Pizza Dough

I have made homemade pizza by myself, but the one in the photograph was made by my mom. The recipe makes two pizzas for two large cookie sheets. The pizza could been in the oven for an extra four minutes, but we were so hungry, my mother decided to take it out of the oven early. The pizza is a lot flatter than it comes out in the picture.

Here is a recipe for the pizza dough. We do not use oil in our dough, although must recipes say to use oil.

Serves: 4-5 people

Ingredients for the dough: 

• 3 cups of "00" pizza flour - feel free to use regular flour instead
• 1 tablespoon of sugar (gives the crust a brownness) 
• 1 yeast tablespoon = 2 1/4 tablespoons 
• 1 teaspoon of salt 
• Around 1 cup of water 

Directions: 

• Measure out the flour, the sugar, the salt and the yeast 
• Add the water 
• Knead the dough until the texture is smooth, and not too sticky. About a few minutes. If the dough is too sticky, add flour. If the dough is too dry, add some water. 
• Put the dough in a bowl, tightly cover with plastic wrap and a towel, and place it in a some what warm spot. Let the dough rise for 90 minutes.
• After 90 minutes, check to see if the dough has risen. Punch the dough down with a fist. It should be airy, and then knead it into a ball again. 
• Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. 
• Cut the ball into two halves, if you plan to make two pizzas. (One pizza per cookie sheet)
• Roll out the dough with a rolling pin. If it's tough to roll out stretch it a little with your hands to make it fit the cookie sheet. 
• Grease the cookie sheet with extra virgin olive oil, so the pizza does not stick to the cookie sheet in the oven. 
• Add your toppings for your pizza. The sauce should go on first, then the cheese, etc... (We used our homemade red sauce, mozzarella and basil. Sometimes we add parmesan cheese and sprinkle it over the mozzarella). 
• The pizza cooks for about 12-13 minutes. It should look a tiny bit browner than this picture. 
• Enjoy! 

Calories? Each piece of pizza is around 150-200 calories depending on cheese and other toppings. The good news is that our pizza recipe is a lot lighter than restaurant pizza.