Homemade Pizza

I know it's a cliche to say this, but I'm going to stick to my guns: you haven't had pizza until you've had pizza in Italy.  Hole in the wall, made from scratch, with love and Italian hands, pizza.  A couple of my favorite bloggers just got back or are currently in Italy and I couldn't be more green with envy.  It's one of the many countries I can't wait to go back to, especially for the food.  This Italian Dish is one of my favorite sites to visit, she combines great Italian cooking, with a love of travel.  Plus she lives in Michigan!!  I adapted this pizza recipe from her, she made a potato pizza, I used the same crust but added different toppings.  Either way, this dish is delicious.

For the dough, add salt, olive oil and yeast to 1/2 cup of warm water and stir together. 

Mix in 1 cup of flour.  Gradually add in 1/8 cup of more flour until the dough comes together enough to start kneading it.  You want the dough to be sticky but not enough that it sticks to your hands, without being too dry. 

Knead for a couple minutes with your hands.

Put the dough in a bowl with a drizzle of olive oil.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm place for a couple hours.  I made this the night before and kept it in the fridge overnight, taking it out a couple hours before use to let it rise.

Instead of using a tomato based sauce, I decided to try garlic and olive oil.  Mince 6-7 garlic cloves, mix with 6 tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Stir and mash together until you have a sort of paste.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  After you let the dough rise for a couple hours, sprinkle your counter top with flour so the dough doesn't stick.  Roll out the pizza dough using a rolling pin.  Roll out until it's the size and thickness you would like.  Place on a pizza pan and spread the garlic paste on top of the dough.

Chop whatever veggies you like on your pizza as toppings.  I used onion, tomato, red pepper, mushroom and some cooked chicken.

Layer the toppings on the pizza and finish off with a layer of freshly grated Parmesan cheese and pepper to taste.  Bake for 10-14 minutes until the crust is crisp and golden brown.

This pizza was delicious!  The crust was crunchy and thick and tasted dramatically different because it's homemade.  Although it can be a timely process, when you sit down to eat it's completely worth it!  The great thing about this pizza too is how filling it is.  After one slice I was full, and we had leftovers to last us for a few days.  Enjoy!

Homemade Pizza

Serving Size 1 large pizza

Adapted from The Italian Dish

Dough:

1/2 cup warm water

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon instant fast acting yeast

1 1/4 cup bread flour

1/4 cup olive oil

Topping:

8 garlic cloves minced

6 tablespoons olive oil

red pepper diced

mushrooms diced

chicken breast cooked and cut into bite size pieces

onion chopped

tomato chopped

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Dough:

Add salt, olive oil and yeast to the 1/2 cup water water and stir.

Mix in 1 cup flour, then gradually add in 1/8 cup more until the dough comes together.

Add enough flour so it's not too sticky, but not too dry.

Knead for a couple minutes on a floured surface.

Put the dough in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil.

Turn the dough to coat in the olive oil.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set in a warm place for a couple hours.

You can stick it in the fridge if you made it a night before, and take out to let rise for 2 hours before making.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. 

Roll out the pizza dough, using flour so it doesn't stick. 

Roll it out until it's the thickness and size you like and place on a pizza pan. 

Topping:

Combine the minced garlic, olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

Mix for form a paste and spread on the dough. 

Layer all the toppings on the dough. 

Finish with Parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste. 

Bake for 10-14 minutes until crust is crisp and golden.