Well, let’s just say that this is dangerous. At long last, I created mouth-watering-savory pizza from start to finish. Meaning I may be making pizza far more often than I should. (Although, If you’ve heard about the man who was on the all pizza diet, maybe it’s not so bad after all…)
First, I began by making my own dough which proved to be much easier than I expected. I picked up whole wheat flour (to feel slightly less guilty about consuming half a pizza), corn meal, olive oil, sugar, salt, and yeast.
The process is simple– and is not a secret so feel free to read my instructions and try it yourself.
First, you need to mix 1/4 c. corn meal and 1/2 c. flour– save this mixture for the future. You will be putting it on your counter top or on rolling paper, any surface you use to roll out your dough so your crust will have an added texture and gourmet finish.
Now you can start the mixture for the dough itself.
Heat 1 c. of water for 50 seconds to 1 minute. Transfer hot water to large bowl.
Add 1 packet yeast
Add 1 tsp. sugar
Allow ingredients to rest for a few minutes
Then, add 1 Tbsp. olive oil
In a separate bowl combine 3 c. pizza flour (of your choice)
Add 1 tsp. salt
Mix
Add final dry mixture to other bowl and stir with fork until liquid is absorbed
Use hands to finish mixing
Once all liquid is absorbed, take out the dough and place on counter (covered with parchment paper if it’s not the cleanliest, like mine), or any large enough surface to kneed the dough appropriately and separate into two balls.
Each ball of dough is now ready for refrigeration.
Take two large ziplock bags (quart size is probably best) and add olive oil, then insert each ball of dough in a separate bag and seal. For best results, leave in fridge overnight.
Day 2:
Preheat oven to 450 while rolling out dough with rolling pin. (I used a French rolling pin because it makes it easy to get the dough very thin)
Add ingredients of your choice, and pop pizza into the oven!
Thin crust pizza bakes for less than 10 minutes. Check after about 7-8 minutes to not over bake.
My cousin and I both enjoyed two very different pizza flavors. On one pizza I added a bit of olive oil, then spread basil pesto and added mozzarella cheese. MMM.
On the second pie, I covered the surface of the dough in olive oil, added mozzarella, spinach (would have used basil but there was none at the store), fresh cut tomatoes, and some garlic. Once baked, I added pepper and some spices of choice.
Basically once you have the dough prepared you can’t go wrong. Don’t be afraid to experiment with toppings. I personally could never get bored of making pizza. I also like that when you make your own, you know exactly how much salt, how much oil, and how much cheese you’re adding. Sometimes at pizza places you could be getting delicious pizza for triple the calories of a homemade pizza. And although it’s more work, you get to customize it however you like it.
If you try making your own pizza, let me know how it turns out!
P.S. Special thanks to my mom for the dough recipe, James Marcellino for my house warming gift of the pizza stone, and my cousin/roommate Caitlin for taking shots of my pizza-making and allowing me to use her AWESOME pizza slice pot holders.
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