Pizza from the Crust Up

It's very easy to make your own pizza, and compared to what we pay for one at the pizza parlor, it's also very inexpensive. People tend to be frightened by the mention of using dry yeast, but it's very simple so long as you follow the rules!

This is for a ten inch pizza with a thin and crispy crust.

We'll get the pizza crust made first, and then consider toppings.

Ingredients for Crust

• 3/4 cup warm water ( a little warmer than blood warmth is good -- don't get it too hot. You should be able to put your finger into it.)
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 package dry yeast
• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 2 teaspoons oil (one for the crust, one to oil your pizza pan)
• cornmeal to sprinkle on oiled pizza pan, if desired

Directions

Combine the water, sugar and yeast. Stir thoroughly and set aside.

Wait 5 minutes until yeast mixture becomes foamy and bubbly. This lets you know the yeast is alive and working.

Put flour in bowl, and form a "well" in the center. Pour in ONE teaspoon of the oil.

Add yeast mixture all at once to flour and oil. Mix thoroughly and vigorously with a fork, until the consistency becomes slightly elastic. Form into a ball.

Allow dough to rise in its bowl (cover it with a clean dishtowel) until double in size. I use a warm oven to do this (about 180 degrees F), and find it frequently is ready to go in about twenty minutes. When you remove the dough from the oven, set the oven to 450 degrees F.

Oil your pizza pan with the remaining teaspoon of oil, and sprinkle with cornmeal if you wish.

Stretch the dough to fit your pizza pan. Just plop it on the pan and start patting it out to reach the sides. You might want to make a "lip" around the edges.

The dough will be a bit soft, and if you find it sticky, use flour on your hands to keep it from sticking to them. Once it is in the shape you want, puncture it in several places with a fork, to keep it from bubbling up while precooking it.

Precook the crust 5-10 minutes in 450 degree F oven. Remove from oven and top as desired.

Ingredients for Topping

For a traditional pizza, you can spread the precooked crust with a tomato or spaghetti sauce of your choice. Keep it fairly thin (1/4 to 1/2 cup), or it can soak your crust and make it soggy. Then you can top it with whatever you want. Some suggestions:

• Mozzarella cheese
• Pepperoni slices
• Precooked ground meat (you can flavor it with garlic and herbs if desired)
• Onions
• Mushrooms
• Olives
• Capers
• Artichoke hearts
• Tomato slices
• Ham
• Chicken
• Anchovies
• Peppers
• Parmesan cheese (sprinkled on top makes a nice brown cheese crust)

Or anything else you can think of!

Place in preheated 450 degree F oven and bake for fifteen minutes. The cheese should just be starting to brown. I find it easiest to remove the pizza from the pan, using a spatula to slide it onto a cutting board prior to using the pizza cutter.

Variations

You could replace the tomato sauce with an Alfredo sauce and top the pizza with broccoli and mushrooms sauteed briefly in a garlic oil. Add mozzarella cheese.

Replace the tomato sauce with a cream sauce and add spinach sauteed in garlic oil. Add feta cheese.

Use cream of mushroom soup (condensed) and top with tuna, onion and cheddar cheese.

Make a "dessert pizza" by adding 1/4 cup sugar to the crust mixture, and top with sliced apples and brown sugar.