Preheat oven to 350

In a bowl or mixer (you can do it either way) pour hot water. Sprinkle on top the yeast, and sugar. Give it a quick stir, and let sit for 5 minutes, allowing the yeast to foam up and come alive!

After 5 minutes, add in olive oil, garlic salt, and other seasonings if using, and incorporate. Add in one cup of flour and stir, slowly add in the remaining flour until it begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. You may use less or more flour depending on if you're mixing by hand or using a stand mixer. Thus, I give you a bit of play room with the flour. Normally it takes just under two cups.

Once incorporated, dust the counter with flour, and taking the dough ball, place on flour, dust top of dough with a bit more flour, and cover with clean linen cloth. Let sit on counter for 15-30 minutes depending on the time you have. I've baked it after just 15 minutes, but realize you'll have a bit denser crust by not giving the dough more time to rise.

After 30 minutes is up, roll out on a floured surface into the shape you're baking. Sometimes, we make mini pizzas and the kids make their own, mini pizzas. I'll cook those on a cookie sheet. Truthfully, I always cook my pizza on a cookie sheet. It's just how we've always done it!

Before placing on the baking sheet, I'll sprinkle the baking sheet surface with a combo of a teaspoon of cornmeal, and tespoon of garlic salt. I find it gives the bottom of the dough a nice crunch and a little flavor punch!

Once done rolling out, fold the dough in half like you do after rolling out a pie crust, and gently move it to the baking sheet. Unfold. Taking about half an inch on all sides, fold over the dough to create a nice crust. If your family isn't big crust people (mine arent) don't make a crust!

Now, if you're in a hurry, throw all the sauce and topping on at this point and bake. However, if you have a bit of time, I like to prebake my dough just a little to give it a nice, sturdy base. I place it in the oven at 350 for about 10 minutes, then remove it and apply toppings right away, and throw it back in the oven until the cheese melts and begins to slightly brown on top. If you choose to skip this step, that's fine!