Pizza. The ultimate unifying food between picky eaters, friend groups, and families with kids. While delivery or takeout is its own kind of satisfying, I promise that making pizza yourself at home totally beats ordering out! If you haven’t tried it, what are you waiting for?! You only need DOUGH and TOPPINGS!
Dough:
My absolute favorite is Roberta’s Pizza Dough recipe from NYT Cooking. It uses 00 flour, an ultra-fine flour that makes the dough super light. There are LOTS of other recipes for pizza dough out there, and you can always buy a ball of dough from a local pizzaria or the grocery store! Be sure to stretch it out using floured hands, never roll it with a rolling pin, in order to get those nice bubbles and a hand-stretched texture.
For the love of CHEESE:
Fresh mozzarella (the kind that comes as a big soft block) is my FAV thinly sliced or torn, but the shredded kind in a bag is good too. I also love adding some goat cheese in addition to the mozz if I’m feelin it! Top it with parmesan before it hits the oven.
Sauce & Toppings:
Here’s where you can really make pizza night your own using ingredients you love. It’s easy to make your own tomato sauce, but I still use prepared sauce because it’s ready when I need it! I love Don Pepino’s or Rao’s Pizza Sauce.
Instead of red sauce, you can go basil vinaigrette, pesto, roasted garlic blended with oil, etc.
Caramelized onions. Roasted veggies (BEETS/potatoes/squash/corn). Chorizo, pepperoni, sausage, or bacon if that’s your thing. Oregano and/or crushed red pepper on top.
Always add fresh basil after it comes out of the oven if you’ve got it!
Hungry yet? Here’s a Margherita Pizza to get you started! Also be sure to check out my Roasted Beet and Goat Cheese Pizza too!
Margherita Pizza
Equipment
- Parchment paper
- Half-sheet pan or metal pizza pan (see notes below)
Ingredients
- 1 portion pizza dough, stretched to 8-10 inches
- 2-3 tbsp tomato/pizza sauce
- 2 oz fresh mozzarella, torn
- 3-4 whole basil leaves
Instructions
- Preheat oven with metal pan inside to 500 degrees for at least 30 minutes- 1 hr.
- Stretch dough by hand to 8-10 inches (thin but careful not to tear it) on a piece of parchment paper. Top with 2 tbsp or so pizza sauce, swirling with a spoon. Tear fresh mozzarella and place evenly across the pizza.
- Carefully, remove the hot pan from the oven and slide the parchment with prepared pizza directly onto the pan. Bake 8 or so minutes or until crust and cheese are bubbling.
- Allow pizza to rest 1 minute before topping with fresh basil leaves. Slice and enjoy.