Saturday Night Pizza

Instead of going out to dinner Saturday night, we made homemade pizza and had a simple salad with homemade Italian dressing (recipe to follow), and watched college football games.  

2-2 1/3 cups BREAD flour (Bread flour will make the crust crispier)
1 packet instant yeast
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, optional
1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon dried basil leaves, optional
2 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup warm water (needs to be between 105 and 115 degrees)

Combine 1 cup bread flour, yeast, sugar and salt into a large bowl.
If desired, add garlic powder and basil.

Add olive oil and warm water and use a wooden spoon to stir well.

Gradually add another 1 cup bread flour.  Add any additional flour as needed.  
Mine worked fine with 2 cups.  Stir until the dough is forming into an elastic ball and begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl.  The dough will be slightly sticky but still should be manageable with your hands.

Drizzle olive oil into a separate, large, clean bowl using a pastry brush to cover the sides of the bowl.

Lightly dust your hands with flour and form the pizza dough into a round ball and transfer it into your olive oil brushed bowl.  Use your hands to roll the pizza dough along the inside of the bowl until it is coated in olive oil, then cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place.  (I place it in the unheated oven because it's away from drafts).  

Allow dough to rise for 30 minutes or until doubled in size.  

After the dough has risen, use your hands to gently deflate it and transfer it to a lightly floured surface and knead briefly until smooth (about 3-5 minutes).

Use your hands or a rolling pin to work the dough into a 12 inch circle.  Transfer dough to a parchment paper lined pizza pan and pinch the edges to form a crust.

Drizzle additional olive oil (about 1 Tablespoon) over the top of the pizza and use your pastry brush to brush the entire surface of the pizza (including the crust) with olive oil.

Use a fork to poke holes all over the center of the pizza to keep the dough from bubbling up in the oven.

Add desired toppings** and bake in a 425 oven for 13-15 minutes or until pizza crust is golden brown.  Slice and serve. 

**I used pizza sauce from Trader Joe's along with their Uncured Salame Di Parma slices pictured below.  I baked this first for about 10 minutes and then added cheese and watched it carefully so it would melt but not over cook the cheese.

~recipe adapted from sugarspunrun.com