Secret Ingredient- Pizza Crust

     My husband LOVES pizza! So, I make it quite often. It's cheap and it's yummy! I've tried MANY pizza crust recipes, and over the course of a couple years, I developed my own recipe! It's tried and true, husband approved!
     The secret ingredient to this pizza crust is basil. Fresh basil! I suppose you could use dried, which sadly I'll have to switch to in a couple months. But, if you have it, fresh basil is the way to go with this recipe! Also, you can use more or less depending on how..."basil-y" you want the crust to be. We love basil, so I use about 1 tablespoon of chopped, fresh basil. Ok, so. Here's my secret ingredient pizza crust recipe!!!

1 1/2 c. warm water
2 1/4 tsp. yeast
1 tsp. brown sugar (or white, whatever you have)
1 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 Tbs. chopped, fresh basil
4 c. flour
     Pour warm water into kitchen mixer. Add yeast and sugar. Let stand for 10 min. Stir in salt, olive oil, garlic powder, and basil. Mix in 3 c. flour. Knead dough and add the rest of the flour. Add more flour, if needed, until dough is no longer sticky. Cover dough with a cloth, and let rest in a warm place for an hour. Punch dough down. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Press pizza dough into well-oiled pan and top pizza as desired. Bake for about 15 minutes or until crust is golden brown. Makes one giant pizza, or two medium sized pizzas.

     I usually top my pizza with some tomato sauce, then sliced mushrooms, turkey pepperoni, fresh basil, mozzarella cheese, and feta cheese. YUM!!! I sometimes add thinly sliced tomatoes to the pizza too. Really, you can't mess it up! Add whatever you want! Except anchovies. yuck. Happy Pizza-making!!!