Pizza from scratch- tried and true recipes?

[jenn-]

Friday is normally pizza night here.  This usually consists of pulling out a frozen pepperoni pizza from the deep freeze for the kids (DH and I don't partake).  Tonight I want to make one from scratch.  I have a bread machine, stand mixer, yeast, and flour- AP and whole wheat.  Do you have a go to recipe for pizza?  How about vegetarian ideas about what to throw on there?

[Caitilin]

I make the pizza dough recipe from the Joy of Cooking (if you want this, I can give it to you); the sauce I make from scratch by sautéing onions, garlic in olive oil, then adding some canned diced tomatoes, a can or two of tomato paste, a slosh of red wine or small slosh of balsamic vinegar, a spoonful of sugar, and all the Italianate veggies I can round up--mushrooms, peppers, eggplants, zucchinis, etc--and cooking down for a couple hours. If you have an immersion blender, you can partly purée it, if that's to your taste. I don't add extra veggies to the toppings because of all the stuff in the sauce.

[HollyDay]

http://www.food.com/recipe/easy-peezy-pizza-dough-bread-machine-pizza-dough-35805

This is my favorite pizza dough recipe

[Bug's Mom]

I use this recipe a lot. It's been known to happen twice in a week. I like it because the dough only sits for 5 minutes. I'm not always good at planning ahead. ;)  I make the dough and while it's sitting, I preheat the oven. After 5 minutes, I get the dough on the pan and add the toppings. Usually by the time I've got the pizzas ready, the oven is hot. 

 

A couple of things that I do differently from the recipe: I bake it at 450. I didn't like how it came out at 475...it's possible that my oven temp is not accurate. See what works for you. Also, I don't always have whole-wheat flour around, and just use all-purpose. I haven't tried using more whole-wheat/less all-purpose. 

 

Cheaper-than-Delivery Pizza

[Miss Tick]

Here's what I use from America's Test Kitchen:

Dough-

4 c. Flour (I use 2c. ww)

2 1/4 yeast

1 1/2 salt

2 T. Olive oil

1 1/2 c. warm water

 

Mix., rise 1 hour. Use or freeze. That makes 2 pizzas for us. Sometimes I double the recipe, then freeze, so I only need to "make" it once a month.

 

Sauce-

2 T. Olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1 28 oz can crushed tomatoes

Salt and pepper

 

Saute garlic in oil for 1 or 2 minutes. Add tomatoes. Gussy-up as desired. Plenty more than needed for one pizza. I freeze the rest in single servings.

[jenn-]

Thanks for the ideas.  I will definitely be adding some cooked veggies into the pizza sauce.  That was a great idea.  Yesterday I tried adding a raw onion to a lasagna and even an hour later it was crunchy. 

[MrsMommy]

Our favorite is homemade Chicago style pizza. I could eat just the crust and be happy!

[rwjx2khsmj]

Here is the recipe I use every Saturday night.

[Lara in Colo]

We love my veggie pizza:

 

yams( sweet pots)

zuccinni

carrots

eggplant

 

 

onions (sweet)

 

 

 

Use your vegetable peeler and make paper thin strips of the first part.  (long and thin and as wide as your peeler)

then cut thin pieces of the onion.

Toss in olive oil --  Roast in the oven until tender and sweet (low temp for about an hour stirring a couple of times)

 

I will make large batches of this and freeze, than make pizzas as I please.

 

Use either a tomato sauce or a garlic-cream cheese sauce (roasted garlic, parmasean and cream cheese)

add the roasted veggies and top with cheese (you can add tomato slices or spinach or basil at this point)

cook in a med high oven (375-400) for about a 1/2 hour (this is more determined by the dough recipe)

I use the thick crust recipe from the America's test kitchen.

 

 

 

[momma2three]

This is my very favorite pizza crust: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/matts-meat-lovers-pizza-recipe.  I'm not really a "meat lover" so I just do whatever toppings I feel like.

[Lady Marmalade]

Our favorite is homemade Chicago style pizza. I could eat just the crust and be happy!

 

Oh my gosh.  This looks amazing!  I tried making Chicago style pizza once- it seemed like the dough didn't bake all the way through, and it just wasn't as great as I'd hoped.  I'm going to try this soon!

[MrsMommy]

Oh my gosh.  This looks amazing!  I tried making Chicago style pizza once- it seemed like the dough didn't bake all the way through, and it just wasn't as great as I'd hoped.  I'm going to try this soon!

 

It is so good! And it's pretty foolproof. I've made the dough better occasionally (no idea how), but it's never been anything other than good at the worst. And it's pretty authentic, if I do say so myself! ;)

[fdrinca]

I like to make the lazy no-knead crust from the 5 minutes a day bread book. It's fine. We're not that discerning.

 

1 1/3 c water

3/4 T yeast

3/4 T salt

1/8 c olive oil

3 1/4 c flour

 

Mix it all together, let it sit all day (minimum 3 hours, I believe) then roll out.

 

You'll find that with the right tools homemade pizza is pretty forgiving. A pizza stone makes a lot of difference. A hot oven does too. I always cook mine on 500, even if it does sometimes char the parchment paper :)

 

[jenn-]

I ended up using this recipe for the dough.  I did end up subbing the flour to 1 cup whole wheat, 1 cup AP, and 1 cup bread.  I just used up the bottom of the 3 bags.  I lost momentum and just ended up putting some baby spinach/kale mix over the sauce and under the cheese.  Then I let the kids pick out their toppings.  The boys ended up with 2 cheese and 1 with jalapenos.  DH, DD, and I ended up topping with mushrooms, peppers, and olives.  It was all quite yummy.

[Sasharowan]

I have two recipes we use regularly. First makes a thick crust dough from the bread maker, although I have done it in the stand mixer too. The second is a thin dough that is supposed to make one 14", but I roll out thin enough to make 2 12" pies.

 

Thick:

1 1/8 cup water

4 cups bread flour

2 TB sugar

2 tsp salt

3 tsp active dry yeast

 

Put the machine on dough mode. after the cycle is over, take out the dough, split it in thirds, and slowly stretch the dough into circles. place the circles into 8" cake pans with about 1/8 cup of olive oil in them, turning to coat both sides. It will seem too oily, but the dough will soak it up and come out crispy. let rise for 1-2 hours or until dough is almost level with pan top. add sauce and toppings, bake at 500 for 10 min.

 

If using stand mixer: mix all ingredients until well mixed and kneaded, place in oiled bowl, turning to coat both sides, and cover. let rise for 1-2 hours until doubled in size. Then follow the machine directions from splitting the dough into thirds.

 

Thin dough:

3/4 cup warm water

1/2 tsp active dry yeast

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

 

IN your stand mixer, warm the bowl, then add warm water and yeast, mix for two min.  Add in flour and salt, mix til thoroughly mixed, then knead. either roll out the dough for a 12-14" pan, or split it and roll it out for 2 12" pans, depending on how thin you like your dough. Top and cook at 500 for 10 min.

 

Sauce:

saute some onions and garlic, diced or minced, in olive oil.

add a can of tomato sauce

a dash of oregano, basil, garlic, parsley, and red pepper

about 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

simmer until well blended, adding water as needed to keep it from getting too thick.

We usually simmer for 1/2 hr up to an hr.