This traditional recipe guarantees a delicious pizza that has the right amount of crisp and chew.
Mix yeast with water and leave for 10 minutes. This process is called proofing the yeast to ensure the yeast is viable. It should bubble, even a little. If it doesn’t, your yeast is dead, and you should start over. It's a good idea to check the expiration date!
In a large bowl, mix olive oil with flour and salt.
Once yeast has proofed, add to flour and knead thoroughly until dough becomes smooth. Use more flour if needed.
Place the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with a clean towel to rise in a warm area for about 30 minutes.
Gently punch down the dough and shape into a smooth dough ball. Leave in bowl to rise for two hours.
After two hours, place a pizza stone oven in a cold oven. Pre-heat oven to 450° F.
Using a rolling pin, flatten and shape dough on a large silicone baking mat to 16 inches in diameter.
Sprinkle your peel (paddle) with cornmeal. Place dough on pizza peel and gently shake it to ensure your dough does not stick.
Once stone is pre-heated, top dough with pizza sauce and your choice of ingredients along with regular or vegan cheese of your choice.
Carefully place the pizza from peel to pizza stone.
Bake for about 10 min and enjoy
Note: A pizza peel (sometimes called a paddle) is a wooden or bamboo paddle-shaped implement to place pizza dough on a hot pizza stone. After baking, you also remove the pizza from the stone with the peel.
Note: Try our Marinara Sauce to top your pizza. Another easy sauce to make is to use tomato paste. Spread the paste on the pizza dough and sprinkle it with a little garlic powder and Italian seasoning.
You can use dairy or non-dairy cheese and a variety of vegetables. Some suggestions are mushrooms, onions, green peppers, onions, zucchini, broccoli, artichoke hearts, olives, spinach, and even pineapple. There are also meat substitutes such as vegan pepperoni or sausage that you can add.