We have family movie night each Friday and… pretty much every other Friday, “make your own pizza” is on the menu. We’ve gotten it down to a science and this is one of our go-tos. Enjoy.
Ingredients
Dough
- 1.5 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 3/4 teaspoon of sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 big glugs of olive oil
- 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (we use Italian pizza flour/”Typo 00″)
- 1 1/4 cups of warm water
Makes dough for 3 pizzas. Requires a minimum of 3 hours to allow for the dough to rise.
Sauce and toppings
- Tomato sauce
- 2-3 achovies
- fresh mozeralla, drained of water 30 minutes prior
- additional toppings as you like: chorizo, pineapple and ham, etc.
Directions
In a stand mixer with a dough hook, combine the yeast and flour. Dissolve the sugar and salt in the water. Add the liquids to the dry mix. Then add the olive oil until pliant. Knead for a few minutes in the mixer. Then knead by hand to ensure dough is elastic and smooth.
Transfer the dough to a container that is large enough for the dough expand. Cover the dough with a towel and put under a warm source (such as a lamp). Allow dough to rise for at least 3 hours.
One hour before you are ready to make the pizzas, place your fresh mozarella in a sieve with a bowl underneath to get rid of excess water and concentrate flavors. Separately, in a blender, mix the tomato sauce of your choice with 1-3 anchovies. If you haven’t made this sauce prior, start with one and then adjust. The anchovies bring a special umami flavor to the pizzas [and I learned from one of our special Italian sources (Sofia) that the anchoies are nonna’s secret ingredient for making pizzas for her family].
Pre-heat oven to 230º C/440º F.
Separate the dough into three sections. Coat pans in olive oil. Roll out the dough very thinly and place on pan. Cover the rolled-out doughed pans to prevent drying out if for longer than 30min-1hour.
Place tomato sauce, with desired toppings on the pizza. Once oven has reached 230ºC/440º F, put the pizzas in the oven for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, check to see your desired crispness as cooking time will vary based upon volume of toppings. I will sometimes slice each pizza in 4 and put back in the oven for another minute or 2, but we like our pizzas on the crispier side.