Home Made Pizza Dough

      How much do we spend when we order a pizza? Between $10 to $15? I understand that sometimes we are tired and just want to pick up the phone, order a pizza and either have it delivered or walk in, pick it up and take it home. No muss no fuss. Well as I usually say, you can beat home made. I have never attempted to make any sort of dough on my own so this was a little nerve wracking for me but I was totally determined.
     You dont need many ingredients for pizza dough but you need a very specific one that I dont just keep on hand. And its one I have never before used, Yeast. Now I am in a tiny little one light town and I was a bit unsure if I would even find yeast in the store here considering I can rarely find half the things I need. But I was in luck and found some much to my surprise. So from now on I will endeavor to keep some on hand for the occasional pizza craving .
     So into my mixer went my water and yeast. After it dissolved i put in my dough hooks and added my other ingredients, flour (all purpose since i didnt have bread flour available), little salt, little sugar and some olive oil. I let the mixer mix my dough until it formed a ball. After kneading by hand just a couple times I rolled it into a ball and coated the entire outside in oil. I then covered it tightly in plastic wrap. Now comes the waiting part, you have to let it set and rise for at least about an hour and half in a warm place.
     Once the dough sets and rises, it will double in size at least, it times to make the pizza. I wanted to try a couple different ways to cook it. I did one pizza on a regular flat pizza pan and the other one in a cast iron skillet. I pushed and pulled my dough flat working from the middle out, making sure to get all the air bubbles out from under the dough. Once I was satisfied i rubbed some oil over the crust before adding my topping, this is to keep the sauce from soaking in and making the crust too doughy. Being that this was a test for my crust and the limited availability of ingredients, I just used pre made sauce and shredded cheese.
     Now I have a picture of the pizzas made before they cooked. I was too excited to try the pizzas once they came out that it totally slipped my mind about taking a picture when they were done. Sorry guys, but I am sure I will be posting again when I make pizzas with home made sauce and fresh ingredients and I will do my best to remember pictures then!