Pizza!

Here is something that is always a hit at our house. Homemade Pizza!

Recipe for basic pizza dough as follows - 1 packet of yeast dissolved in 1 cup warm water (110 - 115 degrees) with 1 Tb. sugar dissolved in it. Set aside. It's good if there's a nice layer of foam covers the surface.

Meanwhile in a large mixing bowl have 3 cups flour, 1 tsp. salt and possibly some dry Italian seasoning all blended together. Form a well and add 1/4 c. olive oil and the yeast mixture to the well. Stir so that all is blended together. Foll out onto floured surface and knead for about 5 minutes or until surface is shiny, pliable. Add small bits of additional flour as needed.

Pat into dough ball and place in olive oiled bowl. Cover with another olive oiled bowl and let sit for 45 minutes to an hour. Punch down dough and allow to rise for another 30 minutes or so -- of if you are like us, just use the dough after it has risen for an hour.

Roll into a large circle on a floured surface and using a floured rolling pin and flipping sides so each side is floured. Place on a lightly oiled pizza screen/pan/stone. Preheat oven to 500 degrees.

Meanwhile, we top our pizzas by first sprinkling on shredded mozzaarella cheese first - then adding garlic, thinly sliced tomato, olives, onion, turkey pepperoni, whatever our hearts desire. Drizzle or brush a little olive oil around the edge and bake for 10 minutes.

We also make mini pizzas and for kids who just like cheese, we prebake their crusts for five minutes, then take out and add the cheese and bake for five more minutes.