Homemade Pizza

Yup! You got that right. Homemade pizza and I mean it, even the crust. this crust recipe makes enough for two 12-inch pizzas. The sauce recipe is actually enough for about 2 1/2 12-inch pizzas, but I like having the leftover sauce which I can use for a dipping sauce or I can freeze and save it for later.

Crust
1 package (2 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast

1 1/3 cups warm water (105 deg to 115 deg F)

1 1/2 cups white bread flour

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

You will need an addition 1/4 cup of all purpose flour for your kneading your dough.

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon salt

Cooking spay

Sauce

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 28 oz can of crushed tomatoes

Toppings

2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

Whatever else you desire....

• Combine the yeast and warm water in a large mixing bowl and let stand until the yeast has dissolved, about 5 minutes. While the yeast is dissolving turn your oven on to 200 deg. When it reaches that temp, turn off you oven. You will now have an oven warm enough, but not too warm for you dough to rise.
  

Properly disolved yeast

• Add the flours, olive oil, and salt. Mix by hand for about one minute to blend all ingredients. Knead for about 10 minutes by hand until the dough is smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a bowl coated with your cooking spray, turn dough over to coat with the oil from the spray. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for 1 to 1 1/2 hour until the dough has double in size.


Mix together


Knead the dough for 10 minutes
Dough should be smooth and elastic

Transfer dough to greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise in a warm place.


• Meanwhile, it is time to make your sauce. Heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil in a saucepan. Add your minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the crushed tomatoes. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and allow to simmer for 10 minutes until slightly reduced.



Add garlic to warm olive oil



Add the can of tomatoes and cook until the sauce reduces
• Once your dough has risen, remove it from the oven and punch it down(yes, just like it sounds, punch your dough) and divide it in half. Roll each piece into a ball and let rest, loosely covered in plastic wrap for 10 to 15 minutes.

My punched down dough...looks like something from CSI! Also, see how dough has doubled in size.

Shhh! The dough is resting.
• Preheat your oven to 475 deg F. Grease (with cooking spray) and dust 2 baking sheets with cornmeal.



Cornmeal covered baking pan, if it looks like I used too much cornmeal, that is because I did. Also, this pan is covered with parchment paper because it is one for those pans with the wholes in the bottom and I did like how it makes the crust dimpled.
• Flatten each dough ball, 1 at a time into a 12-inch round disk, rolling and stretching the dough. Place each dough circle on a prepared baking sheet. Lift the edges and pinch it to form a lip to prevent the filling from making the crust soggy.


12 inches!
• Add your sauce, as much as you like. You may have some sauce left over depending on how much sauce you desire on your pizza. Simply save the leftover sauce for use a dipping sauce for your crust, or pour the remaining sauce into ice cube trays and freeze for later use.


Saucy! See the edges, no sauce it getting under to make my crust soagy.
• Add 1 cup of mozzarella cheese to each pizza and cover with your choice of toppings.


Going into the oven. We had a greek pizza with feta cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, kalamata olives, and marinated artichoke hearts...YUMMY!
• Bake until the crust is browned and the cheese is golden, about 12 minutes. Remove from the oven, slice and serve at once.

All Done!

Each pizza is easily cut into 8 nice sized slices. For a plain cheese pizza with no additional toppings the calories per slice would be 178.50.