PIZZA: Because Sometimes You Are Sick of Eating Fish

Making pizza at home is very easy, and its fun.  When you are too tired to wake-up, or the conditions suck, you can cook and eat when you would have been fishing.  It tastes better than all frozen pizza, any delivery, and once you get the hang of it, its better than most restaurants locally.  The recipe I use makes for 2 pies.  I often like to do one for dinner, and make the other one for breakfast.  If you haven’t had breakfast pizza, START MAKING THE DOUGH NOW, YOU NEED BREAKFAST PIZZA IN YOUR LIFE!

Dough:

• 4-5 cups of flour (Some is for the board and backup)
  • Bread flour will give you a crispier crust, all purose=chewier
    • I love them both and use what I have
• 1 1/2 Cups warm/hot water
• Olive oil (about 3 TBSP)
• 1 Packet of Rapid Rise Instant Yeast
• 1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
• 1/4 cup corn meal

Toppings

You can top the pizza with anything imaginable.  At the very least I use

• 1 jar of homemade or store bought tomato sauce
• 1 large bag of mozzarella cheese (I have made cheese-less pizzas and used Gouda Cheese instead, both came out great.  Fresh mozzarella that comes in balls is even better, just cut thin slices)

I like using some or all:

• Garlic/ Roasted Garlic
• Fresh Basil
• Sausage
• Parmesan Cheese
• Bacon
• Onion
• Peppers
• Fresh Sliced Tomatoes
• Spinach
• Egg (for breakfast)

I add my yeast to the hot water. Combine the water yeast mixture, 3 1/2 cups of flour, 2 tbsp olive oil, and salt in in a MixMaster with the hook attachment that you probably seldom if ever use.  If you do not have a MixMaster, your hands and a fork will do just fine.  Let the hook do its work until you get a ball (or a big clump all stuck together).  Transfer to a floured surface when the dough comes together enough to work with.  If you are using a bowl and your hands, whenever the dough starts to come together in a few big pieces, you can turn it out of the bowl.

Next, kneed the dough until it forms a stretchy, but not sticky consistency, almost like rubber.  If it is too wet, and sticking to the counter and your hands, add flour a little at a time,  if it is too dry, add another tbsp of olive oil.  After kneading for about four or five minutes (until you are tired of kneading) form the dough into a ball by turning the sides around and underneath.  Brush a large bowl with olive oil, and put your dough ball in it.  Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for at least an hour.  The longer you leave it, the more flavor will develop. After an hour or so, take the dough out onto a floured surface and punch the air out of it.  Divide it into two equal balls. Cover the dough to rest for ten more minutes.  Refrigerate the dough you are saving for the next day. Personally, I think the dough comes out best when it is left to rest for several hours or overnight, but I always eat one after a couple hours because I can’t plan when I want to eat pizza a full day in advance.

Heat your oven to as hot as you are comfortable.  It should be at least 425 or 450 degrees.  Take one of the dough balls and start to stretch it evenly, pulling gently around the edges and rotating it so the force of gravity is pulling the bottom part down.  You can use a floured rolling pin to get the dough as thin as possible.  I have heard pizza experts say rolling the dough kills it, but I am not good enough at tossing pies yet to throw away the pin.

I put some corn meal on the tray I am going to use, and after I have stretched my dough, I roll it on the tray to get it as thin as possible given the dimensions I have to work with. Putting the dough right on a pizza stone would be ideal, but at this point I don’t have one.  I then pinch around the dough to make an edge for the crust.

First put the sauce down in a thin even layer.  Too much sauce leads to mushy crust.  Then an even layer of cheese. Add all other topping.  Lastly I add Parmesan cheese, fresh basil, and garlic.  I also brush the crust with olive oil to ensure a good browning.

Put it in the oven.  After about 10 minutes, or when all the cheese is melted, and the crust is brown, take it out and let it cool for at least a minute and feast!

Now, for the coveted breakfast pizza, right before you add the pizza to the oven, and after all the toppings have been added, crack about 4 or 5 eggs into ramekins, making sure to keep the yolks in tact and shells out. Add some pieces of bacon to the pizza so you get the full experience.  I like to cut it into small pieces so I get some in every bite, but I could understand if you use whole strips or cut strips into quarters if you are a bacon addict.  Carefully tilt the eggs onto your pizza making sure to keep the yolks in tact.  I like taking my pizza out when the eggs are fully cooked, but the yolks are still runny. This way, when you go to eat, the yolk runs, melding with the other flavors to create a culinary explosion.  I implore you to attempt breakfast pizza perfection.