Killer Recipes: Homemade Pizza Crust

You know that feeling on a lazy Friday night, when you don’t feel like doing anything but watching TV and eating some of your favorite comfort food? I know I do, and while I have many comfort foods I love, pizza has always been a favorite! Ordering a pizza always seems to be the go-to pizza option, but sometimes it’s hard to decide on a certain type of pizza, or adding more pizza toppings makes the pizza more expensive. So, why don’t you just make your own pizza!? You can just buy your favorite toppings from the store, and odds are you will have enough toppings leftover to make at least one or two more pizzas. My husband and I love doing this. It’s quick, easy, and so much fun! I have had a hard time finding a really good pizza crust recipe that gives me the thick crust and crunchy outside crust with the soft inside that I love—until I found this recipe. It’s my favorite pizza crust recipe, and I hope you all enjoy it!

Ingredients:
½ tablespoon of active dry yeast

2 ½ cups of flour

1 teaspoon of sugar

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 cup of warm water

1 teaspoon of salt

In a small bowl, combine the warm water, sugar, and active dry yeast. Set it aside, and let it rise for aboutten minutes at room temperature. Also, preheat the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Then, in a big bowl, mix the flour, salt, and olive oil together. Sometimes the olive oil will create little clumps in the flour. If this happens, you can try to press them out with your fingers, but it will not affect the bake or the taste either way in my experience. After the yeast has risen for about ten minutes, combine the yeast mixture with the flour mixture. Mix either with a bread mixer or with your hands until smooth and the dough stops sticking to your hands. You can add a little bit of flour if the mixture is still too sticky. Then, roll the pizza dough into a circle and transfer it to a buttered or oiled pizza pan. Add your favorite toppings! I personally love doing tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, and cherry tomatoes. This is your time to create exactly the pizza you want. Then back the pizza at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15–20 minutes. The more toppings you put on, the closer to 20 minutes it will need to bake. When the crust has a light brown color to it, it should be just about perfect.

BY: ELIZABETH HANSEN