Pizza!

I have been completely obsessed with making pizza lately.  Several of you requested my recipe for pizza dough, and I plan to include it in today's post.  I'll also tell you about some of our favorite toppings so far, and what other accessories come in handy for making pizza at home.  We do not have a fancy pizza oven.  We just use our regular oven and our results have been so good.

The photo above is of a pizza challenge we did with our son Ahren when he was visiting from Ireland over the holidays.  He wanted to make pizza the way he would have to do it when he got home--that is with no fancy pizza stone or food processor for mixing the dough.  He made the dough by hand, and cooked his version of pizza in my cast iron skillet!  And you know what?  It was delicious.  You do not need any fancy stuff to make pizza in your own kitchen.  The toppings he used were marinara sauce from a jar, pepperoni slices and lots of mozzarella cheese.  The size of his pizza was determined by the size of the cast iron skillet he baked it in, which was 10".  This made for a thicker, more doughy crust, which I thought was fabulous.  You do have to preheat the pan in a 500 degree oven and then spread the dough in the blazing hot pan, which wasn't as tricky as it sounds.

Here is the recipe for pizza dough that I use.  It can be made in the food processor, which is fast and easy.  If you don't have a food processor, it can be made by hand, you just have to knead it for five minutes or so.

Pizza Dough
2 3/4 cups Bread Flour
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (one packet)
2 tsp salt (I used Kosher)
1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
1 cup warm water

Put the bread flour, yeast and salt in the processor and mix to combine.  Slowly add the olive oil, slowly add the warm water.  The dough will form a ball and whirl around in the bowl.  Process for 1-2 minutes.  Plop it out on the counter and knead it around for a couple of turns.  Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and let rise on the counter for 20-30 minutes.  Divide into two balls, wrap both in plastic wrap and refrigerate until you want to use.  

I make my dough in the late afternoon, let it sit in the fridge until dinner and use one ball of dough for a 12" pizza to feed my husband and I.  You can leave the second ball in the fridge for 24 hours, but if you aren't going to use it within a day, freeze it.  It unthaws quickly and tastes just fine if it's been frozen.  To roll out your dough, sprinkle some flour on your counter and roll it out to about 12 inches. You can pick it up and twirl it around like a pizza chef if you think you want to do that. It is very forgiving, but don't drop it on the floor!

   

My all-time favorite pizza is Italian sausage and mushrooms.  Cook the sausage and mushrooms separately ahead of time, spread over marinara sauce and top with lots of mozzarella cheese.  I added green onions because I had some on hand.

This one has pesto sauce, caramelized onions, pancetta and mozzarella.

I was feeling fancy and used goat cheese, cooked chicken, sauteed shallots, corn and cherry tomatoes.

I do have some accessories that I like to use which I think make the process easier.  My son would disagree and say you do not need anything other than a cast iron pan.

I have a pizza paddle which I place my rolled out dough on.  You put all your toppings on the dough and slide the whole thing off the wooden paddle onto your pizza stone.  You do dust the board with corn meal so the pizza slides off easily and does not stick.

This awful looking thing is my pizza stone.  You put it in your oven, turn the heat up to 500 degrees.  When the oven and stone are up to temperature, you slide your pizza onto it using the wooden pizza paddle shown above.

Your baking time will be anywhere from 8-12 minutes, depending on how thick your dough is, how many toppings you have piled on the dough etc.  You just have to keep checking it.  When it looks right, take it out of the oven.

I have a cookbook called Truly, Madly Pizza which has my dough recipe and lots of topping ideas.  When Ahren made his version in the cast iron skillet, he watched a Pioneer Woman video of her making cast iron pizza and how she spread the dough in the hot pan.

I hope you will try making pizza at home.  My husband and I make it a joint effort, and it has been a lot of fun.  If you do make it for yourself, do tell us about your results.

Comments

[grace thorne aka cityquilter grace]

they all look delish! being on no-salt diet means no takeout or frozen pizza--sauce and pepperoni strictly forbidden, so i do make my own, top with vegs...it's just as good even without salt...

[Robby H.]

I used to make pizza a lot. I'm not sure why I drifted away from that. For folks who don't have a pizza peel, you can use the back of a cookie sheet sprinkled with corn meal the same way. It isn't quite as convenient, but if you want to try before you buy or have limited space, it works pretty well. I have also put a piece of parchment on the back of my cookie sheet and made the pizza on that then the parchment and pizza both slide on the stone and you still get a nice crisp crust.

[Jan]

We used to make pizza at home & that recipe sounds awfully familiar. The thicker the crust, the better, & we used a cookie sheet with 1" sides which worked just fine. Using an iron skillet sounds like a great idea--I'm going to see what the Pioneer Woman has to say on YouTube! Happy pizza making! 🍕🍕

[Diane Linford]

Thanks a million!

[Ina]

This is how we do it from Cook's Country recipe:

1) make dough (my recipe is almost identical to yours)

2) preheat oven to 500 degrees

3) once dough is ready spread in cast iron skillet. spread sauce and then add toppings. I spread the dough thinly to make Margarita style pizza.

4) cook pizza on stove top until bottom of dough is lightly brown. I use a spatula to lift up crust and check it. It doesn't take long to brown.

5) pizza then goes into oven to finish cooking. it is done when cheese has melted and crust is firm. this only takes maybe 7 mins.

[Ina]

oh, if you want to try the best homemade sauce that is easy to prepare using a blender, just let me know. I can send you the recipe. It really tastes like what you get at a good pizza parlor.

[Becky]

I learned a couple tricks recently that I love. One is to put a sheet of parchment paper on the peel and use it to slide the dough onto the stone. It’s safe to 500 degrees so the whole thing can stay in the oven. The other is to put just the sauce and meat/veg toppings and bake for about half the time, then add the cheese. The theory is the cheese adds moisture to a raw dough but less so if it’s partially cooked, so it ends up crispier. I’ve found it to be true. Having said that, both your pizzas look yummy!

[Julie]

Tried your recipe tonight. Came out great. It’s a keeper! Family loved it. No more delivery pizza for us. Made the dough in The Kitchenaid mixer.

[Pam E.]

Just tried your recipe. Very easy to make and tasted great. Will absolutely, definitely make this again. Thanks for sharing.