Some have asked for a pizza crust recipe. I can't claim this is the "best ever" but it's pretty good...I like it anyway! I eyeball all amounts except the yeast and the flour but this should be pretty close. Makes enough dough for two 14" crusts, simply halve the amounts if you just want one pizza.
Warm, almost hot water (about a cup)
2-3 tsp honey (I find it dissolves easier in the water, but you can use table sugar if you don't have honey on hand)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp yeast (a packet is 2 1/4 tsp so you can use a packet too)
1 tsp salt
4 cups flour (AP or bread flour, doesn't really matter)
Put about 1/2 cup of the very warm/hot water into the bowl of your stand mixer. You want it a bit hotter than you need as it will cool a bit when it hits the cold bowl. Add the honey and mix until dissolved. Add the yeast and wait a few minutes until it starts to puff up. Add the salt and olive oil, then dump in all the flour. Using the dough hook, mix on lowest setting until it starts to come together a bit, increase speed one notch and then SLOWLY add more warm water, a little at a time, until the dough starts to really come together. Add less than you think you need. You most likely will NOT use the full cup of water indicated in the list of ingredients above. When it comes to water, less is more. If you over do it on the water you can add more flour, but you risk getting into a "too much water add more flour - oops too much flour now so add more water...oops over did it again" situation and it throws the whole thing off. You'll likely have to make a few batches before you get a feel for how much water is "enough". The dough should pull clean away from the sides of the bowl and be pretty firm/stiff w/out being rock hard, if that makes any sense. Still on the same speed, let it kneed for 8 minutes for a softer more bread-like crust, up to 15 minutes for a more chewy crust.
Once the kneading is done, take the dough off the hook and coat the bottom/sides of the bowl in a bit of olive oil. Shape the blob of dough into a smooth ball, then put the dough back in the bowl and coat the dough all over with a very thin coat of olive oil as well. I use a small piece of plastic wrap to cover the dough (just slap it right on top of the dough) to keep it from drying out while it's rising. Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and set in a warm place to rise for an hour.
Tip: If you have the time, you can cut the yeast amount in half and let it rise for several hours, this should allow the dough to pick up a bit more flavor.
Once the dough has doubled in size, it's pizza making time! Punch the dough down and divide it in half, stretch and press the dough into your (greased) pizza pans (or if you have a pizza stone, just shape it on the pizza peel) and top as usual. To help keep the dough from getting soggy from the sauce, I add a very thin layer of olive oil with a pastry brush before adding the sauce.
Bake a 450 for 15-20 minutes.
