Hi Tim,
I found a pretty decent recipe for pizza dough and sauce in the
California Pizza Kitchen Cookbook. It's the closest that I've come to
finding one that tastes like the "real" pizza that you'd get from a
pizza parlor. As far as twirling the dough goes, I haven't had much
luck with that one myself so I'm not the best person to give advice.
Good Luck!
Basic Pizza Dough
1 tsp. yeast
1/2 cup plus 1 Tbs. warm water
1 1/2 cups bread flour
2 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil plus one tsp. for coating
Put the ingredients in your bread maker in the order recommended by the
manufacturer and use the dough cycle if you have one. If you don't have
a dough cycle, allow the bread machine to mix the dough well and then
lightly oil the dough ball and the interior of a 1 quart glass bowl.
Place the dough ball in the bowl and seal the bowl with clear food wrap;
seal air tight. Set aside at room temperature to rise until double in
bulk; about 11/2 to 2 hours.. The dough could be used at this point but
it will not be that wonderful, chewy, flavorful dough that it will later
become. Punch down the dough, re-form a nice round ball and return it
to the same bowl; cover again with the clear food wrap. Place the bowl
in the refrigerator overnight, covered air tight. About 2 hours before
you are ready to assemble your pizza, remove the dough from the
refrigerator. Use a sharp knife to divide the dough into 2 equal
portions. Roll the smaller doughs into round balls on a smooth, clean
surface; be sure to seal any holes by pinching or rolling. Place the
newly formed dough balls in a glass casserole dish, spaced far enough
apart to allow for each to double in size. Seal the top of the dish air
tight with clear food wrap. Set aside at room temp until the dough
balls have doubled in size (about 2 hours) they should be smooth and
puffy.
I've had great luck using a pizza stone and a pizza peal to get the
dough onto the stone. The secret here is to preheat the oven with the
pizza stone in it for about an hour at 500 degrees. Once you have the
pizza all dressed up and ready to cook, it should only take about 8-10
minutes in the oven.
Tomato Sauce
1 Tbs. extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp. minced fresh garlic
2 roma (plum) tomatoes, diced 1/2 inch (about 1 cup)
1 tsp. chopped fresh oregano leaves
(or 1/2 tsp. dried)
1 Tbs. chopped fresh basil leaves
(or 1/2 Tbs. dried)
1/2 tsp. salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
1 Tbs. tomato paste
Cook the garlic in olive oil over medium heat, stirring, for 1 to 2
minutes. Add the remainder of the sauce ingredients except tomato
paste; reduce heat and cook, stirring frequently until the tomato juices
evaporate, about 10 minutes. Stir in tomato paste and cook for two
minutes. Remove from heat.