Pizza from Scratch

Submitted by TheLizard and HoChiWaWa

This weekend, HoChiWaWa and I decided to make pizza from scratch. This isn’t really a rare occurrence, but we decided to take pictures this time and share. We made two different pizzas; a sausage/smoked mozzarella/pesto pizza and a caramelized onion/blue cheese/thyme pizza. Of course, you can put whatever your little heart desires on them. Here’s how:

Ingredients

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Sauce

Sauce Ingredients

• 3 large cans (29 oz) of whole tomatoes (preferably San Marzano) are sufficient for ~6 16" pizzas
• ½ C red wine
• ½ a white onion, diced
• 2 TB EVOO (I totally just went there)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 ts oregano
• 1 ts basil
• 2 bay leaves
• Parmiggiano rind (if available)
• salt and pepper to taste

Sauce Method

1) Strain the tomatoes over a sauce pan, reserve the strained tomatoes.

2) Sweat onions and garlic in 2 TB olive oil

3) Add tomatoes and Parmiggiano rind to the onions and garlic, reserve

4) Add oregano, basil and bay leaves to the tomato water

5) Add wine to reserved tomato water and reduce by ½.

6) Add the tomato water to the reserved tomato mixture

7) Simmer 20-30 minutes

8) Remove the bay leaves and rind, and using a stick blender, blend until smooth.

Dough

Dough Ingredients

• 3-4 cups of flour (split about 2:1 white to whole wheat)
• 1 packet of yeast
• 1 ½ cups warm water
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1 teaspoon salt

Dough Method

1) Add your warm water and yeast to the mixer bowl to bloom for 1-2 minutes

2) Add 2 cups of flour (one of each whole wheat and white four) and salt. It should be thicker than a batter but not really dough.

3) “Wet Knead” the dough for 10 minutes, it may not look like much is going on, but gluten is being developed without putting a lot of strain on your mixer or walking it off of your counter.

4) Add white flour ¼-½ a cup at a time while kneading until its climbing out of the bowl but is still slightly tacky.

5) Coat the dough in oil and cover with a warm damn cloth to rise.

6) Divide into 2 rounds.

7) Roll each ball out on a floured bench.

Pizza 1, Sausage, Smoked Mozzarella, Pesto

Pizza 1 Ingredients

• 2 large sausages (Ours were Spicy Italian Pork from Whole Foods)
• 1 ball smoked mozzarella
• 3 TB pesto
• ½ C marinara
• ½ C shredded Parmiggiano Reggiano

Pizza 1 Method

1) De-case and brown your sausage. The sausage we used was very lean so there wasn’t much to drain off, but if you use a fattier sausage make sure you drain it.

2) Spread a thin layer of pesto on your crust.

3) Top with a layer of your home made marinara.

4) Slice your apple wood smoked mozzarella and place strategically.

5) Spread your browned sausage over the pizza.

6) Top with a nice layer of Parmiggiano Reggiano.

7) Bake at 450 degrees for 15-17 minutes. Watch it though, I know my oven runs cold so it might take less time in yours.

Pizza 2, Caramelized Onion, Bleu Cheese, and Thyme

Pizza 2 Ingredients

• 1/3 C blue cheese, crumbled
• 1/2 a large onion, chopped
• 2 TB balsamic vinegar
• 1 TB dried thyme (2 TB fresh)
• 1/2 C Parmiggiano Reggiano

Pizza 2 Method

1) Start your onions caramelizing in a heavy sauté pan with butter and olive oil. 2) Once they are softened add two tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, allow them to start to take on some color but remove them before they are fully caramelized so they don’t burn in the oven.

3) Crumble your cheese and spread it out over the pizza, we are using a very pungent raw milk bleu cheese acquired from Whole Foods.

4) Spread your onions over the pizza.

5) Sprinkle with thyme.

6) Cover with Parmiggiano Reggiano.

7) Bake at 450 degrees for 15-17 minutes. Same deal as above.

Finished Products

And because I know people don’t read the steps and just scroll to the bottom of the money shots, here you go: