I love love love homemade pizzas, there so delicious and much better than anywhere I can buy one from. Sure it takes a little more effort, but so worth it. There is nothing better than delicious pizza after a long work out.
When I make pizza, I don’t use any special pizza pans or stones, in fact, I usually just put the pizza on tin foil or directly on the oven rack.
I rarely make two pizza crusts the same and for as long as I can remember, I’ve never used a recipe. I make pizza about once a week and I continually try to make the next crust better than the last. Unfortunately, I’m not always successful, but I’ve never been disappointed with the results. Trust me, it’s really hard to screw up a pizza; the only thing you have to watch out for is burning it, or using too much sauce.
The Crust
Here is a simple crust I start with, but feel free to add and subtract ingredients as you see fit. It doesn’t really make a difference what you use, as long as you have liquid, yeast, and flour and the proportions are somewhat close. I’ve made hundreds of crusts without measuring a single ingredient, it’s really not a big deal.
Start with one cup of warm water (or hot or cold…or whatever you want! Everyone has their own opinion on this, but I’ve tried them all and I don’t notice much of a difference) I also substitute beer, milk, or almost any other liquid, for some or all of the water. You can use any type of flour you like; I like 1/2 white and 1/2 whole wheat. Some people add honey, brown sugar, eggs, butter, and just about anything else you can imagine, so try throwing in something extra, so you can tell people you have a “secret ingredient”.
Basic Crust
1 Cup Warm Water (or milk or beer…I’ve even used diet coke and it turned out pretty good)
1/4 Cup Olive Oil
3 Cups White Flour (or combination of any other type of flour)
1 Package Active Dry Yeast
1 Pinch of Salt
1 Pinch of Sugar
Mix everything together in a large mixing bowl, except the flour. Just use a fork or whisk and make sure it’s mixed fairly well. Let the mixture rest for about 1/2 hour before you start adding flour. Add the flour a little at a time and keep adding flour, until you can no longer stir it with a fork. Dump the rest of the flour onto the counter and plop the dough down in the middle. Knead the dough (continually fold it in half and press it together) for about 10 minutes until it’s smooth and pliable. Add more flour or oil as needed.
After you’re done kneading the dough, you should be able to easily shape it into a ball, then let it sit for an hour before forming into a crust. I don’t always wait an hour and sometimes I leave it in the fridge for a night or two, but letting it raise for at least an hour will make it easier to form into a crust. Keeping it in the fridge over a night or two will give the crust more flavor, but just make sure you seal it in a plastic bag.
When you form the dough into a crust, it’s best to stretch it, rather than roll it. That’s why you see pizza makers tossing the dough and using their fists and fingers to stretch it when they catch it. Spinning, tossing, and catching the dough is fun, so go ahead and give it a try! Your first few times, you’ll probably drop it or poke a hole in it, but just fix it by pressing the tear back together. I usually just lay it on tin foil (sprayed with non stick) and press it with an outward motion to stretch it into a square about the same size as the sheet of tin foil.
After the crust is shaped and you’ve fixed all the holes, pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees.
The sauce
I usually take two or three Roma tomato’s, a basil leaf or two, a little onion, a garlic clove, and a slice of pepper, (as hot as you like) and put everything in a blender and press pulse a few times until it’s finely chopped and mixed, but not blended. Drain off the extra water/liquid and spoon the sauce directly onto the uncooked crust. This is where you need to be careful not to over do it. You should cover the entire crust, but just a thin layer. Start with less for your first pizza and then add more if you think it needs it next time.
Toppings
Now it’s time to add the cheese! This is everyone’s favorite part of the pizza. I like fresh mozzarella that I cut into small squares (1 cm square) and spread about an inch apart on the pizza, but normal shredded mozzarella or or other Italian blend will work just as well.
After the cheese, you can add any ingredients you want. Generally, I use simple fresh ingredients, such as red onion, bell peppers, banana peppers, mushrooms, garlic, tomato, and spinach. There’s no need to cook most veggies, but make sure you pre-cook any meats, such as sausage, bacon or hamburger. Sometimes I like to pile the toppings on until they’re falling off the edges and sometimes I don’t use any at all, so just do whatever you like and have fun with it. I usually add a light second layer of cheese on top of the toppings and a little oregano and ground pepper.
Cooking
Put the pizza in the oven (on your pan, stone, or tin foil) for about 10 min. at 450 degrees. I like to use tin foil, because half way through cooking I can pull the foil out and let it cook directly on the rack for about 5 minutes before taking it out. This makes the crust a little crisper on the bottom. Check it frequently to make sure it’s not burning. The pizza is done as soon as the cheese starts to bubble or turn brown. Depending on how thick your crust is and how many toppings you have, it will take between 5 and 20 minutes before it’s done, so just watch it closely until you have a feel for how long it takes.
When you take it out of the oven, you need to let it set for about 5 minutes before you cut it. I cut it with a pizza cutter, knife, or pair of scissors, depending on what happens to be clean at the time. So if you don’t have a pizza cutter, don’t feel like you need to buy one.
Have fun with it, and don’t worry about how it turns out, because no matter how it looks, it will still taste good!
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