The boyfriend asked me yesterday afternoon if I was down for doing a homemade pizza night.
Uhhhh…
YES!
Do you even have to ask? Oh boy, oh boy! I love me some pizza!
And homemade? The. Best.
His crust is unreal. Plus, he allowed me to do a little photo shoot while he was workin’ his magic. He is also The. Best.
First things first, gather up your ingredients. Mise en Place, people! Note: For all those who aren’t fancy shmancy chefs and had never heard that term before last year (*raising hand*), that means “everything in it’s place.”
Homemade Pizza
Makes 1 pizza (8 slices)
Prep time: 1 1/2 hours
Cook time: 1/2 hour
Ingredients:
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3 Tbs olive oil
- 1 cup water
- 2 1/4 tsp yeast
- 15 oz can pizza sauce
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp parmesan cheese
- 1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
- 16 oz low moisture, part skim solid mozzarella cheese, grated
- can of olives, sliced
- red pepper, chopped
- peperoncinis
- Any other toppings your heart desires
Instructions:
- In a large bowl, take 2 cups of all purpose flour and sift using a fork to break up any clumps. Add in 1/2 tsp salt and 2 1/4 tsp yeast.
- Combine 2 Tbs olive oil with 1 cup water, and add to flour mixture.
- Kneed and punch dough down, adding a little bit of flour (up to an additional 1 cup) as needed until dough forms a ball.
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
- Cover bowl with a damp cloth and let dough rise for about 45 minutes.
- Thoroughly grease pizza pan with 1 Tbs olive oil.
- Using the heel of your hand, stretch the dough from the center out on the pizza pan.
- Let the stretched dough set for about 10 minutes to develop a “skin.”
- Using your thumb, make indents along the inner edge of the crust.
- Pour on 3/4 can of pizza sauce, top with a little pepper, parmesan cheese and 1 1/2 tsp brown sugar to dough.
- Add majority of your vegetables (leaving a handful for on top), followed by grated cheese and remaining vegetables
- Place pizza in the oven for 25-30 minutes.
- Once cooked, let cool for 15 minutes before cutting and enjoy!
It’s chemistry! (Yes, I am a nerd and PROUD of it!)
Dough making complete! In the meantime, chop up the veg and grate some cheese!
The dough should be about double in size.
Can you tell?
The brown sugar is the secret ingredient.
Ohhh yeah! Oven time!
Perhaps, we should have taken it out maybe 5 minutes earlier, but let me tell you what, that nicely browned cheese was so good!
Heaven. I’m in heaven!
I had two three delicious slices.
A big shout out to my great boyfriend who so sweetly allowed me to snap pictures and get in the way while he was cooking.
Have you ever made a homemade pizza before? What are your favorite toppings?
No elephants here. Just me trying to do high knees.
