S'kat's Easy Pizza Dough

Total Time: 2 hrs 8 mins Preparation Time: 2 hrs Cook Time: 8 mins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups water (test on inside of wrist, like for a baby bottle- that's the right temp!)
• 1 (1/4 ounce) packet dry yeast
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 3 -4 cups bread flour
• 1 tablespoon cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus additional as needed

Recipe

• 1 stir together the water, yeast and the sugar.
• 2 let rest until the yeast foams, about 3 minutes.
• 3 place 2 1/2-cups of the flour, salt and cornmeal in a mixing bowl and combine.
• 4 add the yeast mixture and olive oil and stir together to form a sticky dough.
• 5 remove from bowl and knead, adding the remaining flour a little at a time until the dough becomes smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.
• 6 the longer you knead, the more texture your dough will have.
• 7 turn the dough into a lightly oiled bowl.
• 8 cover with a dry towel and place in a warm, draft free area.
• 9 (i usually stick it in the oven. if your oven is cold, very briefly- about 1 minute- turn to highest temp, then off again, well before placing bowl in oven. let's not melt any bowls, eh?) let rise for at least one hour.
• 10 when dough has doubled in bulk, punch back down.
• 11 at this point, add any of the optional ingredients at end of recipe, or as desired.
• 12 let the dough rise again, until almost doubled, about 30 minutes.
• 13 or, if there were no extra additions, shape and add toppings.
• 14 bake at 500°f for about 8 minutes.
• 15 optional, but worthwhile: fresh herbs (i use basil, oregano and thyme), chopped minced garlic, parmiagiano-reggiano and extra cornmeal for texture.