Italian Pizza Crust

My husband wanted to make individual homemade pizzas for dinner last night.  I made the pizza dough using some Rapid Rise Yeast.  The dough was ready to top and bake within 30 minutes.  This recipe makes 2 12-inch thin crust pizzas.  

Ingredients:

3 cups all purpose flour
1 envelope Fleischmann's RapidRise Yeast
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp rosemary (optional)
1 cup very warm water (120-130 degrees)
2 T olive oil
Cornmeal (for pizza pan)

Combine 3 cups flour, undissolved yeast, salt, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, and rosemary in a large bowl.  Measure out 1 cup of water in a glass measuring cup and heat in the microwave for about 20 seconds.  Use a thermometer to make sure it's between 120-130 degrees; otherwise, the yeast will not activate properly.  Add the very warm water and olive oil to the dry mixture.  Stir to combine.  You want a nice soft dough so you might need a little more flour or water.

Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 4-6 minutes.  Form into a ball and put into a large glass bowl coated in olive oil.  Turn the dough over to coat the other side with olive oil.  Cover with a dry towel and place in the oven to rise until it doubles in size, about 20 minutes or so.

Divide the dough in half and form into balls.  Roll each dough out to fit desired size pizza pans. 

Coat pizza pans with olive oil and sprinkle with cornmeal to prevent the dough from sticking.  Place rolled out pizza dough on pan and continue with your pizza making. 

To make cheese stuffed crust, place mozzarella cheese sticks around the perimeter of the pizza dough and fold the edges over and pinch to seal shut.  My kids really enjoyed it and ate all of their crust.  They won't normally eat the crust.

Note:  For a CRISPIER thin crust pizza, parbake the pizza dough at 400 degrees for 10 minutes.  Remove from the oven and arrange toppings.  Return to the oven and bake for another 12-15 minutes until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown.  Enoy!