Pizza

Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit

Make Sauce:

  • 1 (8-oz) can tomato sauce
  • 1 (6-oz) can tomato paste
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • Dried or fresh chopped basil to taste (@ 2 teaspoons dried)

Combine all in bowl and stir. Set aside while you make dough.

Dough

  • 3 to 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 pkg Fleischmann’s rapid rise yeast
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 Tablespoon sugar
  • 1 cup very warm water>
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil

*Note — you will also need:

  • cornmeal
  • grated mozzarella cheese
  • assorted toppings, suggestions below

In a large bowl, combine 2 cups flour, sugar, dissolved yeast and salt.

Stir very warm water and olive oil into dry ingredients.  Stir in enough remaining flour to make soft dough.  Knead dough on lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 5 to 6 minutes.  Cover, let rest on floured surface for 10 minutes.

Lightly oil 1 large pizza pan.  Sprinkle with cornmeal.  Roll dough to fit pan.

We use @ a dozen fresh basil leaves from our herb garden for each pizza and consider it a major part of the flavor. Fresh basil leaves from the grocery store work also.

Spread the sauce on the crust, then pile up the toppings in an almost unbroken layer of each:  first @ 1 ½ pounds of grated mozzarella cheese, then 2 large, chopped bell peppers, then basil leaves, enough chopped onion to cover, and @ 10 ounces of sliced mushrooms. The pizza will be 1 – 2 inches high at this point. We also like sliced black olives and anchovies sprinkled on top.

Bake the pizza for @ 25 minutes, take it out and dab off the vegetable juice with paper towels, then return the pizza to the oven for @ 30 more minutes. You will need to dab off the juice one or two times more. The crust takes this long to cook because of the large amount of toppings.

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Rating: 9.7/10 (3 votes cast)
Pizza, 9.7 out of 10 based on 3 ratings

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