PIZZA CRUST

After a bout of exhaustion (including sleeping until 8, then going back to bed after a heavy crying session and sleeping until lunch), I decided that today I was going to get back in the swing of things. I've been putting off so much and letting B fend for himself for meals, and I knew that needed to change. So, I went to one of our all-time favorites: homemade pizza.

Tonight, I made everything from scratch. Yes, the crust, the sauce, and all the ingredients (though I really only had to chop things for the toppings). So, here it is. For those that say I cheated by using a bread machine, I refuse to believe it. I love that thing.


Ingredients:
2 teaspoons yeast
3 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup and 2 tablespoons water (I use lukewarm)

Directions:
Put all the above ingredients in the bread machine in the order given.
Select the "Dough" cycle and press "Start". (My machine take an hour and a half for this cycle.)
After it has completed, remove the dough and place in a well-greased bowl. Roll the dough around to coat it with the oil.
Cover it with plastic wrap or a towel, and let rise for about half an hour.
Using a well-floured surface, roll the dough out to form a large circle, however big you want the pizza to be. I use my rolling pin, but I'm excited to try to twirl it around in the air like the movies.
Add topping and bake at about 425 F for 15-25 minutes.

Find the original recipe here:
http://www.food.com/recipe/easy-peezy-pizza-dough-bread-machine-pizza-dough-35805


Helpful hints:

1. Yeast is really hard. I still haven't mastered it, but this recipe is easy enough that there's not much that can go wrong. I've tried recipes before that have totally failed, and I suppose that's just what you have to do sometimes.

2. I popped the crust into the oven while it was warming up and I was chopping the toppings. You should do this only if you want a crispier crust. If you like doughier, skip this step and put the toppings right on the unbaked crust. Either way, it turns out pretty great.

3. I also made my own sauce. It was pretty awesome, I gotta say. I won't reproduce the recipe here, because I got it from America's Test Kitchen, where B got the lovely idea of giving me a membership. If you don't know what I'm talking about, find it here: http://www.americastestkitchen.com/. It is one of the best resources out there, in my opinion. Take the time and the money to really look through what they have, and use their suggestions. They got me hooked on my spatula, my dough scarper, the little prep bowls that they use in television shows, and we have had many MANY amazing meals from their recipes. It's their job to find the best way to make something, and it is so worth it. So, all that to say, I took their recipe for sauce. And it was good. And easy, I might add.