Sunday Dinner: Perfect Pizza

Ingredients
1 1/4 c warm water
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 tbls olive oil
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp cornmeal
1 c pizza sauce
Assorted toppings
2 c shredded mozzarella cheese

Place 1/4 c warm water in a large bowl. Sprinkle yeast over water and stir in sugar. Let stand 5-10 minutes or until bubbly. Add remaining water, oil and salt. Stir in flour until dough pulls away from side of bowl.

Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth, 8-10 minutes. Coat large bowl with cooking spray; place dough in bowl, turning to grease top. Cover loosely. Let rise in warm place until almost double in size, about 45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 450 F. Punch down dough. Coat two 12 inch pizza pans with cooking spray; sprinkle pans with cornmeal. Divide dough in half. Roll dough to fit prepared pans; press dough against edge to form rim. Bake crust for 10 minutes.

Remove crust from oven and top with pizza sauce. Add the toppings and sprinkle with cheese. Bake until cheese is melted, 15-20 minutes longer.

**Hint: The secret to rolling pizza dough is to let it rest for 10 minutes after it is about half the size needed. Then it will easily stretch the rest of the way

Thursday Dinner~~Pizza and Calzones

I resisted the urge to order Dominos and made pizzas and calzones instead. It was just cheese and pepperoni but really good. Pretty cheap too. I didn't have to go to the store for anything since everything was already in my pantry and freezer.
2 cans Pillsbury thin crust pizza dough
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 pkg of pepperoni
16 oz shredded mozzarella cheese
8 oz shredded Cheddar cheese
cornmeal
cooking spray
Preheat oven according to pizza dough directions on can. Lightly spray a rectangle cookie sheet with Pam and sprinkle a bit of cornmeal on it. Roll out pizza dough. For Calzones, cut dough down the middle, for pizzas leave intact. Spread 2+ Tbls spaghetti sauce over dough, leaving 1/2 inch unsauced all the way around for crust. Layer pepperoni, mozzarella cheese and then cheddar cheese on half of dough for Calzones, and over all the dough for pizza. For Calzones, fold bare half of dough over toppings, pinch and tuck under to seal on all 3 open sides. Cook for 11 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbling.