7 cups flour
3 cups warm water
1 packet dry fast-rising yeast (or 1 tablespoon)
1 tablespoon of salt

Vegetable oil for greasing dough (or extra flour for dusting)

Crisco for greasing pan

For fresh tomato sauce topping

6 to 8 tomatoes, skinned and de-seeded
1 tablespoon oregano
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
Fresh or dried basil
Salt

Pizza dough



Follow package direction to activate yeast (Generally, stir 1 package dry yeast into 1/4 cup warm water. Add 1 teaspoon of sugar; let stand 10 minutes.If mixture gets foamy, the yeast is active and ready for use.)



Mix all the ingredients and work into a fine dough (knead 10 to 15 minutes).

When the dough is soft and smooth, shape it into a ball. Smear the surface with a touch of oil.

Place the dough in a container with a lid, and cover it with a towel or a blanket.

Let the dough rest for about two hours (or until it has "risen").

After the dough has risen, divide it into two portions.

Grease the divided portions and place them on a wooden board. Let them rest for 20 minutes.



Meanwhile prepare the tomato topping. Remove skins from tomatoes (dip them in boiling water for one or two minutes and this should make it easy to remove the skin).

De-seed tomatoes and then chop them.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and then add the tomatoes; add herbs and cook for about 6 to 10 minutes. Cool.



Place the prepared dough in a pizza pan. Cover evenly with the tomato sauce.

Cook in a 400 degree F oven for about 20 to 30 minutes or until the crust is golden.

The photo was taken by Mary Melfi, but the delicious pizza in the photo was made by her Italian-born aunt, Rosina Melfi. In pre-World War II Italy pizzas were generally baked in commercial wood-burning ovens, as most kitchens did not have ovens (all they had were fireplaces). Flat breads and pizzas made with corn (which did not include yeast) were cooked over a slow fire at home, but they were not as prized as the ones that were given to the local baker to cook. Individuals back then could either choose to have the baker stretch out their uncooked pizza dough prior to their pizza being put in the oven (Of course there was a price to pay for this service) or they could stretch it out themselves, and thus reduce the cost of using the oven. Back then the baker placed the pizza dough on a wooden board that had a long handle and then using this contraption placed the dough in the wood-burning oven (This technique is duplicated in high-end pizza restaurants where wood-burning ovens are used as it's understood that the taste of a pizza baked in an old-fashioned wood-burning oven is superior to one baked in a conventional electric one). In any case, in pre-World War II Italy communal wood-burning ovens were the rule rather than the exception. In pre-World War II Italy pizzas cooked in a commercial wood-burning oven were "round" -- well, at least, the ones cooked in my home-town of Casacalenda Molise, were. In other parts of Italy (Naples I believe) the pizzas had a rectangular shape. Often, North Americans of Italian origin (myself included) assume that what was done in their region was also done elsewhere, but this is a very big mistake. Italy is not one country or two countries (North and South), Italy is a country made up of hundreds -- why thousands -- of little countries and each one of them has its own language, religion, customs and culinary traditions. O.K., one can argue that each little province in Italy doesn't have its own religion (everyone is or used to be Catholic), and supposedly everyone in Italy speaks "Italian" (A dialect is not a language!), and yet no one can or will argue that each Italian province (Why each town!) has its own style of cookery. Diversity sometimes spells trouble, but not when it comes to food. Sure, most Italians will argue that their way of doing such and such, is superior to any other way of doing such and such, but it's all in good fun. And having fun (in or out of the kitchen) is the first step towards peace and prosperity.

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