Pizza - Homemade Dough & Sauce

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I'll admit.. in the past, I was terribly intimidated about making pizza crust from scratch.  Mom convinced me one day that it really wasn't a big mystery.  The kids really get into making the pizza from start to finish.  Good quality time shared by all! 

It does help to use a preheated pizza stone to get the dough nice and crispy! 

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Pizza Dough
2-3 cups     flour
1 cup          warm water
1 pkg          yeast
1 tsp           salt
2 tsp           sugar
2 Tbsp        canola oil
Herbs         (oregano, basil, italian seasoning)
1/3 cup      freshly grated parmesan

• Mix water and yeast then add sugar. Start adding flour (at least one cup) before adding salt, then add cheese and herbs – makes enough for two pizzas.
• Kneed the dough for 5 - 8 minutes... stretching and turning each time.
• Put the oil in a large bowl, turn the dough ball over a couple of times in the oil to coat, cover, and  microwave at Power 1 for 2 minutes, then let rest 10 min.  Repeat until dough doubles.
• Punch down, divide, and roll out just before ready.
• Pre-bake dough 5 minutes on pizza stone, flip over and add toppings to bottom. This method gives you the crispiest crust.  Return to oven for 5 minutes at 500 degrees.

Pizza Sauce

1 (8oz)   can tomato sauce

1 (6oz)   can tomato paste

1-2 cloves of garlic, mashed and minced

1 tsp       salt

1 tsp       sugar

½ tsp      pepper

1 tsp       oregano

1 ½ tsp   basil

1 tsp       Italian seasoning

1 Tbsp   extra virgin olive oil

Dash       red pepper flakes

1 tsp       parsley flakes

• Combine all ingredients – makes 1 ½ cups or enough for two pizzas.
• We're big fans of the turkey pepperoni. It tastes great and has 70% less fat than the regular kind! That's a lot!