Pizza Dough..

I remember quite a few years ago that my sister Amylee would make the best pizza dough.  She still does.  She gave me the recipe and I tried it thinking, oh what a piece of cake.  But to my surprise, it didn't turn out.  I tried and tried and tried again.  I just couldn't get it.  Finally after lots of practice, it started to work for me.  I don't know what changed.  I think it was that I got a feel for what the dough should feel like and how much flour to add to it.  I use this recipe for a couple different things: breadstix, pizza dough, pigs in a blanket.

1 TBS yeast
1 TBS sugar
1 cup water, (hotter then warm, but not too hot- I remember my mom telling me when I was young that the water should feel like what you would give a baby a bath in.  Use your inside wrist to test the temp. It shouldn't have a burn to it.)
2 TBS oil
1 tsp salt
2-2 1/2 cups flour
optional- add fresh garlic, or garlic salt to dough for a funner twist.  If I add fresh garlic, leave the salt how it is.  If you want to add garlic salt, I add 1/2 tsp regular salt and 1/2 garlic salt.

Put yeast, sugar in bowl.  Add warm water over it.  Stir just to get it all wet, let stand for about 5 minutes to get the yeast nice and bubbly. 
Add the oil, stir.  Add 1 cup flour, stir.  Then add salt. stir.  Finishing adding flour 1/2 cup at a time so that you don't add too much.  Once a workable dough, knead on table for about 5 minutes.  I like to mix it by hand so I can feel how soft my dough is and how much flour I need to add, but you could do this in a mixer with a bread hook.  I like to let it rise for at least 10 minutes.  45 minutes actually makes it a really soft dough if I think about it in advance.  But it is still pretty soft after just about 10 minutes. 

If making breadsticks, I like to let it rise for a bit, then shape into sticks, then brush with melted butter and salt, and let rise again til fluffy.

I cook my pizza at 425, for around 10 minutes.  Same for the breadsticks.