Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425° about 1 hour before you are ready to bake. Arrange one oven rack on bottom of oven. Position a second rack about 5” from top heating elements.

2. Pour warm water and 4 Tbsp. olive oil into PrepPal™, add yeast packet and whisk well until yeast is dispersed. Add the herbs to the liquid in the PrepPal™. Mix again.

3. Add Wild About Bread™ mix, cover and shake PrepPal™ vigorously for 30 seconds to mix well, turning PrepPal™ over, back and forth, and horizontally, until all flour is incorporated. Scrape down sides, bottom and top of the PrepPal™ with rubber spatula. Cover and snap two of the five snaps. Set PrepPal™ in warm place until dough has doubled in size, approximately 2 to 3 hours.

4. Open PrepPal™, mixing and scraping sides, bottom and top after proofing, then dump dough on to floured board or work surface. Sprinkle dough with additional 1 to 2 tablespoons flour.

5. Flatten dough with hands, shaping into a rectangle, short end towards you. Fold short end over top of the opposite short end. Sprinkle again with a tiny amount of flour, pushing dough away from you using heels of both hands, and shaping again into a rectangle. Repeat these steps a few times, turning the dough a half turn each time. Repeat until dough is easier to handle and less sticky. Scrape any dough sticking to the work surface, adding back to dough ball. Shape dough into ball and divide in to two even halves. Reshape each half into a ball and allow dough to rest in warm place, covered, 15 to 25 minutes.

6. Prepare two, 10" - 12” parchment lined pizza pans, half sheet pan sized rimmed baking sheets, or if making a deep dish, one 10” cake pan, or 10" oven-proof skillet. Liberally brush pans and parchment with about 2 Tbsp each of the remaining olive oil.

7. Transfer dough balls to the prepared pans. Press each dough piece into a circle working from the center out, turning dough over once to coat both sides completely with oil. Continue to press out a round shape using your fingers, moving dough to the edges of pan or forming a circle shape on baking sheet. Repeat process with second piece of dough. Form a slight raised edge around perimeter of crust using fingers to pinch dough.

8. Cover pizza crusts with a cloth and place pans in warm area until almost double in size, about 1 to 2 hours. Reshape gently into circles if necessary, once crusts have doubled.

9. Top first pizza, starting with half the sauce, spreading sauce within a half inch of the crust edge. Sprinkle sauce with a quarter of the cheese, half the meat and finish with another quarter of remaining cheese. Brush crust edge with some remaining oil. Repeat with second crust in the same manner. See notes at the beginning of the recipe if making ONE deep dish pizza.

10. Bake pizzas on the bottom rack of the oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until cheese begins to bubble and edges begin to brown. Rotate pans once during baking time. Check the bottom of the crust, lifting with a metal spatula. If the bottom of the crust is browning, but top crust edge is not, transfer pizzas to top rack, baking another 8 to 12 minutes. If the top is bubbly, but the underside is not browning, continue baking on bottom part of oven for 8 to 12 more minutes. Visual cues are important, lifting pizza with a metal spatula to check the browning on underside. If pizzas brown too quickly, lower oven to 375°. Bake until bottom of crust is a rich golden brown. Remove pizzas from oven and sprinkle with basil immediately if using. Wait 5 minutes to set, then slice and enjoy.