It's Saturday and we usually have pizza. I decided today to make it from scratch, since the kids only eat cheese pizza. Plus, I wanted an in between crust - not thin, not thick. Found a recipe that looked like what I wanted and tried it out.  What I like about this recipe is that it's enough dough for an 11 x 17" pan, aka. a cookie sheet!! Whoo hoo! Made it up and it was awesome!! And I am thankful for my heavy duty Kitchen Aid mixer. It kneaded the dough for 10 minutes without a problem. I made half of the pizza with bbq pork, green peppers, and cheese; the other half with just cheese.  Everybody said, "YUMMMM".  I'm going to make this dough again and freeze it so I have it on hand. Enjoy!


Sicilian Thick Crust
(makes a 17 1/2" X 11 1/2" Pizza)
4 cups All−Purpose flour
1 tsp salt
4 tbsps oil
2 pkgs. dry yeast
1 1/2 cups of warm water (105F)

Mix yeast, 1/2 cup flour, and 1/2 cup water in a bowl covered with
plastic wrap. Let rise for 15 minutes.
Stir to deflate. Mix 2 cups of remaining flour with salt, 1 cup cool
tap water, and oil. Add yeast mixture. Mix in remaining flour.
Knead 15 minutes on a floured surface (10 minutes in a machine) until
smooth. Place dough in bowl dusted with flour and cover with plastic
wrap. Let rise until doubled (1 to 2 hours). Punch dough down and
put in ziploc bag in the refrigerator until ready to use.
Preheat oven to 500F.
Remove dough from refrigerator when ready to shape into crust.
Punch down dough thoroughly and roll out dough on a floured surface.
Lightly oil (olive) a 17 1/2" X 11 1/2" X 3/4" pan. Place dough in pan
and push to stretch evenly leaving a lip up against sides of pan.
Let rest for 10−15 minutes (while you prepare toppings). Stretch out
dough again (it will have receded) and place desired toppings.
Cook in center of oven until crust is golden brown. (about 12 min's)