1 Put warm water in a pan. Add yeast and sugar. Stir lightly and let sit for 5 to 10 minutes until the yeast activates by turning into a foam on top of the water. Then add the salt and oil.

 

2 Gradually add in the flour as you stir the mixture simultaneously. You know you have added enough flour when the mixture becomes too thick to stir.

 

 

3 Knead the dough. It is ready when it is glossy and tacky, but not sticky; a small amount pinched off can be stretched (by pinching and pulling) thin enough to let light pass through.

• Take the dough out of the bowl and put it on a clean, well-floured surface. A wooden board or clean table is best. Make sure it is at a height where you are comfortable working. If it is very moist or sticky, sprinkle additional flour over the top.
• Gather the dough into a pile and begin pressing it together. Press the heels of your hands firmly into the dough, pushing forward slightly.
• Fold the far edge of the dough upwards, towards you, and press it into the middle of the ball. Rotate it slightly, too. Repeat this press-fold-turn sequence for the duration of the kneading process.

4 Let rise up for up to 1 hour at room temperature or 5 hours in the refrigerator.

5 Place on a floured counter and flour the top of the dough.

6 Cut the dough into two round balls and repeat the following steps for each piece.

• Flatten one ball with your hand until about 1 or 1 1/2 inches (2cm - 4cm) thick.

7 Pick up the disk of dough, and pinch the dough about 1/2 inch (1.27cm) from the edge. Try and stretch as you pinch, repeat this all around the edge.

8 When the disk of dough has been stretched enough to start to be floppy, proceed to tossing.

• Make a fist and drape the dough over your fist.
• Make a fist of the other hand and slip it under the dough next to your other fist.
• Carefully move your fists apart stretching the dough more.
• Shift your fists (left towards your face, right away) so the dough rotates while stretching.
• When the dough has reached about 8 inches (20cm) in diameter, you can quickly move your left fist in an arc that goes backwards towards your face. Do this while twisting your right fist forward away from your face. If you give a a little push upwards with your right fist the dough will spin like a Frisbee. Practice how it feels to balance the force of the fist twists equally. This will keep the pizza from spinning off into the corner (or worse).
• Be sure to catch the falling, spinning pizza as gently as you can with your two fists to avoid tearing. However, if you notice that the dough is tearing, just start over, and do the spinning process again.