Homemade Pizza

Posted by Kate
Brad and I have been searching for tips to perfect homemade pizza. It is always so frustrating how different our homemade version tastes from the pizza parlors. I came across a Cooking Light magazine with tips on making homemade pizza. We followed some of them and it made a huge difference!

Evidently pizzeria ovens run at about 900 degrees, which obviously our home ovens do not do (most run up to about 500), so here are the tips for getting pizza crust nice and crisp:

1. Preheat your pizza stone or baking sheet in a 500 degree oven.

1a. Take preheated pan out and coat with cornmeal and whatever else you like on the bottom of your crust.

1b. Using a pizza peel or a second baking sheet, slide your preformed pizza dough circle onto the HOT preheated baking sheet. (If you do not use, your dough will likely not stay in a neat circle)

2. Bake the pizza dough by itself (NO sauce, cheese or toppings) for 8 minutes at 500 degrees on the lowest rack. (Check frequently, I only cooked mine for 6 min)

3. Remove hot baked pizza crust and put sauce, cheese and toppings on, then bake again for 10 minutes or until crust is golden brown and cheese melts on the middle rack.

We tried this with the Jay's Signature Pizza Crust Recipe from AllRecipes.com and we thought it was the best homemade pizza we ever made! I wouldn't say that it's exactly like a pizzeria, but the closest we have ever come.

Basic Pizza Sauce Recipe (Cooking Light magazine)

1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 cup white wine
2 Tbsp Tomato paste
1 tsp dried oregano
1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 - (14.5 oz) can crushed tomatoes (undrained)
1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil
1/2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray and saute onions 3 minutes or until tender. Add garlic , saute an additional 30 seconds. Add tomato paste, oregano, pepper and tomatoes. Reduce heat.
2. Simmer for 20 minutes or until thick.
3. Remove from heat, stir in basil and vinegar.
Yields: 1 & 1/3 cups

I tried the above recipe omitting the white wine and using crushed tomatoes with oregano and basil. I think it would have been super good, except my brand of crushed tomatoes also added Anise which was overpowering. Otherwise it was wonderful and the texture was perfect.