Our Favorite Pizza Crust Recipe

We eat pizza about once a week in our home and very rarely order it with this trusty pizza crust recipe. All that's needed is some sauce (usually use half a jar of spaghetti sauce), mozzarella cheese, and whatever other toppings we have on hand. It's nice to know we're saving money and it's healthier, too!

Dough:

• 1 cup warm water
• 1 pkg. dry yeast (I buy jars of it, so 2 1/4 tsp.)
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 3 cups white flour (can use 1 cup wheat, 2 cups white instead)
• 2 T. oil (preferably olive)
• 1 tsp. salt

In a bowl, mix the yeast, sugar, and water, stirring to dissolve the yeast. Let it rest 5 minutes. Add the other ingredients. Knead the dough on a floured board (a couple minutes), adding more flour until it's not sticky. Don't add too much flour, or the dough will become hard. Put a little oil in a bowl, put the dough in and flip so it's all covered with oil. Cover, letting it rise from five minutes to two hours, depending on how much time you have and the texture you would like your dough. The longer you let it rise, the more bread-like the dough will become. Punch down the dough and shape into a greased pizza pan or cookie sheet.

(You can add 1 T. oregano, dill, or Italian seasonings and 1 tsp garlic powder to the dough for an herb crust).

Topping:

• Top with any of these combinations, then bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes:
  
• spaghetti sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, sausage, olives, mushrooms, onions, etc.

I LOVE the fact that this crust turns out perfectly every time and I don't have to let it rise for hours. I usually let my dough rise 10-15 minutes while the oven is preheating. So if you turn on the oven, make the dough, let it rise 10 minutes while getting the toppings ready for assembly, press the dough in the pan, add toppings, then bake for 12-15 minutes, dinner's ready in 30 minutes!

Enjoy!