Pizza Dough

1 cup warm water (110 degrees Fahrenheit)
1/4 teaspoon sugar (or honey, I'm just saying)
1 envelope active dry yeast
14 ounces AP flour (about 2 and 3/4 cups)
1 tsp table salt
1.5 Tbsp olive oil

Combine water, yeast, and sugar in a bowl and let sit until foamy (5 or 10 minutes). In a mixer or food processor, combine salt and flour then add yeast mixture and oil. Mix until tacky dough comes together. For me, the dough was pretty dry at this stage. It came together but shaggily. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until a smooth ball forms. Plop the tiny adorable dough ball into an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled (between 40 minutes and an hour for me). Punch it down and fold back on itself four or five times to reincorporate the air pockets then replace plastic wrap and let rise until doubled again.

The resulting dough ball is enough for two pizzas so turn it out onto a floured surface and split it in half. Stretch each half into a 12 inch circle allowing it to rest a few minutes whenever the dough resists or threatens to tear. Top with sauce and toppings (today, sauce was a can of whole peeled tomatoes, garlic, and some basil. Toppings were zucchini slices, hunks of mozzarella, basil leaves, and olive oil.)

Bake at 450 on a preheated pizza stone until golden brown (12-15 minutes).

Serving Size: Makes 2 12 inch pizzas

Number of Servings: 2

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user PARMADILLO.