Homemade Pizza
I like pizza. I also have more time than money. The thought of making my own at 20 percent the cost of takeout appeals to me.
I make as much from scratch as I can. The following is a short list of ingrediants and special sundries/utensils.
Flour - white general purpose
Yeast - any brand. shop for best price
Water - kitchen faucet
Olive oil - any cooking oil can be used
Tomato Sauce - Ragu or Prego
Cheese - grated. mix of mozzerella and cheddar is best
Seasoning - salt, pepper, McCormik Montreal Steak seasoning is good
Pizza stone
Parchment paper
Large mixing bowl
Pizza cutter
Whisk or mixmaster electric mixer
Toppings
Just about anything you would put on a decent sandwich. Including, but not limited to: pepperoni, sausage, onion,
bell pepper, tomatoes, ground beef, jalapeneo pepper slices,
grilled tuna.
The secret to a good pizza is plenty of toppings, not better
ingrediants.
Seasonings
There is no substitute for salt. There are plenty of
alternative seasonings, but there is nothing like NaCl.
If you are on a low sodium diet, don’t use salt. Note:
reducing the salt used per pizza from three teaspoons to
one teaspoon does not qualify as low sodium.
I usually make the dough the night before I make the pizza. Here is what is required.
Fill the mixing bowl with three cups warm water. Add one package of yeast, one teaspoon of salt, one teaspoon of sugar, and one cup of flour. Mix.
Add another cup of flour, mix.
Add another cup of flour, mix.
Keep adding flour and mixing until the mixing becomes too difficult for the whisk or power mixer. Then continue to add flour and mix/kneed by hand until the dough no longer sticks to your fingers. You should end up with a ball of slightly sticky dough about five inches in diameter.
Remove the dough ball, sprinkle a little flour into the mixing bowl, put the dough back into the bowl and sprinkle a little flour onto it.
Put the dough and bowl in a warm place. Allow the dough to rise for about an hour. I put the bowl of dough in the oven, set the oven to warm, and let it warm for 10 mins. Then I turn the oven off and let the dough sit for another 50 mins.
The dough should rise the dough ball to at least twice its original size. Remove and kneed the dough ball. Divide the dough ball into sections so that each section makes a tiny pizza shape about 4 inches in diameter by about 1/2 inch thick. ( this is for medium sized, thin crust pizzas ) Stack the sections with aluminum foil or parchment paper seperating them and put them in the refrigerator. The recipe above makes enough dough for five thin crust pizzas.
Now to make the pizza itself. Put the pizza stone in the oven and let it preheat to 400 degrees.
Prepare any meat toppings first. Ground beef and sausage needs to be browned and cooked in a skillet. Cured ham, sandwich meats, and pepperoni can be used as is. Vegetables should be diced. It is very convenient to put each prepared topping into its own bowl for further use.
Cut a section of parchment paper to a size slightly larger than the pizza you will be making. Lightly flour the paper and the disk of dough. Use your fingers to spread the dough out on the paper initially, then a rolling pin to roll it out to finished size. No need to sling dough and make a mess.
Pour out a blob of olive oil onto the center of the pizza dough. Spread the oil evenly over the surface of the dough. The oil prevents the tomato sauce from soaking into the dough. If you like your crust soggy with tomato sauce, don’t use the oil.
Salt and Pepper keeping in mind that Prego and Ragu also contain salt and spices.
Pour out a blob of Prego or Ragu onto the center of the pizza dough.
Spread the sauce evenly over the surface of the dough using the backside of a teaspoon.
Sprinkle grated cheese over the dough. Sprinkle toppings over the grated cheese.
Pickup the raw pizza by grabbing the edges of the parchment paper and carry it to the oven. Place it on the hot pizza stone. Cook for 15 to 20 mins.
Repeat until all the dough and/or ingrediants are used up. It takes about two hours to make and cook five pizzas. About three hours if you include the time to prepare the dough. This time includes the time required for clean up. It does not include the time required to eat five pizzas.