OK, here's what was right and wrong. What was right is that I used semolina flour instead of all purpose. Huge improvement. I used the right sauce, Stanislaus Full Red. Yeah, it's a hassle that it only comes in big cans, and you have to zipper bag the rest and freeze it, but it's really good. I bought the pepperoni from ALDI, so it was about 2/3 the cost of Hormel, but after I use it up, I'll pay more for Volpi.

What was wrong was that I used enough dough to make a 12", but I made a 14", so it was slightly thinner crust than ideal, and I only let it rise once, instead of kneading it a little, and letting it have a second rise.

525F is fine for thin crust.

The proportions of 1 cup fine semolina, and 1/4 cup of water, 1 t of sugar, and a heaping t of dry yeast (with a little olive oil) went together so easily, with no stickiness. I stirred it together with a spoon, and by the time my hands had to touch the dough--it didn't stick to my unfloured hands at all.

The toppings were pepperoni, a little bacon leftover from breakfast, and some finely sliced pepperoncinis. My son, who is picky as ****, and was dubious about my being able to make a decent pizza from scratch, gave it a figurative thumbs up, and we all agreed that while there was room for improvement, it was pretty good.

My advice is, buy the Stanislaus. If your town doesn't have Italian grocers, you may have to buy it from a restaurant supply store. Semolina flour alone is not ideal for a NY crust, but mixing some in with bread flour will firm things up, or if you want a bready crust, adding some to cheaper all purpose flour will up the gluten.

--Bryan