Lead Me: The EASIEST Homemade Pizza EVER!

***Originally posted on cregarstyle on November 26, 2014***

Making pizza from scratch is something that we do every couple weeks at the Cregar House. I used to be so overwhelmed by the idea of making pizza from nothing, but this summer I found the greatest recipe in the Daniel Plan Cookbook and I have altered it a little to best fit our family.

Here is the cookbook if you want to look into it. It has some fantastic recipes!

The greatest part about this recipe, besides that it is super easy, is that it can be altered to satisfy your tastes, read on to find out how. Now I used my kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook for this recipe, but you definitely DO NOT NEED ONE! I just like to use mine because I have it and its fun to use. I swear I am constantly looking for excuses to use mine...I even make brownies in it!

Isn't she BEAUTIFUL?!?!?!?!?!

The following recipe makes approximately one, 12" pizza crust...although mine are never the same size or shape twice.

Ingredients: Dough

2 cups flour of your choice (gluten free, whole wheat, all purpose, etc)

1 pkg active dry yeast (or 1 Tbsp if you have a jar of yeast instead of packets)

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup warm water (105-115º)

1 Tbsp olive oil

Ingredients: Pizza Topping

1 jar pizza sauce

shredded mozzarella cheese

toppings of your choice

Directions:

Combine all ingredients in mixing bowl (or kitchenaid mixer). This is where you can add things like rosemary, honey, garlic, parmesan cheese, or whatever your heart desires. I usually add garlic powder to my dough, although rosemary olive oil dough is super delicious as well. Using hands, or dough hook, knead until it becomes doughy and evenly mixed. Once the ingredients begin to take shape you will probably want to take the dough out of the bowl and knead it on the counter. You want to make sure the dough is bouncy in consistency but not so wet that it sticks to your hands. You can adjust your flour as you go. Don't think you need to knead it for very long. I set my mixer on a medium-low setting and let it go until its combined then remove it from the bowl and do a couple good passes at hand kneading.

After you have kneaded the dough on the counter roll it into a ball. I wash my mixing bowl out and then coat it in olive oil. Place your dough ball in the oiled bowl and set it to rise for a couple hours. My original Daniel Plan recipe calls for me to cover the bowl with plastic wrap but I usually use a warm damp towel and place it a warm place. Since we live in Texas I usually place it in the sun, but as it is winter now I like to warm my oven up to like 125º or 150º and put it in there. I have left it uncovered before and its been fine, but it tends to get hard/crusty on the exposed side which doesn't matter too much, but the consistency is more even if you cover it.

As a general rule your dough should double but don't beat yourself up if it doesn't exactly double. Your goal is to have fluffy dough so as long as it is significantly larger than before you will be ok. The same goes if your dough has more than doubled. You will probably just have a fluffier dough or maybe a larger pizza. After the dough has risen, preheat your oven to 450º. Coat your pizza stone (or whatever cooking sheet you will be using to bake your pizza) in flour and set to the side.

Knead your dough out on a floured surface and begin to flatten it out and form your shape. My pizzas are never perfectly circular because sometimes I roll them out unevenly. The shape of your pizza truly doesn't matter as long as it fits your baking sheet. Remember when you are rolling out and shaping your crust to regularly flip your dough so it doesn't get stuck to your counter and ruin all your had work. Flour is your friend. I like my crust to be thicker. Think "original crust" not deep dish. So I like to leave the edges of my dough a tiny bit thicker than the center of my pizza. I don't fold my dough over to form the crust because it doesn't cook the way I want it to, but that doesn't mean that you won't like it.

To transfer my crust to the pizza stone I use a trick my friend Jess told me about. She told me to fold my crust into quarters so I only have to move one small piece of the pie and then unfold it when I get to the pizza stone. It has worked like a charm for me and I will continue to use that trick.

Next is the fun part! Grab your favorite pizza sauce, cheese, and toppings! Time to "dress" your pizza however you want. I have been debating brushing some melted butter on the crust before putting it in the oven, but I will have to wait until next time to try that. After you have your pizza just the way you want it pop it in the oven. Ours typically takes 10 minutes on a pizza stone, but depending on your oven, the thickness of your crust, and type of cooking sheet your time could be less or more. I would recommend setting your timer to 8 minutes the first time and checking it. You will know its done when your cheese is bubbling and the bottom of your pizza crust has a hard shell on it. I use a spatula to lift up the edge of my pizza while its in the oven and look to see if it is firm or soft. If it is firm pop it out of the oven and let it sit for about 5 minutes to allow the cheese to gel before your slice it.