Last night my boyfriend and I made homemade pizzas for dinner. Our friend Tim shared with us his recipe he used to proudly make for his family when he was younger. I have made pizza dough from scratch in the past, but found it not worth my time and resorted to buying pre-made pizza dough from Trader Joe’s. The other night Tim and our friend Katie made this pizza and it looked delicious so I decided it might be fun to give the recipe a try. We tried it for the first time last week and the pizza turned out good, but not great. In an effort to not give up on this recipe, we decided to give it another chance. This time I realized the error of our ways when I asked my boyfriend if he kneaded the dough. This question was brought with a puzzled look and I quickly understood why the dough the previous round was only so-so. By not kneading the dough we had not developed the gluten, which made for a tougher crust. This time after kneading the dough, the crust was light, fluffy, and delicious! For this particular dinner we decided to make two pizzas and double the recipe, since the recipe produces rather small sized pies.

For one pizza we decided to top it with pesto sauce, green peppers, Portobello mushrooms, tomatoes, and mozzarella cheese.

For the second pizza I roasted some garlic and spread it first on the prepared dough. Then I topped it with a drizzle of olive oil, sautéed potatoes with shallots and rosemary, goat cheese, and some Portobello mushrooms.

This pizza is so good that I’d like to make it a weekly tradition! Now I understand why Tim made this so proudly for his family and has dubbed it “Pizza Wow!”

Pizza Wow!

Tim (Serves two)
2 cups flour (I used whole wheat white flour)
1 ½ tsp. sugar
2 tsp. salt
1 cup hot water
2 tbs. olive oil
1 tbs. (or 1 packet) yeast 

Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Combine hot water (the temperature of hot tap water) and oil, stirring. Add additional flour and continue stirring until stirring becomes difficult.

Remove dough from the bowl and knead with your hands, adding flour until the dough is no longer sticky. Shape the dough into a ball and return to the bowl. Cover it with a dishtowel and let sit for 45-60 minutes.

Cover a large cutting board with cornmeal. Place the dough ball in the center and gently spread outward in a circle by pushing down on the dough. Continue until you achieve your desired shape and crust.

Place a large pizza slab in the oven on the center rack and preheat to 400.

Top off the pizza with your desired sauce, toppings and cheese. Toppings high in moisture (tomatoes, canned mushrooms, etc.) should be used sparingly. Slide the pizza off the cutting board and onto the pizza slab in the oven. Cook for 15-17 minutes or until the cheese is a golden brown and the crust is firm.