"...like a big pizza pie..."

That's amore!!

Ma's homemade pizza!

Some have asked how Ma makes homemade pizza so I decided to sneak you ALL the recipes.  Please note: the word RECIPES is plural because Ma sometimes cheats and doesn't make the dough (gasp!). If you are up to making your own dough - which can take a while - here is the recipe Ma uses.

Ingredients:

1.5 cups warm water (about 100 degrees F)

1 (1/4 ounce) packet of active yeast

5 cups all purpose flour

1.5 teaspoons fine sea salt

Olive oil

Yellow cornmeal

Instructions:

1) Put the water in a small bowl, add the yeast and stir until dissolved.

2) In a large bowl, mix the flour and salt together.  Add the yeast mixture and stir until the dough forms.  (If the dough seems too dry, you can add a little bit more water - maybe a tablespoon at a time.  If the dough seems to wet or sticky, you can add extra flour.)  Transfer the dough to a flat surface.

3) Knead the dough (may want to put flour on your hands first) until it becomes smooth and elastic - about 10 minutes (you do not want to overwork the dough!). 

4) Drizzle the inside of a clean bowl with a bit of Olive oil and put the dough in the bowl.  Cover it loosely with a damp towel (or cheesecloth) and set it in a warm place until the dough doubles in size - about 2 hours.

5) Using a fist, deflate the dough in the center and cut it into 3 equal parts.  Form the dough pieces into 3 balls and put into 3 separate oiled bowls. Cover each, like above, with damp towel and let rest for another hour.

6) Dough can be rolled out on flat work surface into pizza and/or can be refrigerated for one day.

Now, I'll be honest and tell you that our local grocery and bakery make and sell homemade pizza dough which is just so much easier!  If your local grocery and/or bakery makes it, it is well worth the purchase because you can skip directly to Step 6 above!

We do have a wooden pizza server which Ma uses as her work surface to form the dough into a pizza after sprinkling it (the server) with yellow cornmeal (to keep the dough from sticking) - and you can use your hands to stretch it or a rolling pin or both to get the shape and size you want. 

7) While you are shaping out your homemade pizza dough, preheat your oven to 500 degrees F. 

We also have a pizza stone in our oven all the time which lets us cook the pizza without a pan (you can use a cookie sheet if you don't have a stone).  It also helps everything you place on it (roasting pans, cookie sheets, and PIZZA etc) to heat evenly so pizza, cookies and stuff come out fantastic!  You may want to get yourself one.

Ours is NOT this clean!

NOW WAIT!  Here is one more way Ma sometimes cheats...PILLSBURY PIZZA DOUGH!  That's right, pals...sometimes you just want a quick and easy pizza and the Pillsbury Pizza Dough Thin Crust is actually really good.

7B) For the Pillsbury dough, you preheat the oven according to the package - I think it is 400 degrees F - and form the dough onto a cookie sheet.  With the Pillsbury dough, you prebake the dough for 5 minutes before adding your toppings.

8) Once the pizza is shaped (homemade, store bought or Pillsbury), you can add your favorite toppings!  (However, Ma's secret BEFORE adding toppings is to sprinkle the dough with garlic powder for some extra flavor.  In addition, Ma generally doesn't use any sauce - just cheese and toppings - but you can always put down a layer of sauce if you wish.)

9)  Once your toppings are on, you can bake your pizza for about 10 minutes (or until hot and bubbly).

Some of our favorite pizzas are:

Margherita
Sliced mozzarella, fresh sliced Roma tomatoes and fresh Basil

Greek
Crumbled Feta cheese, sliced red onion, minced garlic, sliced Kalamata olives (and you can add chicken Souvlaki too)

Sausage Surprise

Sliced mozzarella, cooked and crumbled Italian sausage, sliced Roma tomatoes and marinated (from the jar) artichoke hearts

Let me know if you try to make your own pizza and what YOUR favorite toppings are!!

Oz the Terrier