Homemade Pizza with New York Style Sauce

Cooking Light has published several pizza recipes and they are all awesome. I have tried every single one and this one is our favorite. The crust is perfectly chewy and the perfect thickness to hold all the sauce and toppings. Sorry there's no picture yet for this one...I'm kind of on a pizza strike for awhile until I get a little more weight off. Don't worry, I'll get there soon and then I'll make this and take a picture. I've made this a zillion times and can confidently tell you it's the bomb for pizza. The sauce is divine. You won't ever want to use a bottled pizza sauce ever again. If you want a real picture, visit the Cooking Light Site. 

Ingredients:

Pizza Crust
1 package active dry yeast ( 2 1/4 tsp. If your yeast is too old, it won't work as well. I keep mine in the freezer for this purpose)
1 C warm water
1 1/4 C cold water
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
26.1 ounces (5 1/2 C) unbleached bread flour, divided. (I've used all-purpose and it still works)
Cooking Spray
*I have made this with whole wheat flour and if you choose to do so, use about 4 C white flour and 1 1/2 C white flour for some volume to the crust

New York-Style Pizza Sauce

7 Tbsp water
2 Tbsp chopped fresh basil (fresh makes all the difference in the world, but use what you have)
1 1/2 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 tsp dried oregano (be sure to crush the dried spices in your hands to release the flavor)
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp minced garlic
1 (14.5 ounce) can petite-diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste

Just combine all these ingredients in a bowl with a whisk, makes 2 2/3 C.

1. Preheat Oven to 500. Dissolve yeast in 1 C warm water in a small bowl by sprinkling the yeast on top of the water and then leaving it alone; let stand 5 minutes. Combine 1 1/4 C cold water, oil, sugar, and salt in a small bowl and stir with a whisk.

2. Weight or lightly spoon 5 1/4 C (24.9 ounce) flour and combine with yeast mixture, and cold water mixture in a bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Mix on low for 8 minutes or until dough begins to form. Let rest 2 minutes. mix on low 6 minutes or until dough is smooth. Turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 2 minutes); add enough of the remaining 1.19 ounces (about 1/4 C) flour, 1 Tbsp at a time to prevent dough from sticking to hands.

3. Divide the dough in half. If using both balls of dough, roll out on a flat surface to a 12 inch circle. Place on a pizza dough on prepared pizza stone and brush with olive oil. Top with sauce, leaving a 1/4 inch border. Repeat with remaining dough or place remaining dough in a heavy duty zip top bag and freeze for up to 2 months.

4. Top pizza with toppings and then bake for 12 minutes. Let the pizza rest for 5-6 minutes before serving.