Basic Pizza Crust

This recipe is my favorite for a great homemade pizza crust. It also freezes exceptionally well, just pre-bake the crust as directed, let it cool, wrap in plastic wrap and toss it into the freezer. Then if you need it just grab it, top it, and bake it.

Basic Pizza Crust

1 (.25 oz.) pkg. active dry yeast (or 2 1/2 tsp.)
1 cup very warm water
2 TBSP. olive oil
1 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
2 1/2 cups unbleached flour
cornmeal for dusting
Pizza toppings of your choice

Preheat oven to 425* F. In a large mixing bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Add the olive oil, sugar, salt and 1 1/2 cups flour. Mix until smooth. Stir in enough remaining flour to make a firm dough. Turn onto floured surface, cover and let rest for 10 minutes.
Spray a 12-inch or larger pizza pan with non-stick cooking spray and dust with cornmeal. Roll dough out to desired size and place on pan. Do not let it rise. Add your toppings and bake for 15-20 minutes or until done.

Triple Batch (makes 4 crusts)

2 generous TBSP. instant yeast
3 cups very warm water
6 TBSP. olive oil
3 tsp. sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
7 1/2 cups unbleached flour
cornmeal for dusting
Pizza toppings of your choice

Prepare as above for single crust recipe except divide dough into four pieces, roll out and place onto four prepared pizza pans, then bake and proceed as above.