Homemade Pizza in 3 Acts

Made properly, pizza at home can be just as good, and probably better, than the stuff you have delivered. Except for the pizza pan you’ll see later, I tried not use any special equipment, like pizza stones, or exotic ingredients you would have a hard time finding.

Act 1: The Pizza Dough (Pay attention or you’ll get pizza D’oh!)

In clip one I make a very simple standard pizza dough. It’s amazing how intimidated people are when it comes to making any kind of dough or bread at home. Hopefully this demo will cure that. By the way, I will add ingredients to all these clips so you can have the exact measurements. This is only really crucial for the dough. The sauce recipe and final pizza can be varied as you see fit. So, let’s get this Pizza party started right! The key to a great pizza dough is a moist, sticky dough. We only want enough flour to be able to work with the dough…too much flour will result in a dry, tough pizza.

The “Sponge”:
2 teaspoons dry yeast
3/4 cup lukewarm water
2/3 cup bread flour

The Rest of the Dry Ingredients:
4 cups unbleached white flour
1/4 cup rye flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup olive oil

Act 2: The Pizza Sauce

The sauce for our pizza is also very simple. A fast and tasty base for whatever wonderfully creative toppings we decide to go with later. This is an important point. If you’re going to top the pizza with lots of spicy and/or salty ingredients, your sauce better be fairly basic. Regardless, this quick, homemade sauce will destroy any canned grocery store sauce, as well as most pizzerias. By the way, I’m giving away an ancient family secret in this clip, so pay attention, my Grandmother is watching from pizza sauce heaven!

1 can whole peeled tomatoes (28 oz) “San Marzano” if possible!
3 cloves garlic
2 tbl olive oil
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt to taste
1/2 tsp dried Italian herb mix (basil, rosemary, thyme, marjoram, etc.)
1/2 tsp dried oregano
pinch sugar
small pinch baking soda (shhh)

Act 3: The Pizza

OK, so I’m not giving a list of ingredients for the finished pizza. You know what you like. But, here are a few key mistakes most people make when doing pizza at home. They put too much sauce. They put too much cheese. They put too many toppings and when they try to eat it, it all slides off on to the floor and all their left with is a wet piece of steaming bread. Don’t be that person. Watch me restrain myself and also watch how my pizza pie ends up being the shape of a heart. Wow, what a great Valentines gift idea for you guys out there…make your lady a heart shaped pizza! By the way, go to the local Bed, Bath and Beyond, or other kitchen wares store, and get one of the pizza pans with holes in it that I used in this clip. It really makes crispy crust a reality without the 70 pound pizza stone that you probably aren’t going to pull out of the bottom cupboard anyway.