I used to have a love/hate relationship with pizza. Sometimes I would pretend like I didn’t love it as much as I did, but then I’d be somewhere, out with friends, and we’d order one to share. It would come with delicious toppings like spicy salami and mushrooms. The cheese would be blistered just right, and the crust would be the perfect amount of chewiness and crispiness. And the love affair would start.
To try to deal with my tumultuous relationship with pizza I have tried making it at home, each time trying to find a healthier yet simpler recipe. Increase the fibre in the crust, decrease the amount of cheese, and add just the right amount of toppings…it’s a lot harder than it sounds. I have made pizza that had to sit for two days in the fridge, another recipe that required sitting in the dark for two days. One recipe had to sit on the counter for one day and in the fridge for another.
“Keep it simple” in my opinion, is the best approach to pizza. The best recipe I have come across, in both amount of time it takes to prepare and taste is one that my sister introduced to me. I tweaked it, making it more nutritious than it originally was meant to be. But the taste of the pizza when it comes out of the oven will make you fall in love. And this pizza dough doesn’t have to sit at all!
Don’t be scared to make your own pizza. I promise you that once you make it you too will be hooked. After realizing how easy and delicious it is to make homemade pizza you will make it all the time like I do. You will invite people over for pizza night, make it for your children’s lunches, and serve it for a weeknight dinner the whole family will enjoy without putting up a fight.
I played around with the whole wheat to white flour ratio and surprisingly liked the one with the most whole wheat the best. I even added ground flax to the dough and found it to be a tasty addition. I promise no one in your family will notice the extra fibre content.
Feel free to add whatever toppings you like. Lately I have been obsessed with the spicy salami/mushroom combination, but anything works, even only tomato sauce and cheese.
Pizza and I are now on good terms. It no longer taunts me with its delicious combination of gooey, saucy and crispy. When I want it, I make it. If anything, I’m the one calling shots.
Ingredients:
If you have a pizza stone, place it in the oven and preheat at 500 F for 1 hour. If you do not have a pizza stone preheat your oven to 500 F for 10 minutes.
Stir yeast into very warm water and let sit for at least ten minutes until water looks milky.
Add flours, ground flax and salt to the bowl of a stand mixer. Once yeast/water mixture has sat for at least ten minutes, add it to the flour mixture. Using the dough hook, mix flour and yeast mixture on low for 5 minutes.
Place dough on a piece of parchment paper lightly sprinkled with flour. Kneed dough with your knuckles and palms of your hand to a shape that roughly looks like a circle, or any shape you want your pizza. If you have a rolling pin feel free to use it to make the pizza even thinner.
Spread tomato sauce over entire surface of pizza dough. Sprinkle cheese evenly over tomato sauce and top with remaining toppings.
Carefully, place pizza with the parchment paper on the pizza stone. If you are not using a pizza stone place pizza with the parchment paper on a baking sheet that will fit the shape of your pizza. I find using a giant spatula very helpful for this step.
If using a pizza stone bake pizza for 12-15 minutes, or until cheese is lightly blistered and crust looks crispy. If you are not using a pizza stone bake for 15 minutes, or until cheese is lightly blistered and crust looks crispy.
Once pizza looks done, carefully remove pizza from oven and let sit for 2 minutes for cheese to settle. Slice up evenly and enjoy.
Makes 1 approximately 12" (depending on how thin you roll it out) pizza
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