Pizza Dough

In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients.

Stir in the olive oil.

Stir in the water, adding the last few tablespoons slowly to see if they are needed - a wet dough is preferable although more challenging to work with.

Turn the dough out onto work surface to knead until smooth and shiny. Be sure to follow the fold, roll, turn, method and be gentle with the dough. Try not to incorporate any more flour than is absolutely necessary.

Put dough into an oiled bowl and cover. Allow to rise until it has doubled in volume.

Turn out the dough onto a floured surface to shape the pizza.

Divide the dough into two pieces.

Begin by patting one of the pieces of dough into a disk as thin as possible until it resists stretching. Let the dough rest for a minute before picking it up with one hand and holding it vertically above your work space. Rotating the disk of dough above yoursurface, begin stretching the edges until the disk of dough is large enough to drape over the back of the knucles of both hands.

Your hands should be palm down and parallel to your work surface. Begin roatting the dough in one direction over the surface of your knuckles, slowly moving your hands wider apart and using a slight flipping motion to move the dough. This action provides tension against the dough to fully stretch it. Try not to provide so much tension that the dough tears; although, little holes can always be patched.

If the dough resists any of these steps put it down on the floured surface, cover it and let it rest for a minute or two until it relaxes again.