Easy Pizza Crust!

This is a tried and true easy pizza recipe. My family has been using it almost every Saturday night for about 15 years!

Makes: 2 PIZZAS

Time: 1 hr. rising; 30 min. everything else

5 Ingredients:

1 tsp. salt

1 Tbsp. sugar

2 Tbsp. olive oil

2 cups hot water (95-100 F)

1 Tbsp. yeast

4-5 cups flour

Step 1: Put the first FOUR ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

Step 2: Right after you add the water, add 2 cups flour then 1 Tbsp. yeast.

(Note: The water has to be the right temp. to activate the yeast.)

Step 3: Stir.

Step 4: Wash your hands and take off rings. Add 2 more cups of flour and start digging with your hands!

Step 5: I play with the dough for a couple minutes, mixing it well together. It should be really sticky. Now, start adding a little bit of flour and mixing it in until it's "smooth" and not as sticky.

(Note: If you're in a dry climate, you won't need much more. If you're in a humid climate, you might need up to a cup more of flour!)

Step 6: I usually put the dough on the counter, wash the bowl I was using, spray it with cooking spray, and put the dough back in. You can do whatever you want. Just as long as the dough is in a large bowl that it won't stick to.

Step 7: Put a towel over the bowl and let it sit for an hour.

(Note: Don't put it by anything cold (like a wintry window) because the dough should stay room temperature.)

Step 8: Wait an hour.

Step 9: Preheat the oven to somewhere in-between 415-450 F. Split the dough into two. Roll out the dough. Put the rolled-out dough on a pizza pan (remember to spray!) and add toppings.

(Note: Depending on your climate, you may have to adjust the temperature. If the first pizza takes a while, turn up the heat for the second pizza.)

(Note: Pizza pans with holes are the BEST. If you put the dough on a cookie sheet, you will have to wait longer to subdue your ravenous pizza craving.)

Step 10: Bake pizza for 10-15 min.

Step 11: Find someone to share your pizza with. Relish every bite. :)

Here are some tips I've learned through the years:

1. If your dough didn't rise, try this: Boil some water in a pot. With the oven turned OFF, put your bowl with dough in the oven and put the pot with boiling water in the oven too. Close the oven door. This will create humidity that will help the dough rise. See no. 2 if this does not work.

2. If you're in a hurry, you can use this dough without waiting an hour to rise. I don't think it tastes as good, it's harder to roll out (not as much air in the dough), and of course the crust is much flatter. But who knows! Maybe you'll like it that way!

3. If you're doing pepperoni, don't put on too much cheese because the pepperoni is already greasy and too much cheese will make it really greasy.

4. After the sauce, put some mozzarella cheese down, then toppings, then a little bit more mozzarella on top to hold down the toppings.

5. Work all the way to the edge if you want!

6. You can use this dough for breadsticks. When they come out of the oven, butter them and sprinkle parmesan cheese on top.

7. You can also use this recipe for calzones/stromboli. For a calzone, I'll put ranch dressing, cooked chicken, broccoli, seasoning, and mozzarella cheese. Yum!

8. Be creative with toppings! For an interesting yet yummy pizza, my mom will sometimes roast garlic (just chop off the end of a bulb and put it in the oven for a bit) and spread it on the unbaked crust, sprinkle on pinenuts and fresh asiago cheese (not very much), then put it in the oven.

9. My mom also will make a bunch of small crusts and put them in the oven for 5 minutes each. Then, she'll wrap them in plastic wrap and foil and stack them in the freezer. Later that week you can pull out a crust, plop on some easy toppings, and bake it in the oven for 10-15 min. My little sister loves this for lunch!