Pizza

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Dough Ingredients for two Pizzas:

1 1/2 cups warm water

4 teaspoons honey

2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast

2 tablespoons olive oil

3 1/2 cups bread flour

2 teaspoons fine sea salt

Topping Ingredients for one Pizza:

1/3 cup Mozzetta Arrabiatta Sauce

8 oz. shredded mozzarella cheese

5 oz. Jimmy Dean Sausage, cooked and crumbled

1 to 2 oz. Pepperoni, thinly sliced

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

6 small crimini mushrooms, sliced

2 mini sweet peppers (1 red, 1 orange), thinly sliced

2 oz. anchovies

Preparation:

Measure warm water into a measuring cup.  Stir in honey until it dissolves. Sprinkle in yeast and stir until it dissolves.  Let rest until foamy, about 5 minutes.  Stir in olive oil.

In a large bowl, whisk together flour and salt.  Form a well in the center and pour warm water mixture into the well.  With a fork, stir water in the well, slowly pulling flour in from the sides until a shaggy dough forms that can no longer be stirred with a fork. 

Flour hands and knead inside the bowl until a smooth, round bowl forms.  It should be slightly elastic.  Put dough in a large, well oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap.  Let rise until doubled in size (an hour to hour and a half).

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead lightly.  Divide into two parts and roll each half into a loose ball.  Cover with  a clean, floured kitchen towel and let rest another 15 minutes.  At this point, you can freeze half the dough by wrapping half in oiled plastic wrap and placing in a plastic bag then the freezer.  Thaw dough in the refrigerator when ready to use.

Adjust oven rack to lowest setting, place a pizza stone or a rimmed baking sheet on rack and heat oven to 500 degrees for at least 40 minutes.

Flatten ball and stretch or roll into a 12 inch pizza round with a rim and place on oiled parchment paper.  Brush pizza rim with oil then top with sauce, 6 oz. of shredded mozzarella cheese followed by desired toppings.  I like to place the cooked sausage first, followed by red onion, mushrooms, and peppers.  Then sprinkle the remaining 2 oz. mozzarella cheese on top and place pepperoni then anchovies on the cheese.

Place pizza and parchment paper on pizza stone in the oven and bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until cheese is bubbling.

Variation:

Use whatever toppings you like - be creative.  I've had this with a roasted garlic pesto instead of sauce and topped with smoked gouda cheese.  Or try sun dried tomatoes, goat cheese and caramelized onions instead of the traditional pizza.