quick and easy pizza dough
I found this recipe on cooks.com last night, and John and I were both surprised at how good it was. It also was quite easy, with no “rise time” for the dough. I think we spent a total of 1/2 an hour in the kitchen (not including baking time, of course) starting with defrosting the tomato sauce and cooking the chicken and ending with washing the prep dishes.
It was the perfect meal for a warm evening.
dough:
1 pkg. active dry yeast
1 c. warm water (105 to 115 degrees)
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. olive oil
2 1/2 c. flour
cornmeal
topping:
Jar of pizza sauce or make your own
Grated Mozzarella (about 8 oz.)
1/4 c. Parmesan cheese
2 tsp. oregano
Any other topping you prefer – pepperoni, mushrooms, sausage, onions, etc. We used chicken, bacon and pineapple.
Dissolve yeast in warm water.
Stir in remaining dough ingredients; beat vigorously, about 20 strokes.
Allow dough to rest (about 5 minutes). That’s all the time it needs. Really.
Heat oven to 425 degrees.
Prepare topping/sauce.
Divide dough in half.
On lightly greased baking sheets sprinkled with cornmeal, pat each half into a 10 inch circle. (Continue to flour fingers when patting dough into circles.) You may want to prepare the second pizza while the first is baking, allowing less time for the center of the second to “poof”.
Spread sauce on each circle. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese and oregano. Arrange your choice of topping on top and sprinkle with Mozzarella cheese.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until crust is brown and filling is hot and bubbly.
Makes 2 pizzas.