Homemade Pizza

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 1 1/3 cups warm water
• 3 1/2–3 3/4 cups flour (I try using 1 cup whole wheat flour and the rest all purpose white flour)
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar

Equipment

• measuring cups and spoons
• large bowl
• wooden spoon
• plastic wrap
• pizza stone or baking sheet

Here is how:

1. Stir together yeast, 3 cups of flour, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Set aside.
2. In a large measuring cup, stir together the warm water and oil.  Pour the water mixture into the flour mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until the mixture comes together into a dough.
3. Turn out the dough on to a lightly floured counter, kneading for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Shape into a ball. If you are making the dough ahead, you can place the dough into a resealable plastic bag and freeze it at this point.
4. Brush the inside of a large bowl with olive oil, then set the dough inside, turning to coat it all over with oil.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a draft-free and warm place to rise for about 90 minutes.
5. Preheat the oven to 450° F.
6. Punch down the dough on a lightly flour surface, then shape and pull into two 10–12 inch rounds for thin crust, one for a thick crust.  Place dough on pizza stone or baking sheet and top. My family's favourite pizza is Roasted Cherry Tomato with Boursin Cheese (see below).
7. Bake at 450° F for about 10 minutes, then turn the oven to broil and broil, watching carefully, until the toppings are golden and bubbly.

Roasted Cherry Tomato with Boursin Cheese Topping

Prepare roasted tomatoes

1. Pre-heat oven to 400° F
2. Get a rimmed baking sheet and line it with parchment paper. Cut all your cute cherry tomatoes in half and put them in a bowl, then drizzle them with enough olive oil to coat. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on top.
3. Dump them out on the parchment paper, cut side up and spread out so that they are in a single layer. Roast for about 45 minutes, or until wrinkled and dried-out looking. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Now, for the pizza!

1. Roll out your dough and fit it in the pan. Slather with sauce. Cover with some mozzarella cheese, then dot with roasted cherry tomatoes, some thinly sliced bell pepper rings, thinly sliced fresh mushrooms, and thinly sliced pieces of fresh garlic. Dot with crumbled bits of Boursin cheese. (I use about 1/3 to 1/2 package.)
2. Bake your pizza at 450° F for about 10 minutes or so, until the bottom of the crust is all nice and brown-about the color that you like your toast. I like to turn on the broiler and broil the top a bit to get the cheese a bit browned and bubbly, but if you do this, be careful! You'd hate to forget about the pizza and let it burn by accident. 
3. Let it cool slightly before slicing up, and enjoy.

Makes one medium sized pizza (enough for 3-4 people)

Additional info:

To make ahead: After you knead the dough and shape it into a ball, place the dough into resealable plastic bags and put in the freezer. To make pizza, remove the dough from the freezer about 5 hours before you are going to shape and top it so that it can thaw and rise.