pizza from scratch

This is our first time making pizza from scratch at home. Well, I guess I should say, it's almost totally from scratch- maybe next time we will try making the mozzarella too!

Pizza Dough:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, plus extra for table
3/4 cup 110-115 degree water, think hot tub
3/4 Tbsp. olive oil, plus more for bowl
1 1/4 tsp. active dry yeast
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar

Makes 1 12-14" pizza crust:

In a small bowl, combine the active dry yeast with warm water, olive oil, salt, and sugar. Stir and allow to sit for 5 minutes so the yeast can reanimate and get excited. Add wet ingredients to food processor first, followed by the flour, and give it a little stir to incorporate so you don't set off a flour bomb in the kitchen. Pulse all ingredients in a food processor until a solid dough ball forms (depending on your flour, humidity, or other factors you may need to add a little more flour to the food processor. Just make sure to add only a little at a time). Remove ball from your food processor and knead on a floured surface by hand for about 5 minutes, folding in half, squishing the dough, then turn 90 degrees and do the same. Then put about 1 1/2 tsp. of olive oil in a large bowl, roll the dough ball around to coat. Cover the bowl with a warm wet kitchen towel and let it sit on the kitchen counter to rise for one hour. The dough will rise to about twice its size. Wrap tightly and store for at least 24 hours. Dough will be fine in the fridge for up to 3 days. This recipe is easily doubled, tripled, quadrupled, or more. It is great to make in large batches, and the remaining dough can be separated into pizza sized balls and frozen in freezer bags for up to 2 month, just make sure the ball is coated with oil before placing into the bag.

Pizza Sauce:
Ingredients:
4 heirloom tomatoes, seeds removed and roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 spring onion, diced
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp sugar
salt, pepper and Italian seasoning to taste

Add the olive oil to a non-stick pot over high heat. Add in the onion and garlic and allow to simmer for just a minute or two, then add in the tomatoes. Season and bring to a boil. Allow to boil for about 20 minutes, until the sauce reduces to about 1/3 of its volume, stirring occasionally so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pot. Turn the heat down and re-check your seasoning. You may run this through a blender for super smooth sauce or for a more rustic vibe, leave it chunky. We left it chunky- why dirty more dishes?


Toppings:
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
3 sweet gypsy peppers, thinly sliced

Preheat your oven to 500 degrees. Put your pizza stone or baking sheet on the bottom rack. Get your dough out of the fridge and let it warm up a bit before you start stretching. When you are ready to assemble the pizza, add the sauce, cheese and toppings, then quickly center the pizza on your stone or baking sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, checking on it after 7.