Basic Cheese Pizza

Ingredients:

3 cups bread flour

4 ounces fresh mozzarella cheese

1/2 cup tomato puree

1 teaspoon sugar

1/4 ounce dry yeast

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped

1 cup water, lukewarm

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 garlic clove, minced

Instructions:

In a glass or plastic bowl, combine yeast, water, and sugar (the water can just be water from the tap, make sure it's below 100°F).

Stir to dissolve the yeast and let the yeast "bloom" for 15 minutes.

Stir in 1 cup flour, add salt, and then stir in another cup of flour (the remaining cup of flour will be your "bench" flour and added flour).

Dump mixture onto kneading board and work in last cup of flour, kneading until dough is soft and elastic, but not sticky. Form dough into a ball.

In another bowl, pour in the 1 tbsp olive oil and spread around.

Coat ball of dough with oil and cover bowl with a damp towel and let dough rise for 40 minutes.

Punch down dough and knead on board about 2 minutes. Dough is now ready to spread in the pan.

For Sauce:

Combine pureed tomatoes, tomato paste, minced garlic, and basil.

Spread onto prepared pizza dough.

Top with sliced mozzarella cheese and bake at 500°F for 11-13 minutes.