When the moon meets your eye like a big pizza pie . . .

Pizza Dough


2/3 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 package (1/4 oz.) yeast
1/3 cup oil, preferably olive
3 cups all-purpose flour, divided
cornmeal

In large bowl combine water, sugar, and salt.  Sprinkle yeast over mixture.  Let stand until foamy and bubbling, about 15 minutes.  Stir in oil and 1 cup flour until well combined.  Stir in most of remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until soft dough forms.  Dough will be slightly sticky and will pull away from the sides of the bowl.  Oil large, clean bowl.  On lightly floured work surface knead dough until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes, using remaining flour as needed to prevent sticking.  Place in oiled bowl; cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place until doubled, about 1 hour.  Divide dough in half.  When ready to assemble pizzas, oil two 12" round pizza pans or two 15"x10" jellyroll pans.  Sprinkle each pan with cornmeal.  Press half the dough into each pan.

If you've never made any kind of dough from scratch, then you are missing out.  There is something wonderfully therapeutic about kneading your own dough.  Plus it's a great workout for your arms.  This dough was simple to make.  I cut the recipe in half, since it's just me and I don't need two whole pizzas.  I bought pizza sauce, shredded mozzarella cheese, pepperoni and pineapple chunks to make pineapple and pepperoni pizza and it was yummy!  Since the recipe didn't tell me how long to bake the pizza or at what temperature I had to google it.  So here it is, preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake for about 15 minutes.  Slice and enjoy!