Homemade, homestyle pizza

I had a craving for pizza for a while, but since I'd been in quarantine for a while, the idea of ordering pizza simply wasn't doing it for me. I needed to get into the kitchen, get flour all over my clothes and counters, and make pizza the way my mom has made it for years: from scratch. My friend came over, we opened a bottle of wine, and got to work proving stereotypes about college diets aren't always true.

This method has two steps, so if you're going to go all the way, you need to block out plenty of time to prep everything, or else you'll end up eating at 9 o'clock at night and you won't have time to enjoy your creation. If you're going to put the effort in, make sure you have time to savor it!

First step is to make the pizza dough and let it rise. Start this at least two hours before you want to roll the dough out and bake the pizza in the oven. I'm using Patricia Wells' Trattoria pizza/bread dough recipe. It's always worked well for my family, so it's what I rely on. (Also, it makes enough dough for two pizzas, so I'm guaranteed to have my craving fulfilled!)

Start out by whisking sugar, lukewarm water, and yeast together, then let it sit for about five minutes and get foamy and bubbly.

I know I always write about this, but make sure the water is warm, but not too hot. Find the Goldilocks temperature by holding the measuring cup against your wrist: It should feel warmer than your skin, but comfortable. If it hurts, the water is too hot and will kill the yeast. (Also, you can use a candy thermometer to get the water to around 115F. I've definitely done this before.)

When the yeast is bubbling and smells bad, add the salt and olive oil to make lava lamp patterns.

At this point I put the dough hook on my mixer and started adding flour a half cup at a time. (I used whole wheat flour for a third of the flour to give the dough a bit of texture.) Make sure you scrape down the sides and the bottom with a spatula so all the flour is mixed in.

When the dough is no longer sticking to the sides of the bowl and forms a ball (about 3 to 3.5 cups of flour later), pull it out of the bowl and knead it for about 5 minutes on a floured surface until it's smooth and doesn't stick to your hands too much.

Roll the dough into a ball, plop it in a bowl, cover it with plastic wrap or a towel, and let it rise. If you're in a rush, place it somewhere warm — I like putting it in the laundry closet if someone's running the dryer. At home, my mom would put the dough in the oven, but this only works if you have a gas oven that holds heat. It doesn't work in electric ovens, and you might kill the yeast.

When the dough has doubled in size, it's ready. This usually takes about two hours, but if it's very cold in your kitchen, it can take longer. (As a side note, if you want to make pizza the next day, let the dough rise in the refrigerator and it will take about a day to rise.)

While my dough was rising, I started making the tomato sauce. Cans of diced tomatoes in olive oil and garlic had been lurking in my pantry for far too long, so I took those and dumped them in a pot and simmered to reduce it to the consistency of sauce.

If I had plain diced tomatoes, I probably would have browned some garlic in olive oil first, then added the tomatoes, along with whatever seasonings I was digging at the moment. And next time I make sauce from scratch, I'm going to put the tomatoes through a food processor first: The sauce was very chunky and would have been better chopped up a bit.

The sauce simmered for about a half an hour on very low heat (we could've cranked it up if we were in a  hurry), and when it was looking much thicker we rolled out our first pizza. Here's the awesome part about making your own pizza: You can choose how thick you want the crust. Some people like a thin, cracker-like crust, some people like a thick crust. All you have to do is roll the dough out more or less. A warning: thicker crust means a smaller pizza overall. And if you want a very thin crust, be careful not to overload the pizza with toppings or make the pizza bigger than your cookie sheet!

Much better.

Our first pizza was a bit of a test run, so we just put sauce and mozzarella on top. We cooked it on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and it turned out great.

Encouraged by our results, we got a bit bolder with our second pizza, adding roughly chopped basil under the cheese and asiago to the mozzarella.

This also made the kitchen smell like basil. Now, some people will put entire leaves of basil on top of their pizzas, and that's fine, but if you chop up the basil, it releases some oils and the basil scent lingers. That's what I'm talkin' about, baby.

We baked the pizzas one at a time, but they can be done together. We only staggered them so we could gnaw on one while waiting for the second (I'm a terribly impatient person).

This is the only artsy shot I took.

Like I said, I'm impatient! Especially where pizza is concerned.

And there you have it! We went the simple route, but the beauty of making your own pizza is you can also add your own toppings. My mom loves putting sliced red onion on, my dad and brother love spicy pepperoni, my friend likes artichokes or roasted red bell pepper, and I even know some people who don't like sauce, so they eat their pizza with just cheese and toppings.

I definitely recommend the basil and asiago combo: Together they add a bit of a bite and some tanginess to the sweetness of the mozzarella. But you certainly don't have to take my word for it! Here's the recipe so you can experiment with your own toppings. Enjoy!

Pizza dough
Ingredients:
1 teaspoon dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
1.5 cups lukewarm water
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
about 3.75 cups flour

To make:
1. In a large bowl, combine yeast, sugar, and water. Stir to blend and let it sit until foamy (about five minutes).
2. Stir in oil and salt.
3. Add the flour a little at a time, stirring until most of the flour has been absorbed and the dough forms a ball.
4. Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead until soft and satiny but still firm. This will take about 5 minutes of kneading. Add extra flour to keep the dough from sticking to the surface or your hands.
5. Transfer the dough to a bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and let it rise until it doubles in size.
6. Preheat oven to 500F.
7. Split dough in half, and roll it out into a circle. Put the dough on a cookie sheet.
8. Add sauce and toppings, but don't get too close to the edge or the toppings will spill over while baking.
9. Bake until dough is crisp and golden; 10 to 15 minutes.
10. Take pizza out of the oven, transfer to cutting board, slice, serve, and enjoy.