White Family Pizza Dough

Mix together by hand:

 3 cups all purpose flour
 2 packages quick-rising dry yeast
 2 teaspoons of sugar
 1 teaspoon of salt

Then add

 1 cup very warm water (I put the tap water as hot as it will go and use that)
 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

When you are mixing the dough together, sometimes it seems really really dry like there are bits that won't even mix in after stirring for a bit - add a few drops of water or wait until you start kneading to see if it is really dry before adding water. If it seems really wet and sticky, that's fine. Somewhere in between is ideal, but I've had both and they come out fine. It will be kind of difficult to stir because it is thick and usually sticks to the spoon.

After you have stirred the ingredients in, dump the dough out onto a lightly floured surface (the counter). Knead for about 3-4 minutes until it feels smooth and elastic. Knead with the heal of your hand and then fold over and do it again - for 3 or 4 minutes! Kneading helps to completely combine the ingredients. Sometimes if the dough seems dry, I'll start kneading and then realize it wasn't that dry after all. If it is really wet and sticky, flour your hands and as you knead, the dough will pick up the flour on the counter - you may need to reflour your counter too.

After you finish kneading, I put some olive oil in the palm of my hand and rub it over the dough while forming a ball with the dough. I put the dough in the original bowl to rise. I cover the bowl with a dish towel - it keeps the dough kind of warm and keeps the yeast fumes in the bread rather than evaporating into the air.

Set a timer for 30-40 minutes, then punch down the dough with your fist and fold the ends in. You are letting the air out of the dough. (this is the twice rising method - it has some fancy word in the bread making community, but I can't think of it) Cover the dough again and let it rise about 45 minutes.

You are ready to assemble the pizza.

We heat our stone in the oven at 500 degrees. You don't have to pre-heat your pan if transferring the pizza will be an issue (this is where the parchment paper helps out since the dough will stick to whatever surface you roll it out onto.) Sprinkle some cornmeal on the pan(after you grease it), then roll out the dough with a floured rolling pin. The dough will be kind of thick - it shouldn't be difficult to roll out to the size of your pan. We put the sauce on, then a thin layer of cheese, then our toppings, and then more cheese to secure those toppings. Put in the oven at 500 degrees for 10 minutes - you may have to leave it in longer if you don't pre-heat your pan.