For my second attempt, I made sure to mix the yeast in luke warm water first (adding a pinch of sugar to activate the yeast) and then mixed in the flour, salt, and olive oil. I ended up with much better results, and with dough that much more approximated a normal pizza. However, the big problem was that the crust. Even though it was chewy in parts it was too stiff overall. The edge of the pizza (or cornicione) was completely solid, and I couldn't even chew it.
My brother had noted that he read recently in Cooks Illustrated that one of the problems with using all purpose flour is that it's too high in protein, so it's important to use a mixture of a softer cake flour with the all purpose flour to lower the protein content. That's what I'm doing with my next batch, and I'll report back.
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I've never made pizza dough (although you're making me want to try), but I make bread. You have to keep it pretty warm while it rises, warmer than you'd expect. I can only guess at your problem, of course, but since it's the dead of winter, are you keeping it pretty warm?
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