Homemade Pizza dough!

First, I've been a very bad blogger. It's the crazy-busy time of year at work as schools are starting up again. At least, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

In the meantime, here's that recipe I've promised people for pizza dough. I tried a half-dozen online recipes before settling this tweaked version. It's kinda a conglomeration of all the ones I tried...but without the difficult, time consuming parts. With this recipe, I can have homemade pizza on the table in about the time it takes for delivery...but at a cost of $4.06 rather than the $20+ delivery runs around here.

Ingredient Cost breakdown:
Yeast: $0.02 (bought a giant freeze dried package at Costco for $5.47)
Olive oil:  $0.17 (and I use organic, so it's pricey)
Salt: $0.02
Flour:  $0.24
Sugar: $0.03

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp active yeast
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 cup warm water (about 110 degrees, or shower temperature)
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 1/2 cups flour
• 1 tsp garlic or Italian herb mix (basil, oregeno, etc)

How to:

• So the basic process is easy. Turn the tap on hot and let it warm up to the highest temp you get. (maybe fill the sink for dishes while you're at it?) 
• Grab a big bowl and add 1 tsp sugar and 2 tsp yeast to the bottom.
• Pour 1 cup of that really hot water over the yeast and sugar, stir and set it aside for 5-10 minutes, until it's foamy all across the top of the water. (At this point, I load the dishwasher with all that hot water in the sink)
• When the yeast has risen, add in 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp salt, and 2 1/2 cups flour. I also add either 1tsp garlic or 1 tsp Italian seasoning- sometimes both! 
• Mix these together with a wooden spoon until it forms a big sticky ball, then let it rise until doubled in size...between ten minutes and an hour depending on the room temperature. To speed it up in winter, I set the bowl in the aformentioned sink of warm water. (this cleverly gets you out of dish duty, too!)
• Once dough has risen, drop it into a puddle of flour on the counter and stretch it out into whatever shape you need it to be. We don't have a pizza tray, so it's rectanglar pizza for us!
• Grease the pizza baking sheet and sprinkle with cornmeal. THIS keeps the pizza dough from sticking!
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
• Spoon on your canned spagetti pizza sauce and spread into a light layer on the dough.
• Sprinkle a layer of mozarella cheese and add toppings. (We like pepperoni, olive and peppers)
• Bake at

EEEP, a FOURTH chance!

Amy over at The Idea Room is giving away a Silhoutte cutter! And I want one sooooooooooo badly I can taste it! Those big glass jars of flour and sugar don't stand a chance if I win this one...

Anyway, I'm gonna go enter whilst I wipe the drool off my chin. Fingers, toes, arms, legs and any other part I can manage crossed that I might be the lucky winner this time!!!