Homemade Pizza

I used to make pizza every week to share with friends at college. My first semester, I had a roommate that would cook with me often. Once we invited one of our guy friends over, and it spread to a big group of people. All of the sudden everyone was asking when they would be invited over. The trick to pizza is making it your own. I’ll leave that to you, but there are some key components that I can help with.

The Crust:

If you don’t have a good base, it doesn’t matter what the rest of it tastes like. This is a super simple recipe that is really hard to mess up. This one is a little more dense, but if you want something lighter, I have also used my Homemade Bread recipe as well.

The Crust

• 1 1/2 Cup ‏Warm Water
• 2 tsp. ‏Brown Sugar
• 1/4 Cup ‏Olive Oil
• 2 Tbls ‏Yeast
• 1 tsp ‏Salt
• 4 1/2 Cup ‏Flour

Directions:

1. Combine the Water, Brown Sugar, and Olive Oil in bowl. Sprinkle the Yeast over the top and cover for about 5 minutes. TIP: Even if you double the recipe, don’t double the Yeast!
2. Add 3 cups flour and sprinkle the salt over the top. Mix well until silky. Gradually add flour half cup at a time until the dough sticks together, but is still soft and silky.
3. Each batch makes one large cookie sheet size pizza either round or square.

The Sauce:

It’s hard to give directions for the sauce because it always comes out different. I usually start with some sort of pasta sauce (usually a can of Hunts Pasta Sauce of whatever flavor I am feeling like that day). Then I add a couple of spices to enhance the taste.

I have a couple of spices that are staples in my kitchen. These include:

Suggested Spices

• ‏Garlic Salt
• ‏Salt
• ‏Italian Seasoning
• ‏Onion Powder
• ‏Tony's Chachere Seasoning (My personal favorite, but use sparingly)

Directions:

1. The trick is to in the touch, and lots of taste testing along the way.
2. If your sauce doesn’t start with garlic in it, put more of the garlic salt or garlic powder in, then italian seasoning and onion powder.
3. Taste and add Salt if it still tastes like it needs something more.

The Pizza:

Like I said, pizza is about making it yours. Obviously the classics are Mozzarella cheese, Pepperoni, Green Peppers, Olives, or Sausage. My family adds Grated Carrots on top, which adds texture, but also a unique taste that although people are hesitant to try end up really liking it. Then of course there is the Hawiian flavors of Pineapple and Ham. Really the possibilities on this one are endless.  Once you have decided, put it in the oven at 350 for about 30 minutes.