pizza party

The grandchildren and I made homemade miniature pizzas recently.  It was a surprise dinner for Pa Pa one evening.  They had a blast!  We made a mess and had a few arguments about who was going next but overall the "pizza party" was a success!  The recipe came from a kid's cookbook, you, my blog readers have read about before...Williams-Sonoma-Cooking Together.

PIZZA PARTY
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for the dough
Lukewarm water  1 1/4 cups
Active dry yeast  1 package (2 1/2 teaspoons)
Sugar  1 tablespoon
All-purpose flour  3 cups, plus extra for sprinkling
Salt  1 tablespoon
Olive oil  2 tablespoons, plus extra for the bowl

for the toppings 
Jarred tomato sauce  15-ounce jar
Fresh mozzarella cheese  16 ounces
Sliced salami, mushrooms, bell peppers,
and olives, and basil leaves
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Makes 4-6 pizzas


PREHEAT THE OVEN TO 500 DEGREE F.  TO MAKE THE DOUGH, POUR THE WATER INTO THE BOWL OF A STAND MIXER, SPRINKLE WITH THE YEAST AND SUGAR, AND LET STAND UNTIL FOAMY, ABOUT 5 MINUTES.  ADD THE FLOUR, SALT, AND OLIVE OIL AND BEAT ON LOW SPEED UNTIL A ROUGH, SHAGGY DOUGH FORMS, ABOUT 5 MINUTES.

--Sprinkle a work surface with a little flour and dump the dough onto the surface. 
Knead with your hands until the dough is smooth and not sticky, about 5 minutes.
Shape the dough into a ball.  Oil a bowl with olive oil, put the dough in the bowl,
and turn it to coat it with the oil.  Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel.  Let the dough
rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour.

--Punch down the dough.  Divide it into 4 fist-sized balls.  Sprinkle a baking sheet with
flour, place the balls on it, and cover with a kitchen towel.  Let rise until doubled in
size, about 30 minutes.  Sprinkle the work surface with four.  Press each ball to deflate,
then flatten and stretch it into a 10-inch round.  Transfer the rounds to 2 rimmed baking
sheets.  Spread each with tomato sauce and top with cheese and other toppings of your
choice.

BAKE UNTIL THE CHEESE HAS MELTED AND THE CRUST IS CRISP AND GOLDEN,
10-15 MINUTES.  CUT INTO WEDGES AND SERVE.