Homemade Pizza

Grad school has been particularly difficult this semester, between classes, internship and all the tests and projects. But the most challenging round of midterms to date are finally over, and what sounds more comforting than a homemade pizza?! 


In no way can I take credit for this recipe - I owe it all to my fabulous roommate, Jen, and her mom, Lilly. Lilly worked on this pizza crust recipe over and over, changing things here and there until it tasted great and baked to a perfect golden brown. She was kind enough to share the recipe with me. And Jen was kind enough to go out and buy all the ingredients for this pizza while I finished cramming for my last midterm. Thanks, ladies!


Lilly's Pizza Crust
3/4 cup warm water
1 envelope Active Dry yeast
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
3 tbsp. olive oil


1. Pour envelope of yeast into warm water and set aside for 5 minutes.
*Note: sprinkle with a little extra sugar to feed the yeast so it fully develops.
2. In a large mixing bowl, add flour, sugar and salt. Mix together.
3. Add yeast/water and 3 tbsp. olive oil and combine (either with fork, hand- or stand mixer).
4. Shape dough into ball; cover with Saran Wrap or damp towel and leave for at least 1 hour; this allows the dough to rise, and it should double in size.

Before

After

Making the Pizza
5. After one hour, remove cover. Punch the dough with your fist a few times to release the air pocket that has formed.
6. If you will be baking the pizza on a baking sheet, brush it with a little olive oil (if you're using a pizza stone, you shouldn't need to brush it with anything).
7. Spread the dough into a pizza shape, starting from the center and pushing outward in all directions. Remember to leave a little more dough around the edges to form the crust.
8. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and brush the crust with olive oil. Bake it for 10 minutes.

Ingredients
Tomato Sauce (I like to use a Tomato Basil or Tomato & Roasted Garlic sauce)
Freshly shredded cheese (I usually grab two kinds for variation of flavor, and this time used fresh mozzarella and fontina cheese)
Pepperoni
Thinly sliced baby bella mushrooms
Thinly sliced red onion
1/4 banana pepper, diced


9. Spread the sauce over the pizza to your desired amount. 
10. Sprinkle some of the shredded fontina cheese on the sauce; this will help the ingredients to better stick in place.
11. Top with thin slices of fresh mozzarella cheese.

12. Add pepperoni, followed by mushrooms, onion and banana peppers.

13. Top with the rest of the shredded fontina cheese.

14. Bake the pizza for 10 more minutes (you may need to vary the cooking time a bit depending upon whether you use a baking sheet or a pizza stone and depending upon how thick the pizza toppings are).

 

Thanks again, ladies!