It has been said that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. If this were true for my husband, pizza would be a love potion-infused chocolate cauldron. (See Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince) Here's how I make the dough for my pizza.
1 pkg (or 2 1/4 tsp) Active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 C warm water
1 tsp salt
2 T olive oil
2 1/2- 3 C flour
*Add yeast and sugar to a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer. Add the warm water and let proof for about 5 minutes. If the yeast doesn't look somewhat foamy or smell yeasty after 5 minutes, either the water used was too hot or the yeast was old.
*Mix in the olive oil
*Add 1 C of the flour, then your salt, topped by another cup of flour and start to mix. If the dough is too sticky, add more flour about 1/2 C at a time.
*Once the flour is mixed in, knead for a couple of minutes or until the dough clears away from the sides of the bowl. 
*Once the dough is off the sides of the bowl I will spray one hand with cooking spray so I can pull the dough off of the dough hook and also give the bowl a mist of oil as well. Then I just put the dough back in the bowl to rise, covered, for an hour or until doubled in size.
*After the dough has risen I spread it out on a greased pan and let it rise for 15-30 minutes, depending on if I want a thinner or thicker crust.
*Top the dough with sauce and your favorite toppings and toss it in the oven at 400F for 10-15 mins. *It's good to know your oven. I'm still adjusting to our new oven so I ended up over baking ours :/ Just keep an eye on it.
Tips:
*The sugar in this recipe isn't to add sweetness, but to feed the yeast.
*The water used to proof should not be scalding. Think baby bath water.
*Never add salt to proofing yeast. Salt kills yeast and your dough will not rise properly.
*If you choose to make this dough ahead of time and refrigerate it for a day or so, let the dough come completely to room temperature before you bake it. Just as salt kills yeast, cold retards the growth of the yeast. If you bake cold dough, you'll end up with thin, tough, yucky crust.
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