Soft, Chewy Pizza Crust

Now, I have a recipe on here already for pizza crust, and it's one that you can use on the fly without having to let it rise.  This recipe however is by far the better choice if you have the time!  It comes out nice and crispy on the bottom and super soft on the inside!  And what's even better is you can play with it and add extras depending on what kind of pizza you're making!  Give it a shot!

Pizza Crust

(Spicy BBQ Chicken Pizza!)

*makes one 12 inch crust

1/2 C. and 2 Tbsp. Warm Water (very important that it's warm)
1 1/8 tsp. Yeast
1/2 tsp. Honey
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
1 1/2 C. Flour

1. If you are like me and have a bread maker, this is the easiest thing in the world to make.  Start with your liquids in the pan.  Water, oil, and the honey.  Then add the flour, salt, and any fun seasonings you'd like to add. (i.e. chili powder and garlic powder for a mexican style pizza, oregano and parmesan for a chicken alfredo pizza, parsley for a tomato basil pizza, etc)  I generally do a full tsp of any/each.
2. Turn the machine on and use the dough setting and in 90 minutes it's dough!
3. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees.
4. Then you can take out the dough, use a little flour (I like to use cornmeal with pizza dough) and stretch it to the size of your pan.  I recommend lining the pan with parchment paper for an easy clean up!
*A great tip I came across as well: If you don't have a pizza stone, turn a cookie sheet upside down and use parchment paper.  Turns out crispy and awesome*
5. Sauce it, top it, and throw it in the oven for 12-15 mins depending on the oven.
6. Enjoy!

When you're not using a bread maker:
1. Stir honey, yeast and warm water together in a large bowl.  Let this sit for 5-10 mins to activate the yeast.
2. When it starts to bubble, stir in the salt, oil, and half the flour and mix well.
3. Slowly add the other half of the flour mixing it well.  The dough should be tacky, but not sticky to your hands.
4. Kneed the dough for about 10 mins (or use the dough hook on a stand mixer for 6 mins)
5. Pull the dough out and put it in another bowl that is lightly greased. Move it around a bit to cover it so it doesn't dry out.  Cover with plastic wrap and let it rise in a warm place for an hour or two.
6. Move on back up to step 4 in the original directions!