Pizza!!

I love making homemade pizza dough. It tastes so much better than the pre-made crusts that are already baked. And it's also a lot less expensive than ordering in! But I never feel like taking the time to let it rise. Patience is not something I have a lot of :-) But I have been itching to make this again, and we're leaving for vacation on Friday, so I needed something relatively simple. I found this recipe for pizza dough thanks to Jen (I've been using a lot of her recipes lately!) It is incredible and so easy. I also decided to make my own pizza sauce since we were running low on the canned stuff.

Tonight's pizza tasted wonderful and was a great comfort meal. The dough recipe makes 2 large pizzas, and the sauce recipe makes enough to cover both pizzas. I got the sauce recipe from my good friend Michelle, of Sugar and Spice. Sauce makes such a big difference in pizza and this stuff really makes the pizza! I made a few changes to the recipe because i didn't have one of the ingredients, so you can find the original recipe here.

Here is a picture of the dough before I topped it and baked it.
Jay's Signature Pizza Crust (source allrecipes.com and Jen)

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degreesF/45 degrees C)
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 1/3 cups all purpose flour

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and brown sugar in the water, and let sit for 10 minutes.

2. Stir the salt and the oil into the yeast solution. Mix in 2 1/2 cups of the flour.

3. Turn dough out onto a clean, well floured surface, and knead in more flour until the dough is no longer sticky.

*I let my Kitchenaid Stand Mixer do all this work for me. But kneading by hand gets the job done too
Place dough into a well oiled bowl, and cover with a cloth. let the dough rise until double; this should take about an hour. Punch down the dough, and form a tight ball. Allow the dough to relax for a minute before rolling out (i usually give it more like 2-3 minutes so the gluten really has a chance to rest) Use for your favorite pizza recipe.

4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. If you are baking the dough on a pizza stone, you may place your toppings on the dough, and bake immediately. If you are baking your pizza in a pan, lightly oil the pan, and let the dough rise for 15 to 20 minutes before topping and baking it.

5. Bake pizza in preheated oven, until the cheese and crust are golden brown, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Here is my version of Michelle's pizza sauce recipe.

Pizza Sauce
15 oz. tomato sauce
2 Tablespoons parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon sugar
salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients.

I decided to try baking the pizza with all of it's toppings on it right away, instead of pre-baking the crust like I usually do. We liked it much better this way, so I will not be pre-baking my crust anymore. I also wanted to add that I usually have to add a bit more flour than the recipe calls for. I just keep adding in very small increments until the dough isn't sticky anymore.