Weekend Treat: HomeMade Pizza

Pizza’s can be really tasty and great tasting if made with love. So guys, here’s my food for this week and I’m sure you will enjoy doing this at home. I’m going to prepare a pizza that will surely love by each family member. Remember, this Pizza is for adult only and children needs to be accompanied by adults.

What is needed?

          Of course before anything else, time must be reserved. Pizza making has 2 hours of preparation time and a cook time of 30 minutes. Sounds easy? Not yet. Let’s just go with our needed ingredients and other kitchenwares.

Photo Courtesy of Cafe Sassone

Ingredients:

For Pizza Dough:

·         Pizza dough that makes two 10-12 inch pizzas

·         1 ½ cups of warm water

·         2 ¼ teaspoon of active dry yeast

·         3 ½ cups of bread flour

·         2 tablespoon olive oil

·         2 teaspoon salt

·         1 teaspoon sugar

For Pizza Ingredients:

·         Olive oil

·         Shredded Mozarella or Parmesan cheese

·         Feta cheese

·         Mushrooms, thinly sliced

·         Bell peppers, stems and seeds removed then thinly slice it.

·         Cooked Italian sausage

·         Chopped fresh basil

·         Thin sliced onions

·         Sliced ham

Tools Needed:

·         A Pizza Peel or baking sheet.

·         A Scizza – Therapy’s cute tool that will surely makes your pizza cuts more enjoyable.

Photo Courtesy of Therapy

And after completing the ingredients and tools needed, we can now proceed on making the Pizza yummy.

Processes:

·         Prepare for a large bowl of heavy duty electric mixer and add warm water. Sprinkle the yeast and wait for 5 minutes until the yeast is dissolved on the water. Before the 5-minute time, stir it to completely dissolve the particles.

·         Use a mixer on mixing the olive oil, flour, salt and sugar at low speed for a minute. Now use the mixer with a dough hook. Knead using the mixer and dough hook at low to medium speed, until the dough is smooth and elastic for 10 minutes. You can also use your hand if you don’t have any mixer. If it looks thin, add more flour on it.

·         Now, place the ball of dough in a bowl that has been spilled lightly with olive oil. Move and turn the dough around in the bowl so that it gets coated with the oil also. Cover it with plastic wrap. Heat it on oven (150°F) until it doubled the size. Let it cool before having it out in the oven.

·         If you want to be ahead, you can freeze the dough in an airtight container for up to two weeks.

Preparation of the Pizza

·         Place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 450°F for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour.

·         Remove the plastic wrap on the dough and press the dough down so it deflates a little. Next, divide the dough in half and form two round balls of dough. Place each in its own bowl, cover it again with plastic and wait for 10 minutes.

·         Prepare the toppings desired. You have to moderate the toppings for at least three cups of tomato sauce and cheese are enough for one pizza, for you can’t achieve the right crispiness on the crust. I know you do not want that. Only one or two mushrooms thinly sliced will cover the whole pizza.

·         Work with one ball of dough at a time, take one ball of dough and flatten it with your hands (wash your hands guys) on a slightly floured work surface. Start at the center and working outwards; Press the dough to 1/2-inch thick using your fingertips. Turn and stretch the dough as much as possible. Leave it for 5 minutes and continue to stretch it until it reaches the desired diameter like 10 to 12 inches. Flatten the edge of the dough by your palm where it is much thicker. Pinch the edges if you want to form a lip.

·         Brush the top of the dough with olive oil just to prevent it from getting soggy on toppings. Use your finger tips to press down and make dents along the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling. Leave it for another 5 minutes and repeat it on the second ball of dough.

·        Sprinkle pizza peel with corn meal. Then transfer the prepared flattened dough to the pizza peel. If the dough lost its shape while in transfer, gently shape it to your desired dimensions.

·         Pour the tomato sauce, sprinkle the cheese, and place your desired toppings on the pizza.

·         Sprinkle the cornmeal on the baking stone in the oven just watch your hands, the oven is surely hot. Gently shake the peel to see if the dough will easily slide, if not, lift the edges of the pizza and add more cornmeal. Bake pizza one at a time until the crust is browned and the cheese is melted for 10-15 minutes. You can also add cheese after it was cooked on the oven.

So there you go. Two great pizzas will satisfy your taste buds and makes you more skilled more than a real chef like me. Thanks for the great help of my favorite kitchen tools—Scizza. Now I can cut the pizza easily without messing its toppings. I just made it presentable and adorable. I hope you can taste my pizza right now. (Yeah I’m making pizza while I’m typing this down. Just to make sure that I really wrote it step by step.) I hope I helped you on this little homemade recipe. Yummy!

If you want to look for more recipe, visit Zizbang to search for reviewed cooking website and blogs.