Recipe: Homemade Pizza!

There is nothing like making your own pizzas - from scratch!  It's fun, it's inexpensive and you know what ingredients are going into your pizza pie!
When my husband makes pizza, he makes enough for 6 pies - we eat a whole one (six slices) and we freeze the rest. We cut the pizzas into 6 (almost) equal slices and freeze them in packs of two.  They make for great lunches or a light dinner.  The recipe below is for 3 pies!  I also have a separate video link with step-by-step photos.
We have a ceramic pizza stone (we bought it at Williams-Sonoma), a pizza peel (Bed Bath & Beyond) and a plastic pizza cutter (also BB&B).  I picked up pie trays at various clearance/outlet centers and the $7 one is just as good as the one we paid $20!
What you need:
Pizza stone
Pizza peel
Pizza cutter
Rolling pin (French rolling pin is our preference)
Large bowl for mixing
Large bowl for resting/rising
Plastic/cling wrap to cover dough while resting/rising
Pizza pans for slicing/serving
Thermometer to register water temperature
Small bowl and brush for brushing pizza crust when it comes out of oven
1 kitchen towel: first to cover the dough while resting, afterwards dampened to cover the risen dough

Here's the recipe for 3 pies:
1 package fast acting or rising yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water (not hot or it will kill the yeast! Use a thermometer)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (we use King Arthur All Purpose Flour)
1 Tablespoon olive oil  PLUS EXTRA: to grease a large bowl and some for brushing on crust
1 pinch of salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 teaspoons onion powder
32oz  jar tomato sauce (we use Muir Glen "marina" - you'll only use half the jar)
16oz package of Mozzarella cheese - shredded (divide into 3 portions)
8 oz package Jack cheese - shredded (divide into 3 portions)
6+ Tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese (figure 2 per pizza)
sausage or pepperoni or other topping of your choice (divide as desired)
**
Very fine ground cornmeal or semolina (for dusting the peel)
Small bowl with olive oil and a brush - for brushing crust when out of oven

• Arrange all your ingredients
• IF you are using sausage as a topping, cook it first and let it cool down (1/2 lb should be good)  (If you want to use mushrooms, cook them ahead and cool down as well.)
• IF you are using pepperoni, cut it up and have it set aside
• Heat the Water (use cold bottled if possible) in  microwave (check temp with a thermometer: 110-115 degrees), add the yeast and let activate 5 minutes
• After the 5 minutes, add 1 Tablespoon olive oil to the water/yeast
• Spread some extra olive oil in a very large bowl, set aside
• In a large bowl, place the 3 1/2 cups flour 
• Add the salt, garlic and onion powders - gently blend into the flour
• Make a well in the flour
• Slowly pour small amounts of the water/yeast into the flour and blend using wooden spoon
• Add all the water/yeast and work it into a smooth dough (use a wooden spoon)
• Work the dough for 10 minutes; it helps to have another person help you with the mixing!!
• Place in the oiled bowl, cover tightly with plastic/cling wrap, drape a towel over that
• Let rise 1 1/2 - 2 hours in a warm area, away from A/C or draft
• Place the pizza stone in the oven, bottom rack; remove all other racks from oven
• Preheat oven to 500 degrees
• After 1 1/2 - 2 hours, dust your counter with flour and turn the dough onto the counter
• Punch down and begin to shape into a log (don't over work the dough)
• Dust the dough with just a bit of flour to prevent sticking to the counter and your hands
• Cut the log into 3 equal pieces (we use a tape measure to help guide us!) 
• Dampen the towel used to cover the rising dough 
• Lightly cover the cut dough pieces with the dampened towel (keeps them from drying out)
• Begin with piece #1 and roll (with a rolling pin or your hands) into a flat disk slightly larger than your pizza peel.  (Be sure to dust your hands and the rolling pin with flour first!!)
• Sprinkle the finely ground corn meal (or semolina) on the peel - this will help the dough 'slide' off and onto the stone
• Gently place the dough onto the peel and tuck up the edges to form a ridge/crust
• Gently give the peel a shake to make sure it doesn't stick to the peel
• Use about 3-4 tablespoons of tomato sauce and gently spread it on the dough - not too much, it'll get soggy and the dough won't slide off the peel!!
• Give the peel another gentle shake to be sure it is gliding on the peel
• IF you are adding sausage or pepperoni, add it on now 
• Sprinkle 2 Tablespoons of grated Parmesan cheese, 1/3 of the Mozzarella cheese,1/3 of the Jack cheese
• Gently give the peel a shake to make sure it is doesn't stick to the peel
• Bring the peel to the oven, place towards back of stone and gently shake/shimmy the pizza onto the stone as you gently pull the peel back with every little shake/shimmy.
• Bake approximately 15-20 each
• While pizza is baking, start on the next pie
• Repeat
• When the pizza is ready to be removed from oven, use a fork and glide the pizza onto your pizza pan.
• Brush the crust with olive oil (it gives it a golden color!)
• Let cool a bit and then cut pizza into 6 (almost) equal slice

Have fun...here are our pictures of pizza making with our friends!  We had a pizza making party and we toasted a successful event with Proseco!  Ciao!