Easy Pizza Dough

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

Preheat oven to 425. Dissolve yeast in warm water with sugar. (I usually let it sit about 5 minutes.) Stir in remaining ingredients then beat vigorously or knead 20 strokes. If it feels really sticky you can add a little more flour. Let it rest 5 minutes then spread onto pizza sheet, using your fingers to work the dough. Bake crust 7 minutes, then remove from oven and add toppings. Bake an additional 8-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted to your liking.

I usually use a pizza stone, so you may need to decrease these baking times if you use a metal pan. The original recipe says this makes 2 pizza crusts, but my stone is pretty large and we like our crust on the thicker side, so I use it for one pizza.

Submitted by Anitra