Perfect Homemade Pizza Dough

I could wax eloquent on why it's important to have a good pizza dough recipe, but this is all you really need to see:

Ok, stop drooling. This is super-easy to make and it doesn't even need extra time to rise. The hot temps in the oven will do that for you!

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 tablespoon yeast
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 1/2 cups room temperature water

Optional add-ins: finely chopped homegrown garlic, fresh or dried herbs, finely chopped spinach (green pizza is fun for kids!)

Sift the flour into the mixer bowl.

As we've discussed before, always sift your flour because chunks are not good eats.

Add the salt, yeast, olive oil, then the honey (so it won't stick to the measuring spoon).

Set up the mixer with the dough hook and add the water as the mixer is running.

Let it mix for a few minutes. The dough will go from crumble stage, to "it looks like it's working" stage, and finally it will pull away from the sides of the mixer bowl and stick to the dough hook. Now you're in business.

Scrape the dough out into a lightly oiled bowl to rise/rest. If you're making the pizza today, now it's time to crank your oven to 500 degrees.

After it rises, plop the dough onto a lightly floured surface.

Divide into six personal-size portions or three regular size. Give the dough a "rolling squish" or two to get started on forming your crust.

Spread the crust out on parchment paper or a Silpat. Don't form your pizza directly on the counter! (Ask me how I know.)

Apply sauce, cheese, and toppings, then slide it, parchment and all, into the oven. We have a pizza stone, but you can also use an upside-down cookie sheet.

Depending on how hot your oven runs and how you like your crust, it will be ready in 9-12 minutes. Try to wait for it to cool before digging in!