Recipe: Homemade Pizza!

Due to popular Facebook demand, I'm posting my Homemade {Veggie} Pizza recipe... this is a time consuming process, but totally worth it, in my opinion!

Dough Ingredients

4 cups white flour
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour
1 T. instant yeast (or active dry yeast)
1 1/4 T. kosher salt (or 1 T. table salt if you don’t use kosher salt)
1 T. sugar
1 T. olive oil
2 3/4 cups hot water (no hotter than 110-115˚F - use an instant read thermometer for accuracy)

Corn meal {used as a baker’s peel}

Pizza Sauce Ingredients
6oz. can of tomato paste
2 tsp. minced garlic
1 T. dried Italian seasonings
1/2 tsp. kosher salt (or 1/4 tsp. table salt)
water

Vegetarian Pizza Toppings
Black olives, sliced
Red bell pepper, sliced
Green bell pepper, sliced
Red onion, sliced
Eggplant, diced - approx. 1/2” cubes
Artichoke (I use marinated artichoke but I rinse it really well first)

Mozzarella cheese, shredded

Directions
Preheat oven at 150˚F for 10 minutes; keep oven door closed.

In a large mixing bowl (stand mixer strongly recommended) combine flours, instant yeast, salt, and sugar. Whisk together until well blended. Add 1 T. olive oil and hot water. Set the stand mixer on low and allow the dough to pull together - then set the speed to medium/low and allow the mixer to knead the dough for 7 minutes {if doing by hand, once the dough has pulled together knead for 10 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic}. If the dough is too dry, add additional water (1 T. at a time). If the dough is too wet, add additional flour (1 T. at a time) - keep in mind that slightly sticky dough is actually a good thing.

If you opt to use dry active yeast then you will need to the following steps first...

In a large mixing bowl dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/4 cup of the hot water. Let sit until frothy/creamy; about 10 minutes.

In a separate bowl combine the flours and salt; whisk together until well combined. Add 1 T. olive oil to the yeast mixture then slowly add the flour mix (about 1/2 cup at a time) to the yeast mixture. When the dough has pulled together, knead until smooth and elastic, about 7 minutes in a stand mixer, on medium/low {or about 10 minutes if doing by hand}.

Lightly coat (or spray) the sides of the mixing bowl with olive oil. Cover with a damp cloth and put a damp cloth beneath the bowl then put in the warm oven; allow dough to rise until doubled in volume; about 1 hour.

While waiting for the dough to rise - prepare your pizza toppings and pizza sauce. For the sauce simply combine all the ingredients and add water, little by little, until the consistency of yogurt; set aside.

Remove dough from the oven. Preheat oven to 425°F.

Deflate the dough. Sprinkle your countertop lightly with a little flour. “Grease” your hands with just a little olive oil then divide the dough into sections. (If making personal sized pizzas - make 5 oz. portions of dough using a kitchen scale). Form sections into rounds and place on the floured countertop. Cover the rounds and let rest for about 10-20 minutes.

After the dough has rested, lightly sprinkle corn meal on your pizza pan (or cookie sheet). Place your dough on the corn meal and spread into the desired shape (you can use a rolling pin but I’m usually quicker by hand).
Add pizza sauce, then your toppings and put the cheese on last. For personal pizzas I only use 1 1/2 oz. mozzarella - otherwise, I’m quite liberal with the cheese.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. Baking time depends greatly on the size of the pizza, how thick your dough is and how many toppings you put. Small personal pizzas are usually ready in 15-16 minutes. Large pizzas generally take 18-20 minutes. Note: Cheese only pizzas cook much faster.

{ENJOY!}