Homemade Pizza, Always the Best!

Prep. and cook time: 1h15 hr

Ingredients for the pizza dough

• 1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) of acive dry yeast
• 1 cup of warm water
  
• 2 1/4 to 2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour (or bread flour)
  
• 2 tablepoons olive oil
  
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
  

Directions

1. In a small bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand until creamy, about 5 minutes.
2. In a large bowl, combine 2 1/4 cups flour, olive oil, salt, white sugar and the yeast mixture; stir well to combine.
   
3. Knead with hands until a stiff dough has formed. If the dough is too sticky, add a little bit of flour. The dough should be slightly sticky, but not to the point where it sticks to the hands.
   
4. Cover and rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
5. Turn dough out onto a well floured surface. Form dough into a round and roll out into a pizza crust shape. Place dough on baking sheet and cover with your favorite sauce and toppings and bake in preheated oven until golden brown, about 30-35 minutes.

Ingredients for the pizza topping

• 1/2 can of Unico pizza sauce (homemade is better)
  
• 350g Capicollo
• sliced red onions
  
• sundried tomatoes
• 1/2 green pepper
• goat cheese
• About 1 cup of mozzarella cheese
• fresh basil leaves
• olive oil
• dried oregano
• dried rosemary

Directions

1. When the pizza dough is rolled out onto a baking sheet, spread 1/2 can of pizza tomato sauce, leaving about 2 cm around the edges to form a nice crust.
2. Add toppings of choice onto the tomato sauce (first the meat, then the onions, green peppers, sundried tomaotes, goat cheese, mozzarella, olive oil, oregano, rosemary). Only add the basil 5 minutes before the pizza is cooked, or else it will burn.
3. Cook pizza on middle rack for about 35 minutes, or until crust is golden-brown and the center is cooked.

Note: the pizza might appear cooked but the center could still be soggy. If this happens, simply place pizza on the lowest oven rack and bake at 400 degrees F for about 5 more minutes, always making sure the crust does not burn.

To see original pizza dough recipe, click here