Homemade (Quick) Pizza Dough

Source: AllRecipes.com

Homemade (Quick) Pizza Dough

3 cups all-purpose flour
2-1/4 tsp. active dry yeast (or 1 pkg)
2 Tbsp. vegetable oil (or olive)
1 tsp. salt
1/2 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup warm water (110 degrees F)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add in warm water and oil. Mix together until a soft dough forms, adding additional flour as needed. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and gently kneed dough for 2-3 minutes.
3. If you desire a thin crust pizza, spread dough out onto a large pizza pan immediately, prick with a fork and bake for 5 minutes. If you want a thicker crust, allow dough to rest for 5-10 minutes and then spread the dough out onto a large pizza pan. Prick dough with a fork, and bake for 5 minutes.
4. Remove dough from oven and then proceed to top with sauce and your favorite toppings. Return to oven and bake for approximately 15-17 minutes or until crust starts to brown.

Makes 1 pizza.

*This dough is very yummy and one of the best "quick" doughs I have made so far. If you're like me and you need a dough that doesn't have to rest for several hours before cooking, because you forgot about it until the last minute, then this is the dough for you. I use my KitchenAid mixer to mix up the dough and it's ready in no time at all. I also prefer to make each batch of dough separately, even when making multiple pizzas, because then my crusts turn out better (and you don't have one that's a whole lot thicker/thinner than the other one). I normally mix up one batch of dough, and then when I am kneading the dough I have a second batch mixing up. Works well for me. A batch of this dough can be turned into several mini pizzas or calzones easily.

**I have since edited this recipe to reduce the sugar to 1/2 tablespoon (from 1 tablespoon) because I found that it works just as well with the reduced sugar, and it's a less of a "sweet" dough when the sugar is reduced. It's still very yummy and absolutely perfect for a "quick" pizza dough.