Homemade Pizza

Well, it's been quite a hiatus.  Chaos has reined in my household for the past month, and hopefully things are starting to calm down.  I'd love to say I'll get back to consistent, frequent blogging right away, but I'm not positive that will be the case.  For now, I'll do my best to continue sharing recipes with you.  I really appreciate you sticking around and continuing to check back - thanks for reading!

Whenever Anna gives me a recipe, I know it's going to be delicious.  (Remember her wild rice stuffed onions?)  She posted the recipe for this homemade pizza dough on her old blog.  I've made it twice now and I adore it.  It's a major savings over ordering pizza out, and best of all, you can top it exactly the way you like it.

I opted to top ours with slices of fresh mozzarella, pancetta, caramelized onions, and fresh spinach.  Delicious!

As Anna points out, if you don't have a mixer of some kind, the manual labor involved in this dough recipe is going to be excessive. You'll need a KA stand mixer or some other type of mixer with a dough hook.

Pizza Dough
from Anna

1 tsp. active dry yeast
2 tbsp. warm water +
2/3 c. water
1 c. AP flour
1 c. whole wheat flour
1-1/2 tsp. kosher salt
olive oil

In the bowl of the mixer, combine the yeast and warm water.  Let it sit for 5-10 minutes - until the yeast has expanded (or "bloomed").
 
Add the additional water, both types of flour, and salt.  Combine and knead using the dough hook attachment for ten minutes.  While the dough is kneading, lightly oil a large mixing bowl and set aside.

Turn the dough out into the bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap.  Set in a warm place (I like my oven, turned off), and allow to rise for two hours.

Punch down the dough, then replace the wrap and allow to rise at least another two hours, up to overnight.  (Place bowl in the refrigerator if allowing an overnight rise).

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board and divide in half.  Roll and stretch each half into whatever shape you'd like your pizza to be.  I usually go with funky blob shapes, but if you want to go for a circle or square, have at it!

Top the dough with whatever you like.  Last week, we did sausage, goat cheese, and thawed frozen spinach.  The pictures show prosciutto, fresh mozzarella, carmelized onion, and fresh spinach.  The pizza on the left is Andrew's and also has homemade tomato sauce on it.

Bake pizzas on the bottom rack of the 400 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, until dough is browned and cheese is melted and bubbly. 

This pizza dough recipe is easy, healthful, and delicious.  If you've been reading TPF for a while, you may know that I haven't always been confident in my ability to bake with yeast.  This is a great recipe to use if you feel the same way.  Your mixer does a lot of the work, and the directions are straightforward and easy to follow, thanks to Anna. 

The best thing about this pizza is that I always have the ingredients on hand.  Flour and yeast are staples in my pantry, and the toppings can be as varied as your imagination can handle.  I've always got some sort of cheese in the fridge and various veggies to use up.  Add in whatever meat and herbs are on hand, and fantastic homemade pizza is a snap.