Simple Pizza

I love making pizza dough and fresh pizza at home.  With a pizza stone, it always comes out nice and crisp, but even without a stone, it's delicious, hot and fresh!  The fastest and easiest way to make a pizza at home - buy the dough at your local supermarket (most markets have a deli/catering area - all you need to do is ask) or your local favorite pizza eatery.  These places are often happy to sell a ball of their dough to you.  I went to an amazing Italian market with a deli that sells sandwiches and 18" pizzas as well as ingredients imported from Italy.  They sell a fresh ball of dough large enough to make a 20" pizza for about $5.  If you live or drive by a Bertucci's - they also sell their dough for a few dollars.  So when you have cheese and tomato sauce at home but no time to make dough and wait for it to rise - just go with this route.
In an attempt to make my pizza slightly healthier, I experiment with different ratios of white and wheat flour.  I don't have a perfect recipe down, when I add wheat flour, the crust is more dense and not as crispy.  When I use just white flour - it's always unhealthily delicious {ahem}.

Recipe- about a 14" pizza

Dough Ingredients:
Note - this is the recipe I use and will play with, you can add about a cup of warm milk in place of one cup of water and switch in wheat for white flour to your taste.  I sometimes add the milk (it seems like it helps keep the dough soft and stretch but is not an essential ingredient).

1-2 tbsp of fast dry active yeast (or one packet)
1 tsp of sugar
3 cups of warm water (not greater than 110F, it should feel hot but not uncomfortable to your fingers)
3 cups of white flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp of olive oil

This recipe can be done by hand, with a Kitchen aid mixer, or a Cuisinart food processor - I've tried all three methods and think the food processor is the easiest!

Bloom the yeast - add the yeast, sugar, and one cup of water to a large bowel or to the mixer bowl.
Let the yeast mixture sit for 5-10 minutes, you will see the yeast granules puffing up (blooming).
Add half of the flour mixture and mix well (stir, pulse etc.)
Continue to add enough water to moisten dough and add rest of flour mixture and salt.
When dough begins to come together, add 1tbsp of olive oil.
Continue to mix together until dough forms a ball that is not watery or sticky but is cohesive and soft to touch.
Coat your bowl with 1 tbsp of olive oil, put ball of dough in the oiled bowl, cover (with a lid or plastic wrap) and let rise.
Let rise minimum 2 hours before use (this part can be varied:  you can let the dough rise in 2 hours and pack it down and reform the ball and let rise another hour then use OR you can transfer your dough to the fridge overnight and take the dough out of the fridge 1-2 hours before use).
This dough can be kept in the fridge for several days or frozen for months!  So if you want to make a few batches and throw them in your freezer for pizza anytime - feel free to double, triple the recipe.

Dough after 2 hr rise

Sauce Ingredients:
This is an estimate and really to taste, some people like a little and other like a lot of sauce, so use your judgement for how much sauce and what kinds of herbs to add.

1/2 can of tomato sauce (~7 oz/less than 3/4 cup)
garlic powder to taste (I use less than 1 tbsp)
dried oregano to taste (1 tbsp)
dried basil (1/2 tbsp)

Sometimes I'll add rosemary and sometimes I'll leave out the basil if I have fresh basil as a topping -it's a pizza so put what you like!

Toppings: ANYTHING

Often, I use already shredded part skim mozzarella cheese and sometimes I'll buy fresh mozzarella ( use about 1 cup).

I also enjoy adding spinach, sauteed mushrooms, onions, bell peppers, broccoli (I like veggies but the pictures are just for simple cheese pizza).
My sister loves artichokes (canned or frozen) and my mom loves jalapeno!

Preheat your oven to 425F.
If using a stone - keep it in the oven and let it heat to temperature.
Roll out your pizza dough on a floured surface to the desired thickness - making sure to keep sprinkling flour on your counter so the dough wont stick.  I like a moderately thin crust.

If using a pan, transfer the dough to a greased pan (tip - use cooking oil spray) and bake for till the crust is golden.
If using a stone - transfer the dough to a wooden peel sprinkled with corn meal - be careful to not overdo the cornmeal but you need to be able to slide your pizza (with toppings and all) off your peel.  This part can be tricky!
Add the sauce.
Add your toppings (I like to put toppings then cheese but I hear that others like cheese then toppings!)

Don't worry about the shape, the pizza will still taste great!

Pop your pizza (in a pan) into your oven and bake for 10-15 minutes.
If using a stone - sprinkle a little bit of cornmeal on the stone (not too much) and then slide your pizza off the peel onto the stone.
The trick here is to tip the end of your peel just at the furthest edge of the pizza stone and shake with a quick motion.  I have lost cheese and toppings and have had misshapen and smooshed crusts but after a few tries you can get the feel for successfully sliding your pizza onto the stone
Bake for 10 minutes on the stone (it's faster because the stone was already so hot).

Let your pizza cool for at least 5 minutes before cutting and devouring.  Mmm!

With a small salad, this makes an easy light meal.