When cries of "I want pizza" come up around your house, don't order in or pick one up. Making your own pizza is a great way to get your veggies, and you can always eat exactly what you want. (Well, almost!)
The crust is the most labor-intensive part, and like all breads it mostly consists of waiting.
We borrowed this recipe from Oxmoor House's
Essentials of Baking.
INGREDIENTS:
*5 cups whole wheat or all-purpose white or bread flour
*5 teaspoons dry active yeast
*2 tablespoons honey
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*1/3 cup olive oil (if wheat; 1/4 cup if white flour)
*1 tsp fennel (optional)
*1 tsp crushed red pepper (optional)
DIRECTIONS: *Let it rise for about an hour, or until doubled in size. This recipe will actually make two 12-14" pizzas, so cut the dough in half and refrigerate the other half in an airtight container or a ziploc bag.
*Roll out the remaining half of the dough gently with a rolling pin. On the under side, on your last pass, give it a little cornmeal for extra crunch. Punch the top with a fork repeated to prevent bubbling up.
We actually used a pizza pan, but a regular baking sheet or baking stone will also work. I folded the crust over for a pretty braided look, but that's totally optional.
*Top with whatever you want. We made home-made pizza sauce (because we had tomato paste left from the jambalaya), and covered that with:
INGREDIENTS:
*16 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded
*0.5 oz blue cheese
*one fresh roma tomato (diced)
*1/2 small white onion, chopped
*1/4 cup vegetarian sausage crumbles
*5 button mushrooms, sliced
*0.5 oz grated parmesan cheese
Of course you can use whatever toppings you want. We also considered green chiles and spinach, but decided against it.
*Preheat the oven to 500 F. Cook the pizza on the lower rack for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the crust become stiff and golden.
Cut out as big a slice as you like (or as many as you can fit in your stomach), dig in and enjoy!
What do you like on your pizza?
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Comments (7)
That looks totally awesome. I may just have to make that one of these days.
Mmmm... awesome! I could think of so many combinations!
NOMNOMNOMNOM!
Who doesn't love pizza??
Looks great! Where can I get the vegetarian sausage crumbles?
@bluepillorredpill@xanga - We used a brand called Morningstar, it's in the freezer section and often has its own little case.