Pizza

Most recipes for pizza crust floating around out there taste kind of biscuit-y to me. There's too much oil in most recipes and they only tell you to knead the dough once. I knead it before and after the dough rises. I also highly recommend bread flour, it has more gluten, thus makes the crust more chewey and delicious.

This recipe makes 2 12x17 baking sheet sized pizzas. This recipe halves easily if you like.

You can put whatever you like on here, but I will share my favorite sauce. It's pictured below, they sell it at my Giant Eagle store. I usually only make fresh pizza sauce when tomatoes are in season. One jar is enough for both pizzas. I also never buy yeast in packets. It's pretty much a rip off. I must also suggest you purchase good cheese. I'm not saying it's got to be organic buffalo mozzarella... but you aren't going to spend an hour plus making pizza dough to cover it in mozzarella flavored melted rubber... are you??

1 ounce active dry yeast
1/4 cup honey
2 1/4 cups hot-to-the-touch water
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon kosher salt
5+ cups bread flour

In a large bowl, mix the yeast, honey and water. Let proof 15 minutes, until nice and bubbly. Stir in olive oil and salt, then flour. The dough will be wet after mixing in the 5 cups (hence the "+" in the recipe)

Knead dough on a well floured surface, adding flour as needed. You'll probably end up kneading another 1/2 to 3/4 cup of bread flour into the dough. Knead for 5 minutes total. Dough will be soft, smooth and stretchy.

Return dough to bowl and allow to rise for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450

Divide dough in half and knead each half for two minutes on a floured surface. Then stretch and roll the dough to the size of your baking sheet. Put 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil on the baking sheet (enough to wet bottom and sides) Shape dough into pan and top with your desired ingredients.

Bake pizzas for 20 minutes. Rotate them halfway through. Allow to rest for 5 minutes before cutting pizza.