Basic Pizza Dough

This recipe is a staple.  It will come in handy for everything from your basic pizza, grilled pizza, breadsticks, pizza rolls, calzones, etc.  We will keep referring to this recipes and others that are must haves for their ease as well as their taste appeal as great basic recipes.

Basic Pizza Dough

Ingredients

1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees)

1 (1/4 ounce) envelope active dry yeast

1 tsp honey

2 TBSP extra virgin olive oil

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

(yellow cornmeal, for sprinkling baking sheet)

1.  In a large bowl, combine water and yeast.  Let sit until foamy, about 5 minutes.

2.  Stir in 1 TBSP olive oil and the honey into the yeast mixture.

3.  Sift 1 1/2 cups flour and the salt over the yeast mixture.  Mix by hand until it is incorporated.  Slowly add flour 1/2 a cup at a time, working the dough after each addition, until the dough is smooth but still slightly sticky (may not need all of the flour).  Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth but still slightly tacky, about 3-5 minutes.

4.  Oil a large bowl with remaining 1 TBSP olive oil.  Place dough in bowl, turning to coat with the oil.  Cover with plastic wrap and cover with a clean kitchen towel on top.  Set in a warm place, free from drafts until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

5.  Press gently on the dough and turn it onto surface and form into a loose ball (for two smaller pizzas you can split dough in half and make two smaller balls).  Cover with a clean kitchen towel and allow the dough to rest for an additional 15 minutes.

Yields 1 large pizza or 2 small pizzas