Homemade Pizza

Living in New Jersey, I am bombarded with pizza places on nearly every corner.  It's hard to find THE best pizza, but I think I have.  In my own kitchen.  Whether you're a fan of sauce, or toppings, or thin crust or thick crust, who knows how to make pizza just the way you like it better than YOU?  It's so simple, it might just replace takeout!

For the Crust:

1 Cup Hot Tap Water (you don't want to use boiling water or you'll destroy the Yeast)

1 Tbsp Sugar

2 tsp Yeast

1 tsp salt

1/4 cheese (optional)

2 1/2 cups Flour



 Start by mixing the water, sugar and yeast in a bowl.  The yeast will need to sit and "wake up" for about 10 minutes in a warm place.  If it's cool in your kitchen, or you have a draft, I suggest putting your oven on warm for a few minutes, then turn it off and place the bowl inside.  This will give the yeast a warm, draft free place to come back to life.  It should start to get bubbly like this:

Once your yeast is up and ready to go you can add the other ingredients.  Add the flour, a half a cup at a time and kneed it into the mixture.  Depending on the humidity out, it may take more or less flour to form your dough into a ball, you don't want to add too much and make it tough.  Once the dough has enough flour to prevent it from sticking to the bowl, rub a bit of oil around the sides of the bowl, cover it with a cloth and place it back in a warm draft free place for about 45 minutes.

It may seem like a lot of work, but it's worth it I swear!  Once your dough is ready, place it onto a piece of parchment and spread it out while your preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  If you have a pizza stone, pre-heat that as well. 

Full confession? I don't like sauce on my pizza.  I'll make a good recipe for you one day, but for today there will be no sauce.  Sorry!

The toppings for today are:
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
2 tsp Italian Seasoning
2 Cups Shredded Cheese Blend
1 Cup Ricotta Cheese

Grate the garlic with a zester and add it to the olive oil.  Using a pastry brush, coat the crust with the garlic oil. 

Sprinkle the seasonings on top of the oiled crust.

Top with the shredded cheese

And add dollops of the ricotta cheese on top.  Add more seasoning if you'd like.  

Transfer the pizza with the parchment to an over turned baking tray and then slide onto your pizza stone.  If you don't have a pizza stone, bake right on the back of the tray. Bake in the oven for about 15 minutes and then broil until the top is crispy and browned... YUM just the way I like it!!

Try to wait till the pizza is cooled slightly before digging in.  You'll want to taste this one! :)  The crust comes out like a foccacia bread!  SO GOOD!  Play around with adding more or less cheese, or seasonings to the crust to give it more depth and flavor.  A bad dough can ruin a good pizza!