Pizza Dough

From OSR

Makes 2 1/2-inch crusts. I believe it came from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, but I'll have to look it up.

Ingredients

Prep:

1/2 cup warm water (warm, but below 100 degree F so that you do not kill the yeast.

2 teaspoons yeast

Dough:

1 cup warm water

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 to 1/2 cup whole wheat flour

3 to 3 1/2 cup flour

Directions

Put yeast in warm water and let sit for 10 minutes. If it bubbles, great, if not your yeast are dead, try it again with new yeast.

Add 1 cup water, olive oil, salt and whole wheat flour to the yeast mixture and mix. Add enough of the regular flour to make a shaggy dough. You want to keep the mixture light and moist (sticky) if you want a light, crispy crust. Knead on a floured surface for 10 minutes, trying not to add too much extra flour.

Put the dough into an oiled bowl, turn to coat, and let rise for 40-60 minutes. A convenient place to let it rise is in the oven with only the light on.

Punch the dough down, divide it, and let it rise again for 20 to 30 minutes.

Put flour or cornmeal on a pizza peel to keep the dough from sticking, or even better put parchment paper on the peel. Shape the dough, and let it rest on the peel for 10-15 minutes before topping.

First brush the dough with a thin layer of olive oil to keep the sauce from soaking the dough, then top the pizza with whatever you want. If you used a parchment paper, you can slide the paper right into the oven with the pizza. Bake at 500 degrees fahrenheit until it looks done.