Pepperoni Pizza

Here's what you'll need
2.25 cups flour
2.5 tsp yeast (or one package)
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup warm water
2 Tbs cooking oil (you can also use olive oil)
8 oz fresh mozzarella
2-4 Tbs tomato paste
3 fresh sprigs of thyme (I have a thyme plant if you haven't guessed from all the other recipes) or 1/4 tsp of the dried stuff
garlic salt
olive oil to drizzle
sprinkle of corn meal (buy a box of corn bread mix)
pepperoni!

This dough makes two pizzas, but I only wanted one. So I made the full dough and just put the second pizza dough in the fridge .
Mix together 1.25 cups flour, yeast, and salt.
Oh yea, preheat your oven to 425.

Then add your warm water and oil. If you are using a mixer, make sure to stop it and push the flour down that builds up on the sides.
Add the rest of your flour.
Here's your dough!

 Knead the dough. To do so, perform CPR on the dough. Use both hands and push down, fold it in half, turn, and repeat the process for a couple minutes.

Split the dough in half. You have a decision to make. Two pizzas or one? If you go two, you're going to need more cheese and tomato paste than I listed above. Or you can just make one and store the  dough for later in the fridge.

 Sprinkle the corn meal on your cookie sheet or pizza pan. I don't have a round pizza pan, so my pizzas are just going to be square for a while.

 Roll out your dough so it fits in your pan. Now this isn't the prettiest shaped pizza. But that's ok, it's going to taste awesome.

It's decision time again. Do you want a crispy crust? If so, stab the dough with a fork (you could say prick, but stab is more fun, just don't go crazy and kill your dough) and put it in the oven for 5 minutes or so until it's slightly golden.
If you don't want super crispy, skip that step and continue on by sprinkling the dough with garlic powder. Then drizzle with olive oil.

 Grab your tomato paste and spread it evenly over your dough. I'm not a big saucy pizza person. I like to keep the sauce on a low level so it's just a nice piece of the puzzle and not the over whelming diva of the pizza.

 That's my sauce style.

 Now sprinkle the thyme all over.

 See, it's cute little green bits.

 Now add your pepperoni.

 You need the fresh cheese here. The way it melts is so much better than the stuff in a bag. It just blends across the pizza. And when you bit into it, it streches as you pull the pizza slice away from your mouth.
I went with mozzarella pearls. You could also buy the block of cheese and slice it.

 Lots of cheese! I used the whole package because I like a lot of cheese.
Now put your creation into the oven.

 Bake for 12 minutes, or until the cheese has evenly melted and gets a little golden.
Pepperoni will have that extra grease that pops up over your cheese. You could blot it, or get over it and accept the fact that you're eating pizza and it's really not supposed to be healthy, right?

Sous chef says, "pizza?!?!"