Homemade Pizza

I've been making my own homemade pizza dough for over a year now. I have to say, you really can't screw it up and it tastes ten times better than that mix you buy at the store. I can't even fathom going back to eating pizza dough made by a mix. One of the best things about this is that the recipe makes two crusts. You can use one now and freeze one for a rainy day.

Pizza Dough

Yield: 2, 12-inch pizza crusts

Ingredients:

1/2 cup warm water

2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast

1 1/4 cups water, room temperature

2 tablespoons oil

4 cups bread flour (22 ounces) plus extra for dusting

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

extra oil to grease bowl

Directions:

Measure out warm water in a two cup measuring cup. Add yeast and let sit for five minutes. Add flour, salt, and oil to stand mixer and with paddle attachment mix throughly on low. Add room temperature water to activated yeast and warm water. Pour into stand mixer and mix on low until just combined. Switch to dough hook and kneed dough on low until it clears the sides of the bowl. Place dough in an oiled bowl, turning dough once to coat with oil. Cover bowl with a kitchen towel and let rise 1 1/2 to two hours.

Preheat oven to 450*. Softly punch down risen dough and let sit for 10-20 minutes. Divide dough in half. At this point, you can freeze the dough by wrapping it in plastic wrap, placing it in a freezer bag, and freezing up to three months. When ready to unthaw, place frozen dough in fridge to unthaw over night. Let stand at room temp for 20 minutes before shaping.

Shape dough into a 9-12 inch circle on a piece of parchment paper that has been dusted with cornmeal or flour. Leave the edges slightly thicker than the middle. Top as desired (this time I topped with homemade pizza sauce, mozzerella, red bell peppers, and basil leaves). Brush edges of dough with olive oil. Bake for 8-12 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and edges of dough are golden brown.

Source: Annie's Eats "Perfect Pizza Crust"