Homemade Pizza Recipes

EASY AND QUICK HOMEMADE PIZZA

Steps:

• In large bowl, mix first 4 ingredients.
• Mix water and oil; add to flour mixture.
• Turn onto floured surface; knead for 2 minutes.
• Place in a greased bowl; turning to grease top.
• Cover and let rise for 20 minutes.
• Punch down; place on 12in, greased pizza pan.
• Pat into a circle.
• Topping: Mix first 5 ingredients and spread over crust.
• Put a few pepperoni slices on top of sauce.
• Sprinkle with 1/2 the mozzeralla; 1/2 the monterey jack, and 1/2 the parmesan.
• Put the rest of the pepperoni on.
• Repeat the cheese layer.
• Bake at 400* for 20 minutes or until light brown.

MIKE'S HOMEMADE PIZZA

Steps:

• In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.
• In a large bowl, combine flour, salt and shortening. Stir in the yeast mixture. When the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn to coat with oil. Cover with a damp cloth, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in volume, about 45 minutes.
• Heat oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion until tender. Stir in tomato paste and water. Season with sugar, salt, black pepper, garlic powder, basil, oregano, marjoram, cumin, chili powder and red pepper flakes. Simmer 15 to 20 minutes.
• Recipe makes 2 (12 inch) pizzas. Divide dough in half, and spread onto pizza pans. Cover with sauce, and desired toppings. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

HOMEMADE PIZZA & PIZZA DOUGH

Steps:

• Proof the yeast: Place the warm water in the large bowl of a heavy duty stand mixer. Sprinkle the yeast over the warm water and let it sit for 5 minutes until the yeast is dissolved. After 5 minutes stir if the yeast hasn't dissolved completely. The yeast should begin to foam or bloom, indicating that the yeast is still active and alive. (Note that if you are using "instant yeast" instead of "active yeast", no proofing is required. Just add to the flour in the next step.)
• Make and knead the pizza dough: Add the flour, salt, sugar, and olive oil, and using the mixing paddle attachment, mix on low speed for a minute. Then replace the mixing paddle with the dough hook attachment. Knead the pizza dough on low to medium speed using the dough hook about 7-10 minutes. If you don't have a mixer, you can mix the ingredients together and knead them by hand. The dough should be a little sticky, or tacky to the touch. If it's too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour.
• Let the dough rise: Spread a thin layer of olive oil over the inside of a large bowl. Place the pizza dough in the bowl and turn it around so that it gets coated with the oil. At this point you can choose how long you want the dough to ferment and rise. A slow fermentation (24 hours in the fridge) will result in more complex flavors in the dough. A quick fermentation (1 1/2 hours in a warm place) will allow the dough to rise sufficiently to work with. Cover the dough with plastic wrap. For a quick rise, place the dough in a warm place (75°F to 85°F) for 1 1/2 hours. For a medium rise, place the dough in a regular room temperature place (your kitchen counter will do fine) for 8 hours. For a longer rise, chill the dough in the refrigerator for 24 hours (no more than 48 hours). The longer the rise (to a point) the better the flavor the crust will have.
• Preheat the pizza stone (or pizza pan or baking sheet): Place a pizza stone on a rack in the lower third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 475°F for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour. If you don't have a pizza stone, you can use a pizza pan or a thick baking sheet; you need something that will not warp at high temperatures.
• Divide the dough into 2 balls: Remove the plastic cover from the dough. Dust your hands with flour and push the dough down so it deflates a bit. Divide the dough in half. Form 2 round balls of dough. Place each in its own bowl, cover with plastic and let sit for 15 minutes (or up to 2 hours).
• Prep the toppings: Prepare your desired toppings. Note that you are not going to want to load up each pizza with a lot of toppings as the crust will end up not crisp that way. About a third a cup each of tomato sauce and cheese would be sufficient for one pizza. One to two mushrooms thinly sliced will cover a pizza.
• Flatten the dough ball, and stretch out into a round: Working one ball of dough at a time, take one ball of dough and flatten it with your hands on a lightly floured work surface. Starting at the center and working outwards, use your fingertips to press the dough to 1/2-inch thick. Turn and stretch the dough until it will not stretch further. Let the dough relax 5 minutes and then continue to stretch it until it reaches the desired diameter-10 to 12 inches. Treat the dough gently! You can also hold up the edges of the dough with your fingers, letting the dough hang and stretch, while working around the edges of the dough. If a hole appears in your dough, place the dough on a floured surface and push the dough back together to seal the hole. Use your palm to flatten the edge of the dough where it is thicker. Pinch the edges if you want to form a lip.
• Brush the dough top with olive oil: Use your fingertips to press down and make dents along the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling. Brush the top of the dough with olive oil (to prevent it from getting soggy from the toppings). Let rest another 10 to 15 minutes. Repeat with the second ball of dough.
• Sprinkle the pizza peel with cornmeal, put flattened dough on top: Lightly sprinkle your pizza peel (or flat baking sheet) with cornmeal. (The corn meal will act as little ball bearings to help move the pizza from the pizza peel into the oven.) Transfer one prepared flattened dough to the pizza peel. If the dough has lost its shape in the transfer, lightly shape it to the desired dimensions.
• Spread with tomato sauce and sprinkle with toppings: Spoon on the tomato sauce, sprinkle with cheese, and place your desired toppings on the pizza. Be careful not to overload the pizza with too many toppings, or your pizza will be soggy.
• Slide pizza into the oven: Sprinkle some cornmeal on the baking stone in the oven (watch your hands, the oven is hot!). Gently shake the peel to see if the dough will easily slide, if not, gently lift up the edges of the pizza and add a bit more cornmeal. Slide the pizza off of the peel and onto the baking stone in the oven.
• Bake: Bake pizza in the 475°F oven, one at a time, until the crust is browned and the cheese is golden, about 10 to 15 minutes. If you want, toward the end of the cooking time you can sprinkle on a little more cheese.

