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Basic Do-it-yourself Pizza

Fri, 06/15/2007 - 11:02pm — Coyote
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Summary

Yield
Source

Coyote

Prep Time30 minutes
Recipe KeywordsPizza

Description

Pizza made from fresh, raw dough from your local store bakery is delicious, easy, and inexpensive. Before spending a lot of money on pizza delivery, or on those preserved, bagged, plastic-flavored ready-made pizza crusts, check with you local grocery store bakeries, to see if they carry ready-made pizza dough. If you have an actual stand-alone bakery in your area, try them as well. At the time of this writing, enough dough to make one large pizza costs about 2 USD.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb Pizza dough (raw)
  • 12 oz Pizza sauce
  • 1/2 Medium Onion
  • 2 clv Garlic
  • 4 T Virgin Olive Oil
  • 4 Fresh Basil Leaves
  • 1/2 lb Mozzarella Cheese, Shredded
  • 1 Tomato, medium-sized
  • taste Red Pepper
  • taste Herbs de Provence (Optional)

Instructions

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.

Slice the tomato into thin slices.

Chop the onion and mince the garlic, and add it to a saucepan with a small amount of olive oil. Saute the onion and garlic until golden.

Oil a large pizza pan or pizza stone with more olive oil.

Carefully spread the dough out onto the oiled pan, pressing from the center outward. If you feel expert, you may try tossing the ball of pizza dough up into the air, spinning it, to expand it into a wider, flatter shape, but this is normally a skill reserved for show-offs and professional cooks, and is likely to result in a ceiling or floor-flavored pizza. It is easier to simply press the dough with your hands until it is the desired size and thickness.

Drizzle a small amount of olive oil over crust, spreading evenly to cover it.

Press with your fingers around the perimeter of the pizza dough, to make a slight ridge to trap sauce and other ingredients.

Spread the pizza sauce evenly on the surface of the pizza crust. Sprinkle approximately half the cheese on top of the sauce.

Place the tomato slices evenly and attractively around the surface of the cheese and sauce. Sprinkle red pepper and Herbs de Provence, if desired over surface.

Roll up basil leaves and pinch them between your fingers to "bruise" them. Tear them into small bits, and sprinkle them around the pizza.

If you have other ingredients to add to the pizza (cooked meat or fresh vegetables, cheeses, or other toppings), add them now.

Cover ingredients with the remaining cheese. You may wish to leave tomato slices showing, rather than covering completely with cheese.

Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until crust is golden brown.

Prep time, 10-15 minutes. Cook time, 15-20 minutes.

Notes

For the crust, you will want a pound of fresh, properly-risen pizza dough. You may generally obtain this at your local bakery, including many regular grocery-store bakeries. You are more than able to use your own recipe for pizza dough, but this is beyond the scope of this recipe. If you are using ready-made, refrigerated pizza dough, make sure to leave it out on the counter to warm to room temperature before preparing.

This recipe is intended to make a plain, basic cheese and tomato pizza. While that will be tasty enough for those who enjoy plain pizza (you will wonder why you ever bothered to order pizza or use ready-made pizzas), you should feel free to experiment with other toppings and ingredients.

Obviously, you can substitute dried herbs for fresh, but if you have fresh, use them, trust me.

Some suggestions for other toppings are, olives, sun-dried tomatoes, artichoke hearts, feta cheese, ground sausage, cooked hamburger, pine nuts, ham and pineapple, or just about anything you can think of. Our household's personal favorite is to use chunks of herb-sauteed chicken (which is easy to make, and can be completed while waiting for the oven to preheat).