Pizza! Pizza!

Our longtime friends Alex and Taylor and their little guy Andrew came over for dinner last night. Way back when, Taylor knew Erik and I would get together before Erik and I knew it. And if you read Erik's blog, you'll remember he mentioned Alex in a post a couple weeks ago. You should read it. Anyway, all that has nothing to do with pizza, except that I made homemade pizza for them last night! They asked for the recipe, so I decided to share it with all of you! Aren't you lucky? ;)

My Aunt Myra gave me this recipe (off the top of her head one day when she was visiting--amazing woman, I tell you.) Anyway, we love this recipe and it seems that everyone we serve it to loves it too. And I've saved a ton of money each time I've used it since those whole wheat Boboli crusts cost an arm and a leg.

Homemade Pizza Dough

Mix in a bowl and set aside:

• 4 cups of flour (I use 2 cups whole wheat and 2 cups unbleached white or for a lighter crust, I use 1 cup whole wheat and 3 cups white)
• 1 tsp. salt

Proof yeast:

• 1 pkg. active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup warm water
• pinch sugar

Combine above ingredients. Place in a warm place and allow to bubble up to 1/2 cup.

Add yeast to flour. Then add:

• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup olive oil

Mix well. Knead until smooth. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with a towel, and let rise in a warm place until double in size. Punch down. Divide in 4 and roll out.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. We've discovered that baking the crust for a few minutes before putting the toppings on makes for a better pizza. Otherwise, sometimes the middle of the crust doesn't cook all the way through. After you put the toppings on, bake for about 15 minutes, or until it looks done!

Pizza! Pizza!
Yum! Yum!