Now I know what you're thinking, why go to the trouble of making pizza when its just so darn easy to pick up the phone and have a perfectly good one delivered? I'll tell you why. Once you discover the fun and the flavor of making your own homemade pizza, you'll never want to order a delivery pizza again.
The drawback of making your own is of course the time factor. But if you do it in steps, then it is possible to make your own faster than it would be to call in your order and have it delivered. I do it like this: on a weekend or a day when I am lucky enough to have time sans crawling toddler at my feet, then I make the pizza dough. Making pizza dough is pretty fast and simple. You take a handful of ingredients, mix it up and then let it sit in a bowl for an hour. After it rises, you have not one, but two large (14 inch) pizza crusts. That means if you freeze the other crust, all you have to do is pop the dough out of the freezer in the morning, pull it out of the fridge when you're ready to roll it out, and top it and then you truly would have pizza in less time than it would be to order it and have it delivered to your door.
The other bonus of making your own pizza is customizing it to your whimsy. Look at the pizza up there, just look at it! When was the last time you had a pizza that pretty delivered to your door? I'm going to say never. I made this pizza with "white" sauce, instead of the traditional red, and I decided to add my favorite ingredient, prosciutto, as well as a salad on top of the pizza. I know, crazy talk.
The other plus, you can make it somewhat healthier than the takeout alternative. Especially when you realize you ate a pizza that didn't just disintegrate the bottom of a cardboard box with grease. You can make it as healthy or as sinful as you desire. The point being, you get to be in control of your dinner destiny, and what is better than that?
Pizza Dough
3 1/2 to 4 cups bread flour, plus more for rolling
1 teaspoon sugar
1 envelope instant dry yeast
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 1/2 cups water, 110 degrees F
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons
Combine the bread flour, sugar, yeast and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine. While the mixer is running, add the water and 2 tablespoons of the oil and beat until the dough forms into a ball. If the dough is sticky, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the dough comes together in a solid ball. If the dough is too dry, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead into a smooth, firm ball.
Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons olive oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in a warm area to let it double in size, about 1 hour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cover each with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes.
At this point, I wrap both balls of dough in plastic wrap, put in freezer bags and freeze or refrigerate if I will be using later.
White Sauce
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 crushed garlic clove
1 1/2 cups milk
salt and pepper
pinch of nutmeg
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
Melt butter in saucepan, add garlic and saute over low heat until golden. Stir in flour to make a smooth paste. Cook over low heat until bubbly. Add milk, gradually, stirring constantly. Add seasonings and cook, stirring until thickens and comes to a boil. Add parm and stir.
Topping
Scamorza cheese (this is my secret ingredient. You can buy block mozzarella but scamorza is velvety, stringy goodness.)
Arugula, I bought a few handfuls from the farmer's market
juice from half a lemon
prosciutto
mushrooms (or whatever other toppings you desire.)
When you are ready to cook the pizza, roll it out onto a lightly floured surface. I then take the pizza with my hands and, as though the pizza were a steering wheel, with my hands at 10 and 2, I turn the dough until it stretches to the desired 14 inches. On a pizza stone or baking sheet, lay a layer of cornmeal. I use a thin cutting board to transfer the dough to the stone. Top with a layer of the white sauce, mushrooms and whatever other toppings you might like, top with cheese, as much or as little as you like.
Bake at 475 for 18 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly and lightly browned in spots. Top with prosciutto and arugula that has been tossed with lemon juice.
It sounds like a lot of work, but mainly the work is in the clean up. But it's worth it, it really is. And nothing makes me feel more Italian then when I'm eating my own pizza made from scratch. Except maybe my made from scratch pasta...but that is for another post.
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