So, last night mom decided I was going to be in charge of dinner for the family. I wanted to cook a pizza from scratch and so came together with suggestions on the Internet as well as watching my girlfriend's mom cook. The following is the recipe I decided was my best option. If anybody wants to comment or add suggestions, I would appreciate it! And uh... well... the grammar and proper sentence structure I like to use is being thrown to the wind for this one =].
THIS RECIPE MAKES 2 PIZZAS
DOUGH
mix:
1 1/4 cup warm water
yeast
leave sit in a cup or something for 10minutes, so the yeast can become "active"
add to water/yeast mixture & mix:
1 tbsp oil
pinch of salt
then add 4 cups of flour to the mixture (1 CUP AT A TIME)
you will eventually need to flour your hands and use your hands to knead the dough once you approach the 4th cup
leave the dough sit in a bowl, covered with tin foil or plastic wrap for preferably 40-45 minutes (or whenever the dough appears to have practically doubled in size from the yeast
there is now enough dough there for 2 pizzas
SAUCE
I kinda screwed around with the sauce and tried to "experiment" I suppose
get a big bowl because we will probably make more sauce than we need
mix:
1 can tomato paste
1/2 "can" of water (to start, we'll add more)
add and mix: (all are approximate.. you may want to add more later possibly)
1 good hard squirt of ketchup
1 tsp basil (you can add another 1 tsp if you see fit)
1 tsp oregano (you can add another 1/2 tsp if you see fit)
2 tsp sugar (you will probably add a little more of this... the sauce should smell "sweet")
after it is all mixed up, keep adding water to it until you reach the "pizza sauce" consistency
common sense is important here
the tomato paste may not appear to absorb the water at first, but it will (don't worry)... just keep stirring it
taste test it and make subtle additions as you see fit...
that is enough sauce for 2 pizzas and you will probably end up throwing some of it away because that is a bunch of sauce
ASSEMBLY
if you are going to make the pizza now, this is a good time to preheat to 450 degrees F
divide your dough in half if you're making 2 pizzas
flour the outside of the dough a bit so it becomes less sticky
hopefully you could afford buying a pizza pan for like 3 bucks
spread the dough over your pizza pan
squish/spread it across the whole pan, making a SLIGHT "crust" edge
be patient with it - try to make it as even as possible... some people like using a rolling pin to start it
after the dough is completely spread over the pan, add about 1 tsp to the top of it
spread the 1tsp oil around the top of the dough evenly
this is supposed to prevent the pizza from becoming soggy after toppings are added to it
add your sauce (don't be afraid to waste some sauce.. just throw it out if there's too much), Mozerella cheese, and whatever other toppings you prepared
recommendation: sauce, Mozerella cheese, pepperoni, onion, green and red bell peppers, pineapple =]
use the center oven rack - recommend doing 1 at a time
450 degrees F for 20 minutes or so (the crust/cheese/toppings should become slightly browned and evident they had been cooked)
Mine turned out great and my whole family liked it. Feel free to add suggestions, comments, changes, and whatnot.
