James Beard's Pizza Crust

I decided to make pizza on Wednesday, because so much was going on that we needed a quick and easy dinner.  Of course, having carefully read my James Beard Menu Cookbook recently, and having made his outstanding white bread, I recalled that there was a recipe for pizza crust.  James Beard was and is a very trustworthy food creator, and so I decided to give it a whirl.

JAMES BEARD'S PIZZA CRUST

1 cup warm water
1 tbsp (or 1 packet) yeast*
4 cups flour
1 tsp sugar
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil

Dissolve the yeast in the water, add the sugar, and then add the flour, salt and olive oil.  Mix according to my yeast bread directions located to the right------->
Let the dough ball rise in a warm place until doubled in size, punch down and split it in half.  Roll out each half to fit a round pizza pan or a small rectangular baking tray; top with your choice of sauce, meat, vegetables and/or cheese.  Sprinkle oregano over the top and drizzle with olive oil.  Bake at 400F until browned, 20 to 25 minutes.

*Note that I used double the amount of yeast so my dough would rise faster - in about 15 minutes.  Also note that I multiplied the recipe by 1.5 so I could make 2 large trays of pizza.  Ryan's home from college, after all, and he is hungry.

The boys received this pizza very enthusiastically.  My dearly beloved declared this to be my best pizza crust ever.  And, all of the leftovers were gone before dinner Thursday.  Case closed; James Beard wins again!

Happy Friday, everyone!  Time to start working on my holiday menus!