Recipe - Pizza Crust By Hand

1 cup Warm water (110115 deg F)
1 Envelope (1/4oz) active dry
Yeast
3 One fourth cup Unbleached allpurpose
Flour
One half teaspoon Salt

Here's a Thin Pizza Dough I've been making forever (even before I became
fatfree) with no oil. Note: I use a pizza stone or fire bricks that I
purchased from a masonry supply house after I broke my pizza stone.
Leftover slices always crisp up nicely in the toaster oven the next day for
lunch.

Sprinkle yeast over the water and stir gently until dissolved. Should be a
smooth and beigecolored mixture. If not, throw it out and start again
check the expiration date on the yeast package. Put in a warm spot for
about 5 minutes (I set it in the microwave).

Put 3 cups of the flour and all the salt in a mixing bowl, stir together.
Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in the yeast mixture. Stir
from the middle, mixing in flour from the sides just until a soft dough
forms.

Turn dough out onto floured surface. Dust your hands with flour and knead
gently. Gradually add the remaining One fourth cup of flour until dough is no
longer sticky or tacky about 5 minutes. As you knead, scrape up bits
of dough that stick to the work surface with a metal dough scraper. Knead
1015 minutes until dough is smooth, elastic, and shiny. Knead only until
smooth and springy. (Overdoing it makes a tough crust).

Shape dough into a ball and put in clean bowl (note: don't use a cold bowl
~ rinse out with warm water and wipe dry). Cover bowl tightly with plastic
wrap and put in draftfree warm place (7585 degrees F). It will double in
size after about an hour takes 1One half hours at lower temperatures.

Press the air bubbles out of the dough (don't "punch" it be gentle).
Gently shape into a round ball. Let rest for 10 minutes. I cover it with
the inverted mixing bowl so that it doesn't dry out. Roll or stretch out
into pizza shape, cover with favorite toppings and bake at a high
temperature. If I am going to use especially moist toppings, I precook the
crust for 510 minutes.

Makes a 1516 inch pizza. Or divide dough into two equal pieces for two
12inch round flat pizzas. Or divide into 18 equalsize portions for
3inch appetizer sized pizzas.

Use within 2 hours. Or press out air bubbles again, shape into round ball,
put in bowl covered with plastic wrap, and set in refrigerator. Refrigerate
up to 24 hours. Let it come to room temperature before using.

Will freeze nicely wrap tightly in plastic and freeze up to 4 months.
Before using, thaw in refrigerator 12 days or a few hours at room
temperature.

Posted by Redcz@aol.com to the Fatfree Dig. Vol. 12 Issue 18 Nov. 19, 1994.
FATFREE Recipe collections copyrighted by Michelle Dick 1994. Used with
permission. Formatted by Sue Smith, S.Smith34, TXFT40A@Prodigy.com using
MMCONV.

File ftp://ftp.idiscover.co.uk/pub/food/mealmaster/recipes/fatfreex.zip