Tired of eating the same, boring, corner-cutting pizza from the big chains? This recipe for pizza from scratch, may look difficult at first, but with a little time and effort, you’ll be left with a delicious pizza you can be proud of! I’ve been making pizza at home since, I was very young and I’ve become incredibly picky about my pizza ever since. Dominos? No thanks. Papa Johns? Fuggedaboutit. Once you’ve become hooked on pizza worthy of being served in Italy, you’ll never look at pizza the same.
Pizza Crust
Ingredients
Instructions
Add yeast to lukewarm water, between 75-85° Fahrenheit (microwave water for about 15 seconds). Let sit for a few minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, combine both flours and salt, use a fork or fingers to incorporate.
Water and yeast, should start to develop foam, add the olive oil. Slowly begin adding liquid to dry ingredients stirring with your hands (It’s gonna get messy!)
Continue mixing and lightly kneading until one solid piece has begun to form. Transfer to a floured surface, and knead for 5-10 minutes. Place in a large mixing bowl with a dusting of flour on all sides. Let stand for 1 hour.
Dough should’ve increased greatly in size. On a floured surface, lightly knead and divide dough, as evenly as possible, into 2 or 3 pieces. These will be individual pizzas! Let stand for another hour or so.
Once all pizza toppings are prepared and oven is preheated to 500°, take a single piece of dough and on a floured surface do your best to shape it into a pizza, add toppings and cook!
Some Things to Keep in Mind
00 flour or super fine flour may not be found in a common grocery store. I use this brand, which can be found at Fresh Market.
When making any kind of dough, try to measure ingredients by weight. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, using a measuring cup will work just fine. The conversion of 153 grams of flour, equals 1 cup, plus one tbs and 1 ts, roughly. Do not pack the flour, it should be loose! Also while kneading your dough, you might notice it is sticky and too liquidity, feel free to sprinkle more all purpose flour as you go. But remember, you can always add more, and can’t take any out. You may have also noticed that I made four pizzas, I simply doubled all ingredients.
Stretching the dough into a pizza is probably the hardest part of this recipe. There are many different ways of doing it, but this video may help. It may take some practice, but that just means you have an excuse to eat more pizza!
If you don’t have a pizza peel available, you may be able to use a cutting board to slide your pizza on the stone. If you don’t have a pizza stone, some alternatives include: a pizza pan, a large cast iron skillet (this will make something closer to deep dish pizza), or even a large baking sheet will work.
Toppings are the place where your pizza can be a creative master piece! Try not to use a lot of toppings though, they may cook unevenly or the crust could burn before the pizza is done. The pizza is finished cooking when the bottom, and crust start to turn a golden brown. Also, the cheese should start to brown, but this is more of a relative measure. Just make sure the pizza is firm, not floppy! Keep in mind to always use the freshest ingredients available, which is instrumental to Italian cuisine!
Making pizza from scratch, is not easy. However, it is so much better than ordering a pizza. This recipe will help turn your pizza night from, ‘meh’ to ‘this pizza is so good, I am never eating delivery ever again!’