Mom's Pizza Dough

This is my go-to recipe for pizza dough. It has never failed!

And it's special to me because it is from my dear mother who taught how to make pizza [among a million other things].

*Makes 2 large 16" pizzas

[1 pizza serves Jay and I perfectly.]

• 1 1/4 C warm water
• 1 TBS yeast
• 1/2 TBS salt
• 1 TBS sugar
• 1 1/2 TBS oil
• 3 C flour

Heat oven to 200 degrees. Turn off after 10 minutes.

Mix yeast and warm water in small bowl. Set aside.

Mix remaining ingredients in a large [oven safe] bowl. 
Add yeast-water mixture to the large bowl. Mix well.
Cover the bowl with foil, then set in warm oven.
Let dough rise for 30 minutes, remove from oven, then turn up the oven heat to 375 degrees.

Place dough on a large floured surface and split in half. 
Knead, roll out and shape each piece of dough into a large circle.

Transfer rolled out dough onto a pizza pan. (For evenly cooked pizza I highly recommend using a perforated pizza pan.) 

Add desired toppings. 
Our favorites are good ol' fashioned pepperoni, bacon ranch and avocado, or BBQ chicken with green onions.

Bake at 375 degrees for about 15 to 20 min, until crust is golden.

*This dough freezes really well. So typically after I split the dough I roll out and cook one half, then bag and freeze the other half. You can thaw it out in the fridge or just place on the counter top. Allow for a couple hours to thaw.

*If you do let it thaw out on the counter top at room temperature, just be sure not to leave it out too long unless you want sourdough pizza.