Pizza Crust and Pizza Sauce

This is my dinner tonight!

Here's a few quick notes before you get to the recipes:
1. If you want a pepperoni pizza, buy it from the deli section. A quarter pound of pepperoni does a few pizzas. I buy mine at Winco, and last night a quarter pound of pepperoni cost me $1.01.
2. If you want Canadian Bacon on your pizza, you can get Black Forest Ham from the deli and cut it up. Haven't noticed much of a difference and it's quite tasty.
3. If you're wanting some quick and easy breadsticks, the pizza crust rolled up makes some pretty good breadsticks. You can also brush on a mixture of butter and garlic salt to make it taste pretty yummy.
4. We've messed up this recipe a few times and added all purpose flour instead of bread flour and haven't ever noticed a difference.
5. When we make this pizza crust, we always have some dough left over. We think that it is actually too thick for our pizza pan (which I believe is a 12 inch pizza pan). This means that if you want it really thick or really thin, you have options. With the leftovers you can even make those yummy breadsticks I mentioned.

Ok... get started on this yummy recipe!


Pizza Crust
Makes one 12 inch pizza crust

Ingredients
1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 tablespoons olive oil (and some extra for greasing a pizza pan)
1 teaspoon salt
Cornmeal for dusting the pizza pan or baker's peel.
2 1/2 cups bread flour (or all purpose flour)
** Recommended: Italian Seasoning

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). In a medium bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
2. Stir in salt, oil, Italian Seasoning, and flour (Please note the order). Beat until smooth. Let rest for 5 minutes.
3. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan (use olive oil) or baker's peel dusted with cornmeal. Spread with desired toppings and bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let baked pizza cool for 5 minutes before serving.
     Note: The thinner the dough is rolled out, the thinner the pizza. I don't actually use all of the dough, I use maybe 3/4 of it. The last 1/4 I'll roll up and toss them in the oven. They make some pretty good bread sticks.
For a Crispier Crust, I'd recommend using a Baker's Peel/Baking Stone. 

Pizza Sauce

• 1 (15 ounce) can tomato sauce

• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

• 1/2 teaspoon rosemary

• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves

• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

• 1/4 teaspoon salt

• 1/8 teaspoon black pepper

• 1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes

• 1 whole bay leaf

• 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice


In a saucepan, combine all the ingredients; bring to a boil over medium heat. Once boiling, remove from the heat. Let cool until warm and apply to pizza crust.