Homemade Pizza

Pizza Dough

2 cups warm water

2 Tbsp oil

2 Tbsp sugar or honey

2 tsp salt

5 cups flour

2 tsp yeast

In a large bowl, combine 2½ cups of flour and the yeast. Set aside. Heat water just until warm (100°F – 110°F). Add sugar, salt and oil, mix well. Add liquid mixture to flour mixture, and mix well, scraping sides. Stir in about 2 cups of flour to make a soft dough. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface, and knead in remaining flour until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Shape into a ball. Place dough into a lightly greased bowl, turning once in the bowl to grease entire surface of dough. Cover bowl loosely, and let rise in a warm place until double in size (about an hour).

Thin-Crust Pizza: Grease two 16-inch pizza pans. Set aside. Punch dough down. Divide dough in half forming a ball with each half. On a lightly floured surface, roll each dough portion into a 16-inch circle. Transfer dough circles to prepared pans. Build up edges slightly. Do not let rise. Bake at 425°F for about 12 minutes or until golden. Spread sauce on hot crusts, and top with meats, vegetables, and cheese of your choice. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes more or until bubbly.

Thick-Crust Pizza: Lightly grease one 15x10-inch jelly roll pan or two 9x9-inch baking pans. Set aside. Punch dough down. On lightly floured surface, roll dough into one 15x10-inch rectangle. Transfer dough to prepared pan. With lightly floured fingers, gently press dough to fill pan, building up the edges slightly. If using two pans, divide the dough in half, and roll each dough portion into a 9x9-inch square. Transfer dough to prepared pans. With lightly floured fingers, gently press dough to fill pans, building up the edges slightly. Cover and let rise in a warm place until nearly double, about 30-45 minutes. Bake at 375°F for 20 – 25 minutes or until golden. Spread sauce on hot crusts, and top with meats, vegetables, and cheese of your choice. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes more or until bubbly.

Each pizza will need 1 to 2 cups of pizza sauce and about 2 cups of cheese. If adding meats or vegetables, allow about ½ cup of each per pizza. Remember, to use cooked meats only.

Tips:

• These instructions call for hand kneading the dough, but if you’ve got a good mixer or a bread machine, by all means, use them. In the bread machine, simply layer the ingredients as you normally would for making bread and set the machine for its dough cycle. When the machine is done, the dough is ready for shaping. Follow the recipe directions from there. If you have a nice, heavy-duty mixer with a dough hook, you can use the mixer for the kneading part of the recipe.
• All-purpose flour, bread flour, whole wheat flour, and fresh-milled flour all work well for this recipe. My family enjoys a combination of all-purpose flour and fresh-milled hard white flour, but feel free to be creative!
• Remember, this is a yeast bread, so choose a hard wheat like hard red or hard white for your fresh-milled flour. Try a mixture of grains for a flavorful multi-grain crust.
• I usually make two large Sicilian (thick crust) pizzas for my family of four. The first pizza fills us up for dinner, and the second pizza feeds us for lunch the next day. To make this much people, I take the above recipe times one and a half.
• Save time later by doubling the recipe today and freezing half the dough. Freeze the dough immediately after kneading. To use, simply let the dough defrost and raise until doubled and pick up the recipe at shaping.

Pizza Sauce

1 Tbsp oil

1 clove garlic, minced

½ cup onion, minced

½ cup green pepper, diced (optional)

2 15-ounce cans tomato sauce or crushed tomatoes

1 Tbsp Italian herb blend

Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Sauté garlic, onions, and green pepper stirring constantly, until onions are transparent, taking care not to burn garlic. Add sauce and herbs. Stir well. Bring sauce to simmering. Reduce heat to low. Simmer gently, uncovered, for 30-45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Sauce will thicken as it simmers. Recipe makes enough sauce for 2 pizzas.