Pizza Dough

I've been wanting to try to make pizza dough for quite awhile (my husband is extremely fond of pizza), but I have been too wary of the whole "put yeast in water that is at just the right temperature, let it rise, punch it down, let it rise again, etc.," thing.  Every time I read a recipe for any dough that requires yeast, I squint my eyes, look at it again, contemplate for a moment, and then close the cookbook without making anything.  Yesterday, I thought, "what's the harm in trying - if it is as complicated as it sounds, I'll forevermore buy my bread items at the grocery!"  So I made the attempt at pizza dough, and lo and behold, it worked!  With pizza dough, it only has to rise once, so that makes it easer.  It is definitely something that I will have to make a few more times before it seems easy and cooks perfectly, but this time was not bad.  I used a candy thermometer to test the water temperature, and the rest was pretty easy.  After putting the ingredients in, the dough was pretty sticky, so I added two or three tablespoons of flour (one at a time) until it pulled away from the sides of the mixer.  That part was kind of tricky, because I knew that it wasn't supposed to be sticky, but I didn't know how much flour was "too much."  I also think that I rolled it a little thin when actually making the pizza, but that's where making it a few more times will get it to the place where it is "just right."  I made two pizzas last night and this pizza was a bit thin (that part is my fault), and a bit flimsy, so next time we'll work on getting the crust a bit more crispy and to the right thickness.

Pizza Dough, p. 607

The Joy of Cooking, 75th edition