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Pizza.

Just the word makes you hungry, right? We all love it, but it’s something we usually don’t make at home. It’s a shame, because it is easy to make and lots of fun to involve the kids in preparing.

Personally, I’m a bit of a pizza snob. The town I grew up in (Merrick, New York) had 21 pizza parlors to choose from. Yes, you read that right-nearly 2 dozen pizza places for a population of 50,000. Then I moved away and found it a little more difficult (but not impossible) to pizza rivaling what I grew up enjoying.

The qualities that constitute authentic NY style pizza are a thin, crispy crust, a very light tomato sauce and the secret? A blend of mozzarella and white cheddar cheese.

Nowadays, I make pizza at home. My kids love it so much that they insist it rivals our one good pizza joint in our current locale. It’s a good bet that if you looked in my fridge and pantry, you’ll find refrigerated dough or a slice or two of leftover pizza from the most recent batch

Yes, making pizza dough is time consuming (about 20 for mixing and just over 4 hours total), but most of that is due to allowing it to rise. Through trial and practice, my husband and I found that it is better to make a dough and refrigerate it for a day or two after allowing it to rise. By doing this, it give the yeast more time to develop a crust that crisps better while baking.

Pizza Dough
2 tablespoons active dry yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup water, heated to 90-100 degrees
¼ cup Olive Oil (you can use others, but this is the best for flavor)
3 ½ cups flour, with a litle extra on the side
garlic powder, basil and or oregano (optional)

Preparation
In mixer, food processor or a measuring cup, stir together warm water, sugar and salt and stir until the sugar and salt disolve. Now, add the yeast and stir for 30 seconds.

I use my mixer with a dough hook for this, but you can do this in the food processor with the slicing blade (the dough blade isn’t sturdy enough). You can also do this by hand by putting the flour down on a clean surface and making a well in the middle of it for the liquid.

Add about a cup to the liquid and blend for a minute if using the food processor or mixer. Then add the oil and sprinkle in the spices (this is optional, but I find my picky child doesn’t mind the spices if they’re in the crust) For the hand preparation, put all the liquid and oil in the center of the flour, then slowly circle your hand around the liquid, slowly incorporating the flour into it, taking care not to let any water leak out.

Once the flour and oil are incorporated, slowly add the rest of the flour and blend for about 4 or 5 minutes on medium speed. (Don’t be alarmed if the food processor or mixer moves across your counter-it is working hard!). Sometimes, you may find your dough is a little sticky. If so, add flour a tablespoon at a time until it isn’t tacky.

If the dough seems a little dry and crumbly, add warm water a tablespoon at a time until it seems a little more rubbery.

Now, knead the dough for a minimum of one minute on a lightly floured surface. This helps to activate the yeast.

Next, put the dough in a bowl (at least twice the size of the dough ball) and place it in a warm place that’s free from a draft for 45 minutes. (Mine goes in my oven with a towel over it).

When 45 minutes have passed, punch the dough down, flip it over and allow to rise another 90 minutes, then punch it down again. You can use it after this second rise, but I prefer the texture when I give it a third rise for another 90 minutes and I punch it down.

You’re ready to use this dough. Knead it for another minute. If you’ve refrigerated your dough prior to making the pizzas, allow to sit at room temperature for two hours prior to kneading and rolling it out. If you are so inclined, you’re more than welcome to hand toss, but I roll it out with a rolling pin.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

You can make either one LARGE pizza or three smaller ones. We make double batches of the dough and get two good size pizzas and have enough dough left over to put in the fridge for a third pizza.

To roll out your dough, flour your work surface and rolling pin generously. If separating into smaller pies, roll each into a ball first. To get the best shape, roll forward and back, then turn the dough 1/3 of the way around, then repeat until the dough is the thickness of a matchbook cover. If you get it perfectly round, that’s fine, but you know what? We like our lopsided pizzas here. It gives it a rustic feel.

For the toppings, you will need about 8 to 10 ounces of marinara sauce, 2 cups of shredded cheese, about a teaspoon of olive oil and some garlic powder to sprinkle on the dough. Other toppings are up to you, but we commonly make pepperoni, onion or Hawaiian here. The trick with the cheese is to blend 2 parts cheddar to one part mozzarella. It gives a good tangy flavor and melts great.

Another secret we’ve found through frequent preparation is that if you lightly oil your pan, the crust gets a bit more crunchy

Place your dough on the oiled pan. With a fork, lightly poke holes all over the crust. Put olive oil on the dough and spread it around to about a half inch from the end of the crust. Sprinkle garlic powder as lightly as liberally as you desire.

Take a heaping ladle full of marinara sauce (I use Aldi’s Three cheese, but any marinara without chunks works well) and with the bottom of the spoon, spread it around in a circular motion until it is evenly coating the dough up to a half inch out from the outer edge. If you need to add more, just do a little at a time. The key to good flavor is to not over sauce the crust.

By handfuls, take your cheese and drop onto the sauce and carefully spread out. You don’t want to see the sauce, but you don’t want it to be mounded too high. Once you’ve spread it evenly over the marinara, roll the crust edges in to the edge of the sauce all the way around. Add whatever other toppings you like, then place in the oven on the bottom rack.

Cook for 18-22 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Take out of the oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes before slicing, so that the cheese doesn’t fall off!

Trust me, once you get in the routine of making your own dough, you won’t mind taking a little time to prepare it to have your pizza, your way-without waiting for the delivery person to show up.

Look for a future weeks to show you other uses for your pizza dough and a delicious deep dish dough recipe.

Until next week, I hope all your meals are Tasty ones!

Suzanne