it's active until evenly incorporated.

Then add the flour.

All purpose flour- 2 1/2 cups

In the mixer, keep going until the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead for about five more minutes.

Allow to rise in a greased bowl while covered for 1 1/2 hours.

Once, the dough has risen, SOFTLY punch the dough down, then roll out into whatever shape you are choosing to use for your pizza.  Sometimes, I like to get creative with this as you can see in the above picture.  That was our pizza for Valentine's Day this last year.

Before adding toppings, brush the dough lightly with olive oil.  Also, make sure there is cornmeal in between your dough and the cookie sheet that you are using to bake.  This is so that the crust doesn't stick to your cookie sheet as it bakes.  It's fairly easy to get it off, but much better to watch it slide.

Bake at 500 degrees for anywhere from 8 minutes to 15 minutes.  It will all depend on your oven and what you put on your pizza.  Just watch to see when the crust starts turning a nice golden brown and the cheese starts bubbling, then it's done.

Gustosissima! (That's Italian for "yummy")