homemade pizzas are both fun and tasty. You can enjoy creating them with the kids, your loved ones or just by yourself when your in a creative mood. Mix it up and with different cheeses, topping and herbs to create a dish the whole family will love.
Quick Note…
Always olive oil, not vegetable oil. I love the moisture and suppleness it adds to the dough, and it keeps your hands feeling young too.
the ingredients to create the dough:
Stir together the flour, salt, and instant yeast in a 4-quart bowl. With a large metal spoon, stir in the oil and the cold water until the flour is all absorbed
Work the dough vigorously into a smooth mass while rotating the bowl in a circular motion with the other hand.
Do this for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are evenly distributed.
The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl.
If the dough is too wet and doesn't come off the sides of the bowl, sprinkle in some more flour just until it clears the sides.
If it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a tea- spoon or two of cold water. The finished dough will be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50 to 55F.
Sprinkle flour on the counter and transfer the dough to the counter.
Prepare a sheet pan by lining it with baking parchment lightly oil the parchment.
Sprinkle flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them.
Lift gently and round it into a ball. If the dough sticks to your hands, dip your hands into the flour again.
Transfer the dough balls to the sheet pan, Mist the dough with spray oil and slip the pan into a plastic bag.
Put the pan into the refrigerator overnight to rest the dough and to double in size.
Dust the counter with flour, and then mist the counter with spray oil. Place the dough on top of the floured counter and sprinkle them with flour; dust your hands with flour.
Gently press the dough into flat a disk about 1/2 inch thick. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil, and cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap or plastic bag. Let rest for 2 hours.
Kneading the dough, now it's time to get to work. I do not advise you to do the pie toss in your home, leave that for the pros. Flour a work area and start pressing your dough from the center out. Turn it and coat it with the flour as you go. Once you get your shape going a rolling pin may come in handy to press out all of the air bubbles. I persoanlly like to try and leave a few air bubbles around the edge of the dough for that crispy bubble effect you get.
Now you have the dough ready to groom with your sause and your toppings. I will run you through a basic set up of cheese and basil. The topping you add are up to you and you alone.
Preheat oven and pizza stone at 450 degrees. Some say go to 500, but most ovens in the home may start to smoke at these higher tempertures.
In a bowl place the tomato sauce. Stir in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, salt, and pepper. Spread the tomato evenly over the pizza.
With your hands, break the fresh basil leaves into small pieces. Spread the basil evenly over the pizza.
Spread the rest of the olive oil on the pizza. Add some salt.
Bake the pizza for approximately 10 - 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and add the fresh mozzarella cheese.
Cook for 10 more minutes approximately. Lift one side to check for readiness. Pizza is ready when the bottom surface is light brown and your chesse is melted with a light brown sheen.
Now enjoy your hard work!
I like to make my sauce with fresh plum tomatoes, and the same day as my dough so it has a chance to blend the flavors over night in the fridge. You can use can sauce if you'd like but I will toss out a sauce recipe anyway.
the items to create the sauce:
In a nice size sauce pot heat your olive oil on high heat till smokey, lower your heat and then add the chopped garlic.
Stir the garlic around till it starts to golden.
Add the chopped fresh basil to the garlic and oil and stir. I like to have the basil hit the olive oil before the tomatoes to give it a fresher flavor.
Now add your plum tomatoes to the pot and stir with the oil, garlic and basil. Raise your heat till the tomatoes start to boil. Then lower your heat so the sauce starts to simmer.
Add the sugar, oregano, salt and pepper and stir in.
Pour in the cup of water, cover your pot and let it simmer for an hour or 2, checking on it every 15 minutes for the boil down rate. If the sauce boils down too quickly add another 1/2 cup of water.
Once your sauce is done, let it cool down and then put into the fridge over night to blend it's flavors. You'll have more than enough for your pizza, so you can freeze what's left or use it for other things. Like pasta.