This recipe makes me SO happy! It’s super-simple and definitely quick (in a land where making any kind of non-bread-machine-bread seems like a day-long project). Plus, you can vary the toppings to mix it up a bit. One time, I topped it with a pizza seasoning mix I improvised, which made delicious dippable breadsticks. Another time, I put olives and garlic right into the dough, which gave me a delicious delicacy to enjoy by itself. Yum!

So here’s how to do it.

Start with 1 1/2 cups of warm (110 degrees Fahrenheit) water
Add and dissolve 4 teaspoons of active dry yeast.

Then, in the mixer, combine 3 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour,

1 1/4 teaspoons of salt,

3 Tablespoons of olive oil,

and the yeast-water.

Beat it on high for about a minute to a minute and a half.

It will be very sticky!

Drizzle your pan with some olive oil and brush it all around.

I used my new stoneware bar pan from Pampered Chef, but I’m sure a cookie sheet with sides or a half-sheet cake pan would work too.

Then, scoop the sticky dough into the pan and lightly pat it around until it’s situated. Don’t worry about it going all the way to the edges.

Cover it and let it rise for an hour… Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Don’t do what I did the first time though. I forgot to Pam the plastic wrap, and…

…when I removed the wrap after an hour, it kind of deflated my dough a bit. Sad. So learn from my mistake and use Pam on the plastic wrap. It works like a charm!

This is the pizza seasoning I improvised. I think it was parmesan cheese (from the green can), onion powder, garlic salt, and oregano…probably some basil too.

Doesn’t it look yummy?

Now that your dough is puffy, use your fingers to make little holes all over it… poke poke poke. Then drizzle with olive oil and top with your toppings (in this case, the pizza seasoning).

Stick it in the oven…

And 35-40 minutes later you’ll have a golden slab of deliciousness.

I mean really, look at the puffiness.

I cut mine into breadsticks, which we then dipped into marinara sauce. I’m sure if you used a pan with less square footage, you’d get thicker bread and you could cut the thickness in half for yummy pesto turkey sandwiches.