Pizza Crust

Pizza night is a big deal in my house, probably the only meal where everyone wants to help make dinner.  All of my girls like to design their own pizza, which is funny because five out of six of them only like pepperoni.  My pizza is the best, chock full of spinach zucchini, peppers, onions, mushrooms, tomato and a little feta cheese.  This recipe has been used for years.  I love it because it makes a chewy crust that doesn’t go soggy the next day.  I also use this for breadsticks and soft pretzels.  We make a lot of this to put in school lunch the next day.  This is a great recipe without the oil that most pizza crust has, just watch the cheese!  (PS: Here’s a hint for de-fatting pepperoni; just wrap the pepperoni up in a few sheets of paper towels and microwave for about 7 – 10 seconds.  This melts off all that neon orange grease and it end up all over the paper towels instead of the inside of your arteries!)

In a mixing bowl combine:

2 tsp. yeast

2 T brown sugar

1 ¼ tsp. salt

1 ½ cups warm tap water

Mix this together and let it rest, covered to keep the heat in for about five minutes until it gets bubbly.  Then add about 3 cups of all-purpose flour, a little at a time until it makes smooth, elastic dough that is easy to handle without getting your hands all sticky.  Knead the dough for about 5 minutes.  After that you can go ahead and press it into the pizza pans and add your toppings (seriously, just try spinach and zucchini!)  Bake at 400 degrees until the crust is light golden brown underneath.  Oh yeah, try sprinkling a little garlic salt, parmesan cheese and some red pepper flakes on your pizza, it’s the bomb!