HOMEMADE PIZZA

Steps:

• In large bowl, dissolve yeast and sugar in water; let stand for 5 minutes. Add oil and salt. Stir in flour, 1 cup at a time, until a soft dough forms. , Turn onto a floured surface; knead until smooth and elastic, 2-3 minutes. Place in a greased bowl, turning once to grease the top. Cover and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 45 minutes. Meanwhile, cook beef and onion over medium heat until beef is no longer pink, breaking meat into crumbles; drain. , Punch down dough; divide in half. Press each half into a greased 12-in. pizza pan. Combine the tomato sauce, oregano and basil; spread over each crust. Top with beef mixture, green pepper and cheese. , Bake at 400° for 25-30 minutes or until crust is lightly browned.

HOMEMADE PEPPERONI PIZZA

Steps:

• For sauce: Combine all sauce ingredients with 1/2 cup water in a medium bowl; set aside for flavors to develop while making crust. Freeze remaining paste .
• For crusts: Combine 2 cups of flour with the dry yeast, sugar and salt. Add the water and oil and mix until well blended (about 1 minute). Gradually add enough remaining flour slowly, until a soft, sticky dough ball is formed.
• Knead for about 4 minutes, on a floured surface, until dough is smooth and elastic. Add more flour, if needed. (If using RapidRise® Yeast, let dough rest, covered, for 10 minutes.)
• Divide dough in half. Pat each half (with floured hands) into a 12-inch greased pizza pan OR roll dough to fit pans.
• For pizzas: Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Top crusts with sauce, pepperoni and cheese.
• Bake for 18 to 20 minutes until crusts are browned and cheese is bubbly. For best results, rotate pizza pans between top and bottom oven racks halfway through baking.

HOMEMADE PIZZA

Steps:

• Sieve the strong white flour into a large mixing bowl, add the salt and pepper.
• Add the water, yeast, sugar and olive oil into a jug and leave for 3 minutes to allow the yeast to activate.
• Slowly pour the wet mixture into the mixing bowl while stirring using a wooden spoon until everything is roughly mixed. Then, using your hands, further mix and knead the dough until it is elastic and slightly tacky but not over sticky. Place the dough in the mixing bowl and cover with a damp tea towel and leave for 1 hour until the dough has doubled in size.
• Take the dough and knead it for a few minutes to take some of the air out. Split it into two equal parts. If you are only wishing to make 1 pizza then you can freeze the extra dough.
• For the sauce, put all sauce ingredients into a blender for 30 seconds until you are left with a thick, light red sauce.
• Flour a work surface and using a rolling pin, roll the dough until it is roughly the size of the pizza tray you are using. Place the rolled out dough onto the tray and using your fingers, work the dough until it fills the tray.
• Brush the surface of the dough with olive oil and then add enough sauce mix to cover the base spreading evenly. Sprinkle on the grated cheese followed by your topping choice.
• Cook the pizza in preheated oven at 200C for 20 minutes and then serve.