One word can rarely fill your heart with joy, and that word is Pizza.
Pizza is beloved worldwide, from the classic Sicilian and Napoli style pizzas to New York’s finest thing crust and the heavily debated Chicago deep dish (is it a pizza?) to the deliciously creative Detroit style, Tavern style, or California style. Pizza is beloved and innovative!
In honor of National Pizza Day, we have an easy and cost-effective recipe to make your own Pizza dough and sauce for that pizzeria taste without leaving your home.
Classic Dough
The history of Pizza begins in antiquity, as various ancient cultures produced basic flatbreads with several toppings. Here we have a classic dough recipe that is easy and fun to make!
Ingredients
1 cup warm water 105F-110F degrees
1 (.25 ounce) package of active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2 ½ cups bread flour or All-purpose flour
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
Directions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Lightly grease a pizza pan or dust a pizza stone with cornmeal
- Place warm water in a bowl; add yeast and sugar. Mix and let stand until the mixture looks frothy about 10-15 minutes.
- Add flour, oil, and salt to the yeast mixture; beat until smooth. You can do this by hand or use a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook to make it easier. Let it rest for 5 minutes.
- Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat or roll into a 12-inch circle. Transfer to the prepared pizza pan or stone.
- Spread crust with sauce and toppings of your choice.
- Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.
Pizza sauce
The sauce is one of the most important aspects of your Pizza, and a simple, delicious tomato sauce goes a long way.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/3 cup onion chopped-we recommend a white or yellow onion
1 tablespoon of minced garlic, about 3 cloves of fresh garlic. You can always use pre-minced garlic.
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 & 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper, optional
28 ounces canned whole tomatoes, or 28 ounces can crushed tomatoes-use whatever brand you like
½ teaspoon of sugar, optional
Directions
- Chop the onion and mince your garlic, and set aside. Next, open your canned tomatoes and tomato paste.
2. In a small bowl, add all the spices: 2 teaspoons dried oregano, 1 teaspoon dried basil, 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder, 1 and 1/4 teaspoons kosher salt, and 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper if you like.
3. Heat a medium skillet over medium heat. When it’s hot, add 2 tablespoons olive oil and swirl evenly to coat the pan.
4. Add 1/3 cup chopped onions and sauté for 3-4 minutes until they begin to brown.
5. Add 1 tablespoon of minced garlic and all the spices. Sauté and stir for 1 minute until the garlic and spices are fragrant.
6. Add 3 tablespoons tomato paste. Stir it into the garlic and spread it out in the pan, so it is heated.
7. Add the 28-ounce can of whole tomatoes or crushed tomatoes. Break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon as much as you can. Bring to a simmer over medium or medium-low. Let simmer for 30 minutes.
8. Add sugar if necessary. Give your sauce a taste and decide if the acidity is too much. If so, start with a 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, moving up to 1 teaspoon if you want. Sweeten to your liking.
9. Blend the sauce. Turn off the heat and use an immersion blender to puree the sauce. If you don’t have an immersion blender, let it cool for a couple of minutes before transferring it to a blender. You will have to do it in two batches. Do not fill the blender to the fill line; add less than you think. The sauce is very hot and will expand when blended.
Prefer a chunky sauce? Skip the blending process and use it as is.
10. Use the sauce on your homemade Pizza. This recipe should yield 4 cups.
Some favorite combos for Pizza
Margherita – Buffalo Mozzarella cheese with fresh Basil leaves and tomato sauce
Classic Meat Pizza– use a 3-cheese blend (mozzarella, cheddar, and parmesan) with pepperoni, sausage, and sliced ham.
Pineapple Pizza-Mozzarella cheese, Canadian bacon, pineapple chunks, and some bacon crumbles.
Vegetarian– Bell peppers, mushrooms, red onion, with a 3-cheese blend
BBQ- swap out the tomato sauce for BBQ sauce, and add grilled chicken and red onion.
Pesto Pizza-swap out the tomato sauce for Pesto, add chicken, mushrooms, and some parmesan, or make it vegetarian w/o the chicken and add artichoke hearts.
Gluten-Free Pizza– Swap out the flour for Cauliflower. Check out our Gluten-free Pizza Crust recipe here.
What have we learned?
Pizza isn’t that hard to make, and you can enjoy it while practicing your culinary skills.
As always, we encourage you to try new recipes. So, get out there and create! Tackle a new pizza dough technique or master just one. Want to tackle the infamous Chicago Deep Dish? Try it!
And if you’ve read to the end of this blog, first, thank you, and second, if you’re still thinking, “Nah, I’m just going to order a pizza” Go for it! TREAT YOURSELF! It’s National Pizza Day, after all.
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