Pictures Updated!
My camera ran out of battery and all of my rechargeable batteries don't hold their charge anymore. Don't use rechargeable batteries- they don't last! So I took pictures with my phone but I have not been able to connect my phone via bluetooth to my laptop.... so my roommate took a picture of one of the pizza's I made and sent it to me so this is the only picture I have for now:
Pizza Dough:
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon sugar
3 cups bread flour
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 to 3 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (optional)
Directions:
1. Activate yeast by placing yeast in 3/4 cup warm water and adding the sugar.
2. Mix all dry ingredients.
3. Mix in yeast and remaining water and olive oil.
4. Knead dough.
5. Cover with oiled plastic wrap. Let rise over night (at least 15 hours).
Notes: I've read from other recipes that using bread flour and mixing the oil into the dough causes the dough to break apart... this is NOT true. This is the first time I've used bread flour for my pizza dough and it turned out great. I did only place half of the oil into the mix and once I had kneaded the dough I put in the remaining oil. The dough turned out really well and was easy to handle but it is very important to let it rise overnight.
Pizza Sauce:
Ingredients
3 cups diced roma tomatoes
1 can (15 oz) canned tomato sauce
1 small onion
5 cloves garlic
crushed fresh basil leaves (1 tablespoon dried basil)
2 teaspoons oregano
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon crushed pepper
salt and black pepper for taste
olive oil
Directions
1. Pour about 2 tablespoons of olive oil into pan at medium-low heat.
2. Add minced garlic.
3. Add onions.
4. Add tomatoes after onions and garlic have turned golden.
5. Add basil, oregano, crushed pepper, chili powder, salt and black pepper.
6. Add more oil if necessary.
7. Add tomato sauce.
8. Taste and add spices accordingly.
Notes: I like spicy tomato sauce, thus the chili powder and crushed pepper. This recipe makes more than enough pizza sauce so you can refrigerate it for probably up to a week and use it for pasta as well. Other recipes use white wine to make tomato sauce but I've never tried it.
Pizza
Oil pan and sprinkle wheat flour (or all-purpose or bread) over it. Knead dough onto pan. Don't use a rolling pin. Spread sauce and desired toppings. The above pizza has red and yellow bell peppers, onions, feta cheese, roma tomatoes, and some cheddar cheese. Place in oven for about 20 minutes at 450 degrees F.
Final Notes:
The directions for this recipe are pretty open ended because you should be able to make your own recipe from it. I've looked through countless recipes to get to the one above. Making pizza dough is probably the hardest thing to do because without a good dough, you won't have a good pizza. The above directions are probably the easiest ones to follow on making pizza dough. I've seen recipes that are five pages long just to make pizza dough.
Also, most of the measurements for the ingredients are estimations.
