Step 1

Add warm water to a small liquid measure (I use a 1-cup measure). Be careful to not get the water too hot - I once read to try to mimic the temperature of a warm bottle that you would feed a baby.

Step 2

Add sugar to warm water, then sprinkle yeast evenly over the top of the water. Let stand for 15 minutes until frothy.

Step 3

Meanwhile, add flour and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Stir to combine.

Step 4

Add yeast mixture and olive oil to flour mixture. Combine on low speed for about 30 seconds, just to combine the wet and dry ingredients. Then increase speed to medium and let the dough hook knead the dough for 2 minutes, or until nothing is left in the bottom of the bowl.

Step 5

Divide dough into two equal portions. Roll each one into a ball on a clean countertop using the palm and heel of your hand, adding a little flour to the countertop if needed. Drizzle a little olive oil into the bottom of a low wide bowl. Add dough balls and roll them around in the olive oil to coat completely. Spray a piece of plastic wrap lightly with non-stick spray and cover bowl of dough balls, sprayed side down. Let rise at room temperature at least 2 hours, or until doubled in size.

Step 6

Place baking steel in the upper portion of the oven - in our oven, I adjust a rack to the position second from the top. Preheat oven and baking steel to 500° F. Once that temperature has been reached, let the baking steel heat for an additional 20 minutes.

Step 7

While oven is preheating, prepare pizza peel by spreading cornmeal evenly over the top.

Step 8

Then start rolling out one of the dough balls on a clean countertop lightly dusted with flour. First pat it down into a thick dough round, about 5" in diameter. Then, using a lightly dusted rolling pin, roll dough round into a 12" diameter circle, flipping over on the lightly flour-dusted countertop once or twice. Let dough rest for 5 minutes. Then continue to roll the dough into a larger 14" diameter circle. Fold circle in half and transfer to cornmeal covered pizza peel. (For easy countertop clean-up, use a bench scraper to remove the flour!)

Step 9

Brush a thin coating of olive oil over entire crust.

Step 10

And then proceed with the toppings! For a basic pepperoni pizza, as shown in my photos: Spread on 1/3 c. thick-style pizza sauce, sprinkle with 6 oz. shredded mozzarella (use whole milk mozzarella, if you can find it), top with pepperoni, as much as you like. If using "roni cup" style pepperoni, know that it will shrink up tremendously, so feel free to crowd on the pepperoni!

Step 11

Jiggle the pizza peel a bit, to make certain that no part of the pizza is sticking to the surface of the peel. Then place the peel just above the back of the baking steel at an angle and jiggle slightly to get the pizza to make contact with the back of the hot baking steel. You may pull the oven rack out of the oven about half-way to make it easier, if you like. When the pizza crust hits the steel, the crust will stick to it. Slowly pull the peel out of the oven, letting the entire pizza fall down onto the hot steel.

Step 12

Bake for 8 minutes, or until crust is browned and cheese is bubbling. To remove pizza from oven, slide the oven rack out about half-way. Then position the pizza peel level with the front of the rack, and slide the baked pie onto the peel with the help of a big spatula/turner. Then slice it up and ENJOY!