Easy One Hour Yeast to Yum Pizza

Making pizza from scratch will stop you from buying pizza ever again. And even though you will save money making it from scratch, it's the taste that will make this a permanent part of your weekly menu.

Now...I know what you're thinking and yes, I can't prove that I made this in an hour. But you are just going to have to trust me. I will admit to having the advantage of making this recipe every week for a few years now. But honestly, if I can do this in one hour, anyone can.

I think the most intimidating part of pizza dough or bread dough is the mysterious creature yeast. I assure you that if you follow my directions, you and yeast will become best buddies.

This recipe make 2 small sheet pans that measure 10"x15". From each pie you can get 8 to 10 cuts.

• 2 Cups Warm Water
• 2 Tablespoons Active Dry Yeast
• 2 Tablespoons Sugar
• 6 Cups All Purpose Flour or a mixture of All Purpose and Whole Wheat
• 2 Teaspoons of Salt
• Extra Virgin Olive Oil for oiling the dough and the sheet pans

Yeast is a living organism. It eats sugars and expels carbon dioxide which makes our dough rise. Our next step is to wake up the yeast and get it moving.

You will need a bowl for your dough and a pot that the bowl will sit on.

Fill up a pot halfway with the hottest water that comes out of your faucet.

Fill the bowl with 2 Tablespoons Sugar, 2 Tablespoons Yeast and 2 Cups of warm water. The temperature should be lukewarm. Don't worry if it isn't. The heat from the hot water in the pot below will bring the water to the correct temperature.

Stir the mixture and place the bowl onto the pot of hot water.

*One important detail...You do not want the hot water in the pot touching the bottom of your bowl, since this may make the mixture too hot.

After about 5 to 10 minutes the yeast mixture will begin to froth. As you can see in the picture our yeast is alive and eating and...ahem...expelling carbon dioxide.

We can now add in the rest of our ingredients.

Add the salt and flour which might be a little less than 6 Cups or a little more. You want the dough to be soft but not very sticky.

I mix the dough at first with a wooden spoon and then I move on to kneading it in the bowl with my hand.

When you have the dough at the correct consistency coat it with about 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

Pour new hot water from the faucet into the pot and place the dough bowl back on the pot and cover with a piece of plastic wrap.

When the dough rises to about double its original size you are ready to form your pies.

You won't need any flour or rolling pins here.

Coat your pans with olive oil and smooth with your hands. Excess oil is better than too little.

Divide the dough in half and simply press the dough into the pan. You may need a bit of oil on top to stop your hands from sticking to the dough.

Remember.... press with LOVE!

And now we will let the pies sit for a few minutes on the top of the oven as it reaches 375 degrees.

Spread on your favorite store bought or homemade pizza sauce, sprinkle with cheese, spread toppings on and we're ready to bake.

After baking in the oven for about 10 minutes at 375 degrees our pizza is done.

Notice the nice brown bottom, thanks to the olive oil.

And that's it. You have just made a homemade pizza for pennies in an hour.