Homemade Pizza
Source: Treasury of Home Baking
Makes 4 to 6 servings“My boyfriend and I made this with a premade Pillsbury crust, a can of “petite” cut tomatoes, a bit more tomato paste, pepperoni and cheese. The sauce recipe turned out so good! Different than the typical jar sauce. We actually used two crusts. We put cheddar all over the first one and covered it with the second crust. Talk about filling!”
Ingredients
Crust*
1/2 Tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1/2 cup warm water (105-115 degrees F)
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
* Shortcut: use a premade, refrigerated pizza dough.
Sauce
1 can (14.5 ounces) whole peeled tomatoes, undrained
1 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon dried oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon dried basil leaves
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
Topping suggestion
1/2 small red bell pepper, cored and seeded
1/2 small green bell pepper, cored and seeded
4 fresh medium mushrooms
1 can (2 ounces) anchovy fillets
1 3/4 cups (7 ounces) shredded mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup pitted ripe olives, halved
* If using premade crust, skip to step 4, and skip step 5. Place dough on a lightly greased baking sheet or pizza pan.
1. To proof yeast, sprinkle yeast and sugar over warm water in small bowl; stir until yeast is dissolved. Let stand 5 minutes or until mixture is bubbly (Is yeast does not bubble, it is no longer active. Check expiration date or water temp as water that is too hot will kill yeast.).
2. Place 1 1/2 cups flour and salt in medium bowl; stir in yeast mixture and oil, stirring until smooth, soft dough forms. Place dough on lightly floured surface; flatten slightly. Knead dough, using as much of remaining flour as needed to form a stiff elastic dough..
3. Shape dough into a ball; place in large greased bowl. Turn to grease entire surface. Cover with clean kitchen towel and let dough rise in warm place 30 to 45 minutes until doubled in bulk. Press two fingertips about 1/2 inch into dough. Dough is ready if indentations remain when fingers are removed..
4. For sauce, finely chop tomatoes in can, reserving juice. Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion; cook 5 minutes or until soft. Add garlic; cook 30 seconds more. Add tomatoes with juice, tomato paste, oregano, basil, sugar, salt and black pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat to medium-low heat. Simmer, uncovered, 10 to 15 minutes until sauce thickens, stirring occasionally. Pour into small bowl, cool..
5. Punch dough down. Knead briefly on lightly floured surface to distrubute air bubbles; let dough stand 5 minutes more. Flatten dough into circle on lightly floured surface. Roll out dough, starting at center and rolling to edges, into a 10-inch circle. Place circle in greased 12-inch pizza pan’ stretch and pat dough out to edges of pan. Cover and let stand 15 minutes.
6. Preheat over to 450 degrees (F). Cut bell peppers into 3/4-inch pieces. Trim mushroom stems; wipe clean with damp kitchen towel and thinly slice. Drain anchovies. Mix mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses in small bowl. Spread sauce evenly over pizza dough. Sprinkle with 2/3 of cheeses. Arrange bell peppers, mushrooms, anchovies and olives over cheeses.
7. Sprinkle remaining cheeses on top of pizza. Bake 20 minutes or until crust is golden brown. To serve, cut into wedges.
(Submitted by Webmaster)
