Homemade Pizza

When I’m home, or running local I like to come home and cook. The bad this is, it ends up being  a late supper, usually though, hubs is willing to wait for homemade food anytime!

Pizza is a little more time consuming since you have to wait for the dough to rise, but the results are always worth the wait! You can skip this step any buy pre made dough too, but I like homemade! Bad thing is, usually after piling of all the good stuff on, the crust is the last thing you think of when eating it!

The Dough

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoobs extra virgin olive oil
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1 cup whole wheat flour (sometimes I use rye instead for a sweeter crust)
• 3 cups flour

Pour half cup water into mixing bowl, stir in yeast and set aside until foamy. This usually takes about 10 minutes in a warm kitchen. Add the rest of water, olive oil, and salt. I use my Kitchen Aid for this, but you can do it by hand too.

Start by adding your whole wheat flour, followed by some of your white flour. You want just enough to form a shaggy dough. Turn it out onto your counter and kneed until smooth, adding more flour as needed to keep it from sticking.

We like a crisp crust, so I make sure my dough is on the moist side, which means it’s going to be slightly tacky.

Put the dough in an oiled bowl, turn the dough a couple of times around the bowl so that it wont stick to your bowl once it rises. Cover dough and let sit for 40- 60 minutes. It should double in size. When ready, take the dough out of the bowl and divide into the number of pizzas you want. I usually do 2- 12 inch rounds since we like different items on our pizza. Set dough on floured counter, cover with a towel and let rise one more time for another 20-30 minutes.

Take one ball at a time and flatten dough into a disk, pushing it outward with your palm. Work from the middle, until your dough is about 1/4 inch thick and even. I use a pan, (but you can use a peel and stone as well) so I flour my pan set the dough on top, and cover with a towel for the final 15 minutes of rest.

Add any topping you like!! I use tomato paste rather than pizza sauce for a bolder, not so sweet taste. I usually do pepperoni, sausage, fried onions, green olives, cheese (both cheddar and Pecorino Romano), and tomatoes. In the summer I switch my tomato paste and use Basil or Arugula pesto for my sauce. Hubs likes canadian bacon, sausage and pineapple with no olives… But you can have whatever your heart desires, and aside from time, it’s a cheap meal that tastes good and makes your house smell divine!

This recipe makes enough dough for eight 6-inch pizzas, four 10-inch pizzas, or two 12-inch pizzas!