Pizza is such a staple in our lives. Although it’s fun to try all the local pizza spots, if you have a little extra time, it’s even more fun to make your own from scratch. Not only Do you control all the ingredients going into your food, you also get to have a lot of fun putting it together. Check out this simple pizza dough and sauce recipe below and give it a try.
Pizza dough (makes three pizzas worth)
- 1 ½ cup warm water
- 1 ½ tbsp active dry yeast
- ½ tbsp salt
- 4-4¼ cup flour
- 3 ½ tbsp canola oil
-1 tbsp sugar
Pizza sauce (makes six pizzas worth)
-1 qt canned tomatoes (San Marzano is my go to)
-4 cloves of garlic
-1 ½ tbsp olive oil
-pinch or more crushed red pepper flakes
-2 ½ tsp salt
Dough directions
To start, mix the warm water, yeast, and sugar. Allow 20 minutes for this mixture to bubble and become frothy. Once the yeast mixture is ready add to your stand mixer. Next, add 3 cups of flour to begin, then half a cup at a time until a ball forms. Add the salt and mix for 2-3 minutes. Cover the bowl and allow the dough to rise for an hour, or until double in size. At this point remove from bowl onto a floured surface, knead gently a few times, and divide into three equal balls. Cover and allow balls to rise until double in size, this takes usually about an hour.
While the dough rests, preheat your oven to 500 degrees. If you have a pizza stone place this in the oven as it preheats. Once your stone and oven are ready, roll out your dough so that the center is a third the thickness as the edges and the width should be the same as your pizza stone. Carefully remove the stone from the oven and place on a heat resistant surface. Place your dough on the pizza stone and quickly add one ladle of sauce to the center of your dough. In a circular fashion move the sauce from the center to the edges leaving about half an inch from the edge. From here add your toppings as desired. Remember not to over top your pizza otherwise the crust might give. Allow the pizza to bake for about 15 to 20 minutes until the edges are brown/slightly dark and the center is firm.
Sauce directions
Combine all ingredients into an appropriate size container and using a hand blender and puree until nearly smooth. I prefer leaving a little bit of texture. It’s best if you make the sauce a day in advance so all the flavors have time to steep. If you only have a countertop blender, that will totally work, just don’t completely puree your sauce.
Next level tip
Slice a few cloves of garlic as thin as you possibly can. Use a mandolin if you have one. After saucing your pizza put a layer of garlic before adding any other topping. This gives your pizza that extra garlic kick.
Check out the photos of our pizza night. Our toppings included sliced tomatoes, chard onions, sausage, and rapini . So good we actually made it again 2 nights later but this time we added sautéed mushrooms as well.
