Perfect Pizza Crust

Successful bread dough depends largely on the weather and outside temperature. Be prepared to add more or less flour depending on the appearance of your dough as you work. I suggest mixing the dough in a large glass bowl so that you will be able to knead it and let it rise in the same container.

Spoon yogurt into a 1-cup measure and crack the egg into the same container. Mix together thoroughly and add enough warm (not hot) water to make 1 cup of liquid ingredients.

Pour liquid into a large glass mixing bowl and add yeast, sugar, salt, and 1 cup of the flour. Mix together thoroughly, scraping the sides of the bowl to form a smooth paste.

Add remaining flour gradually until you can gather the dough in a shaggy mass with your hand. Begin to work the dough together, adding additional flour if necessary to keep it from sticking to the sides of the bowl.

Knead dough in bowl until it is elastic and no longer sticky. This should take 5-10 minutes. If your bowl is now relatively flour-free, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm spot to rise. If not, transfer to another bowl for rising.

After the dough has doubled in size (about 2 hours, less if it is very warm), punch it down and allow it to double again. This process could take as little as two hours or as many as four, depending on the strength of your yeast and the weather. If your dough rises faster than you need it to, you can retard it by putting it into the refrigerator until you need it. Keep the bowl tightly covered with plastic wrap to prevent drying the dough out.

Once you are ready to make your pizza, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Decide on the thickness of the crust you want. For one thick-crust pizza, roll out the entire dough recipe into a circle 15 inches in diameter. For two thin-crust pizzas, divide the dough in half and roll out carefully into two 12-inch circles.

To make the pizzas easy to remove from the pan or stone after baking, sprinkle the cornmeal onto the surface before laying down the rolled-out pizza crust.

Top pizzas as desired. Bake in preheated 450 degree oven for about 10 minutes for thin-crust pizza and about 15 minutes for thick-crust pizza.

Recipe variations

Bread: After second rising, form dough into a neat ball and place in a buttered loaf pan. Allow to rise for 1/2 hour and bake at 350 degrees F for 20-35 minutes, or until browned.

Foccacia: Roll out dough as for thick-crust pizza, dent it with fingertips, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake according to pizza directions.