Super Easy & Tastes Great!

How do they do this, anyway?

My friend Nicole gifted me an incredibly easy pizza dough recipe.  It tastes as though it did a slow rise time, but it only takes about 10 minutes to pull together. This fact alone makes it a wonderment, because in the amount of time it would take to preheat, unwrap and bake a tasteless frozen pizza, you can make a homemade pizza any day of the week.  It is, quite simply, the best dough recipe I've ever come across and it tastes fantastic.

Really really.

Nicole's Awesome Pizza Dough (makes enough for a large pizza or a nice thick pan pizza)

You'll need:  2 1/2 teaspoons active yeast; 1 cup warm water; 1 Tablespoon honey or 1 teaspoon sugar; 2 1/2 cups flour; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 Tablespoons olive oil.

Combine the water and honey/sugar and yeast in a large bowl.  Stir to combine and allow to proof (about 5 minutes).  I use this time to start the oven preheating to 450 degrees, and then go gather eggs.

Add the flour and the salt, stir until just combined.  Then reach in with your hands and smash it a little until it makes a sticky ball.  Leave this alone now for about seven to ten minutes or so.  I use this time to go feed the rabbits and then come back in and start chopping toppings. My current favorites: Baby Bella mushrooms, sundried tomatoes from my garden, a little garlic, and lots of mozzarella.  Manga, baby!

Slosh in the olive oil, and smush the dough to mix in the oil.  Your dough is now ready to spread out on a pizza pan, stretch and lay on a pizza board for transfer to a preheated pizza stone, or (my personal favorite) to smash into a large cast iron frying pan to be baked into a wonderful deep dish pizza.  Top with your sauce and meats or veg of choice, bake in a 450 degree oven until the cheese is melted, bubbly, and gooey-licious and the crust has puffed and lightly browned.

Speaking from experience:  If you opt to make a pan pizza, let it cool for five minutes before removing from the pan.  Your taste buds will thank you for not incinerating them, and the toppings stay on better, too.