Friday Night Homemade Pizza

I may not be the prettiest, but you know I am delicious!

This is the basic homemade pizza dough and sauce I use most frequently.  I actually prefer a less pizza house-y type of sauce, but this one is great and has the added bonus that my children and husband prefer it, so we go for the win with 4/4 likes.  Feel free to half this recipe as it makes two large half sheet pan sized pizzas.  We never make less than 2 because no leftover pizza makes us sad.  I tend to cut each pizza into 12 generously sized squares.

Print

Pizza Dough

This is essentially Smitten Kitchen's take on Jim Lahey's pizza dough.  I tend to make the all day version, so Friday mornings before heading to work I throw it all together and its a little prep for Friday night that feels like a little jump start on your weekend.  Please note that the times are super approximate, so you don't have to be slavish to them. This recipe makes two half sheet pans with a slightly thicker crust (what my kids prefer).  For just a single half sheet pan, I would half the recipe.  But, who doesn't love leftover pizza?

Servings 2 half sheet pan pizzas

Ingredients

Pizza Dough

  • 6 cups 750 grams all-purpose flour (bread flour works too)
  • Slightly heaped 1/4 for 24-hour dough, 1/2 (for 10-12 hour dough) or 1 teaspoon (for 5-6 hour dough) active dry yeast
  • 1 tablespoon sea or kosher salt
  • 2 1/2 cups water plus an additional tablespoon or two if needed

Pizza Sauce

  • 1 small can tomato paste (8oz)
  • 2 teaspoons garlic powder
  • 2 teaspoons onion powder
  • 1 tablespoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 tablepsoon maple syrup
  • 1/4 cup red wine
  • 1/2 cup water

Toppings

  • 1 1/2 to 2 lbs shredded mozzarella (you can use less if you prefer)
  • 1/2 to 1 lb fresh mozzarella ripped into chunks
  • Assorted favorite toppings, sausage, olive, pepperoni, mushroom, onions, peppers, etc

Instructions

Prepare the Dough Ahead of Time

  1. Mix all the dry ingredients together and then add the water and stir till its shaggy and flour is incorporated. If it looks excessively dry, add a tablespoon of water or two and let sit the amount of time per the yeast you added.

Make the Sauce

  1. Place all ingredients in a small saucepan. Whisk together until well combined. Place over low heat and cook until heated through. Taste and adjust seasonings if necessary.

Make the Pizzas

  1. When you are ready to make the pizzas, heat oven to its highest temperature, usually about 500F. If you’re using a pizza stone, place it in the oven so that it heats too. If using a baking pan, lightly oil and sprinkle with cornmeal if desired.

  2. Flour your counter/work surface very well. Scrape 1/2 the dough out of the bowl onto floured counter; in the time it has risen it should change from that craggy rough ball to something loose, soft, sticky and stretchy. Flour the top of the dough, and with floured hands or rolling pin gently stretch or roll out the dough. Because the dough is so soft, you have to flour your hands and your rolling pin very well. Transfer your fully rolled out dough onto your prepared baking sheet (stretching it on a greased sheet will just make it shrink back!) and add desired fixings. Bake pizza for 20 to 25 minutes, rotating if it’s baking unevenly until the top is blistered and the crust is golden. Toward the end of baking, I often remove the pizza from the pan (assuming the crust is firm and has no holes!) and bake it directly on a pizza stone for a super crispy crust with dark spots.  

  3. Once removed from the oven, make sure you remove the pizza from the pan and let rest on a cooling rack so that air can circulate underneath and you don't end up with the dreaded soggy crust.  You should let the pizza rest about 5-10 minutes before cutting.  This is a great time to fill drinks and pick out your movie.  Then cut and enjoy!

Recipe Notes

With pizza, you want to be careful about too much moisture ruining the crust.  The fresh mozzarella tends to be very wet, so while I like to stud my pizza with it, using only that seems like a recipe for failure in this American style pizza.  The same holds true with fresh tomatoes, or other veggies loaded with water.  They are delicious, but use sparingly, or dial back the sauce a little, etc. 

This pizza is for a traditional American style pizza, but I like to change up my sauces.  Sometimes I use bechamel and that tastes fantastic with veggies or chicken.  Since I always have to make one cheese (to please my traditionalists), when I am doing another sauce I still make the full recipe of sauce, as it freezes well.