Making Your Own Pizza Dough
Whisk 3 3/4 cups flour and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt. Make a well and add 1 1/3 cups warm water, 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 packet yeast. When foamy, mix in 3 tablespoons olive oil; knead until smooth, 5 minutes. Brush with olive oil, cover in a bowl and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour 30 minutes. Divide into two 1-pound balls. Use 1 pound per recipe unless noted.
Cooking Dough
Place pizza stone or an inverted baking sheet on the lowest oven rack and preheat to 500 degrees.
Stretch 1 pound dough on a floured pizza peel, large wooden cutting board or parchment paper.
Top as desired, then slide the pizza (with the parchment paper, if using) onto the stone or baking sheet. Bake until golden, about 15 minutes.
NOTE: As usual, Chef does not make it homemade. You may purchase pre-made dough. It works just as well in my opinion, but that is how I fly.
Margherita Pizza
Stretch dough into two thin 9-inch rounds. Top each with 1/2 cup crushed San Marzano tomatoes, dried oregano, salt, pepper and olive oil; bake until golden. Sprinkle with 1/2 pound diced mozzarella, torn basil and salt. Bake until the cheese melts, then drizzle with olive oil.
Make Margherita Pizzas (above) without mozzarella or basil. Use extra oregano.
Quattro Stagioni
Make Margherita Pizzas, but before adding cheese, top with olives, artichoke hearts, ham and sauteed mushrooms in 4 sections.
Puttanesca
Make Margherita Pizzas, chop 1 garlic clove, 6 anchovies, 1 tablespoon capers,1/4 cup olives and some parsley and scatter over the tomatoes before baking.
Roasted Pepper
Make Margherita Pizzas add roasted pepper strips and red pepper flakes with the cheese.
New York-Style
Press dough into an oiled 15-inch pizza pan. Drizzle with olive oil, then top with 1/2 cup tomato sauce and 2 cups shredded mozzarella. Bake, then garnish with pecorino, dried oregano and olive oil.
Pepperoni-Mushroom
Make New York-Style Pizza (above); top with sauteed mushrooms and sliced pepperoni before baking.
Sausage-Broccoli Rabe
Make New York-Style Pizza (Bocconcini are Italian cheese balls about the size of cherry tomatoes. They taste similar to mozzarella cheese, since they are actually a fresh variety of it. Some supermarkets have them in plastic tubs filled with liquid containing whey and/or water. with only 1 1/2 cups mozzarella)Add 2 crumbled raw sausages. Bake until just crisp, then top with 4 ounces bocconcini, sauteed broccoli rabe and jarred cherry peppers. Bake until the cheese melts.
Stuffed Crust
Make New York-Style Pizza but before topping, place 8 string-cheese sticks along the edge and fold the dough over. Brush stuffed crust with olive oil and sprinkle with dried oregano.
Meatball
Press dough into an oiled 15-inch pizza pan. Top with olive oil, 1/2 cup tomato sauce and 6 ounces sliced fresh mozzarella. Bake until just crisp, then top with sliced cooked meatballs, pecorino(Pecorino is the name of a family of hard Italian cheeses made from ewe's milk), basil and olive oil and bake until browned.
NOTE: you can not find pecorino or bocconcini cheese around here. You could substitute sharp cheese for pecorino or mozzarella for bocconcini. Either way, a variety of different cheeses makes for a different taste every time. You might want to try goat cheese, or even Swiss. I don't care for either, but then everyone has different tastes. Experiment. Even hot dogs on top work.