Homemade Pizza from Scratch Part Two

OK, let's put this pie together and get it in the oven. Preheat your oven to 525º.

The dough has risen nicely and should be very flavorful!  

OK, so the dough has risen and risen again and we have some nice chunky homemade pizza sauce. In the meantime we have prepared our toppings. What toppings? Well, whatever the hell you want. I'm kind of a traditionalist in that I like stuff like pepperoni, onions  olives and  maybe bell  peppers.  Really  though  be as creative as you want.  If  foi gras  and ahi tuna pizza sounds good to you, go for it!

                                              MMM...Sauce! 

One of the best ways to make pizza is with a pizza stone. The "stone" retains lots of heat and bakes the crust nice and crispy. Unfortunately I don't have one.  I just use a pizza pan. I've had mine for as long as I can remember. you can see it's so well seasoned it's almost black. What I have done here is spray it with some release spray and sprinkle it with some corn meal. Now I'm ready to spread the dough. 

 Ready for dough! 

OK, since we made a wet, sticky dough for a crispy crust, slapping it out or tossing it is out of the question. Just dump that dough on the pizza pan and spread it out with your finger tips. Try to keep the thickness even. If you tear a hole in it, don't worry, just tear a piece of the edge and "patch" it. 

Easy does it!

Once you have the dough spread out evenly then are ready to add your sauce. Use the back of a spoon to spread it out evenly. 

 

Saucing it up!  

Once the sauce is spread out you are ready to top your pizza. First is cheese. What cheese? Once again, use any cheese you want to. I like good ol' shredded mozzarella. If you want to get fancy and add other cheeses try Parmesan, Romano, Pecorino, Asiago... etc. Yes, the Italian ones. 

After  cheese add your meats, a little more cheese and veggies last. That way the veggies will cook and the moisture in them will evaporate and not make the pizza soggy. Things like onions, peppers and mushrooms should always go on top. 

 

Topped and ready for the oven 

In the meantime we have pre-heated the oven to 525º. Yes, crank that sucker up ALL THE WAY. Put the pizza in on the center rack. Bake for about 8 minutes. Since I don't have a pizza stone I have a trick for getting the crust nice and crispy. About 2/3 of the way through cooking grab the pan ( with good oven mits, of course!) and shake it a little. The pizza should slide around freely. Now just slide the pie off the pan and onto the center rack nad finish baking. When it's done slide it back onto the pan using a fork and take it out. 

Pizza! Let's eat!!

Let it cool a few minutes, slice and enjoy with a nice red wine or a good lager or ale. See? It's easy! Yes it takes some time but it's worth it. Too much trouble? well you can always call Pizza Slut!