Homemade Pizza

There is something truly special about homemade pizza. It tastes absolutely incredible and the entire process of making the pizza is so enjoyable and relaxing to me and I love looking down and seeing floured hand prints all over my jeans. Turn on some good music, pour a glass of wine, and really get into the spirit of pizza making. Let your imagination go wild when it comes to toppings but for me, nothing beats using fresh basil and fresh mozzarella and just a touch of sharp provolone. Make sure to use good quality cheese because many of the cheaper options are what tends to make the tops of pizza very greasy. Make this pizza recipe once and I can assure you you'll be taking your local pizza shop off of speed dial.

Pizza Dough
Two 1/4 ounces packages of dry active yeast
4 cups of Bread flour
1 tbsp of Kosher salt
1 teaspoon of dried Italian seasoning
1/4 cup of olive oil
1-1/3 cups of warm water

Pizza Sauce
Olive oil
One 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
3  tablespoons Tomato paste
1 medium sized onion (Chopped)
3 cloves of garlic
A pinch of crushed red pepper flakes
1 sprig of Fresh Oregano
4 Fresh Basil leaves (chopped)
1 teaspoon of sugar
Kosher Salt

Toppings
Fresh Basil leaves
two 8oz Fresh Mozzarella balls
1/4lb of good quality sharp provolone cheese 

To start we need to make our pizza dough. Measure out the warm water and add the yeast and the sugar. Mix gently and allow it to sit for a few minutes. Sift the flour into a large bowl along with the dried Italian seasoning and the salt. Form a well in the center of the flour and pour in the olive oil followed by the yeast and water mixture. Use a wooden spoon to mix the wet ingredients together while slowly adding the dry in bit by bit. When the dough begins to form, use your hands to mix until all the flour has begun to form.

Lightly flour a clean counter or table top and dump the dough out. Knead the dough for about 8 to 10 minutes until the round dough ball has become smoother. Grease and lightly flour your mixing bowl and place the dough ball back into the bowl. Drizzle a touch of olive oil over the top of the dough and spread around the surface of the dough ball . Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel and set in a warm place to rise. Allow the dough to sit until it has doubled in size, this should take about 1 hour.

While the dough rises, sweat the chopped onion in a drizzle of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Cook until the onion is translucent and tender. Add the chopped garlic, fresh oregano, and the crushed red pepper flakes and stir together for 1 minute. Next add the crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, sugar, and basil leaves. Stir together and allow the sauce to simmer. Season to taste.

Once the dough has doubled in size, punch down into the center of the dough ball to release the air. Dump the dough back onto the floured working surface. Cut the dough into fours so that you have four evenly sized pieces of pizza dough.

Preheat oven to 425 and heat a large cast iron or oven safe frying pan over medium heat with a drizzle of olive oil. Press the dough out to the size of  your skillet. Cooking the dough on the stove top for a few minutes before transferring to the oven is a great trick on getting a really beautiful crust on the bottom.

Cook the dough on the stove top until the bottom beings to turn crisp and golden brown. Spoon some of the pizza sauce over top of the dough and top with some of the fresh mozzarella and provolone and a handful of fresh basil leaves. Bake the pizza for about 7-10 minutes or until the crust of the pizza has turned golden and the cheese has melted. Use a spatula to remove the pizza from the skillet and transfer to a cutting board and garnish with an optional shaving of fresh parmesan cheese.. Slice the pizza and serve hot.