Friday Fun: Homemade Pizza

One of my favorite things about Friday is the new tradition (is that an oxymoron?) in our house - homemade pizza!  And what's going to make it even more fun today is that we'll be sharing with my wonderful mom, who is having her birthday today.

Starting your own tradition is easy.  Here's the recipe I use:

• Add 2 cups all-purpose flour to your food processor.  (If you don't have one, you can do this by hand.  It's not hard, just the processor makes it sooo much faster.)
• Add 1 teaspoon salt.
• Add one package of rapid rising yeast.  (I use Fleichmann's and I found out recently that the kind that is loose in the jar marked bread-making yeast is really the same thing.  So use whatever you have.)
• Put on the lid and turn on while streaming in 2 tablespoons of olive oil.  (If you don't have any, just use whatever kind of vegetable oil you have on hand.)
• With processor still on, stream in 1 cup of hot water.  Dough will be very sticky (depending on the weather).
• Open processor and add in 1/2 cup flour, process again.
• Continue adding flour by 1/2 cup increments until it forms a ball when processed.
• Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead, adding flour as needed, until dough is soft and non-sticky enough to handle.  Usually this step only takes a couple of minutes.  Let rest while you make other preparations.
• Preheat oven to 425 (Honestly, this is a guesstimate because my oven's controls are very iffy.)
• Spread one tablespoon olive oil over large pizza pan.
• Spread dough out on pizza pan, pressing rather than stretching, until dough is size and thickness desired.  (We cover one 16" pizza pan with this amount of dough)
• Top as desired and bake for 15 to 20 minutes until desired level of brownness occurs.
• Enjoy!