Ok I know I said I wasn’t going to have one of those blogs that went down memory lane for ten paragraphs before giving you the recipe, BUT I do want to say, homemade pizza is so nostalgic for me. My sisters and I used to help my mom make homemade pizza and I remember how fun it was that we got to pick our own toppings and “decorate” the pizza however we wanted! I LOVE making my own pizza for so many reasons. For one, pizza is my favorite food. And also, making your own pizza allows you to be creative in the kitchen without needing a lot of culinary skill.
I have included one recipe below for a spicy sausage, caramelized onion pizza in the step-by-step instructions, and then at the bottom I will have more examples and ideas for other pizza variations! Feel free to get creative here!
Note on the dough: you can obviously buy pre-made dough at your local grocery store, so feel free to do that if you want to cut out that step completely. I have made this homemade dough a few times, so the instructions below are for the version I like best. I also have followed the instructions on the back of the Fleischmann’s Pizza Dough Yeast packet, which also works, but I found that to be a very thin dense crust. Again, you have a lot of options here!
Details
4 servings
45 minutes
15 minutes
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Ingredients For dough (this makes enough for 2 pizzas)
3 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp sugar
1 packet pizza yeast (you could also use a packet of active dry)
1 1/2 cups warm water (between 120* – 130*)
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil + more for bowl
Ingredients for pizza
jar of pizza sauce
shredded mozzarella (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 lb ground spicy Italian sausage
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 shallot
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp sugar
pinch of salt
olive oil to brush crust (optional)
pizza seasoning (optional)
Directions for dough
- In a stand mixer, mix together the flour, sugar, salt, and yeast. Add in the warm water and oil. Let mixer go on low for about 5 minutes, adding more flour if dough seems too wet, or more water if dough seems too dry. You also may need to stop mixer and use a spatula to scrape the sides of the bowl.
- Drizzle a bit of olive oil in a bowl big enough to hold the dough. Once dough is mixed and comes together in a ball (dough should be slightly wet/tacky, but not so tacky you can’t hold it), add dough to bowl and turn over so it gets coated in oil.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes.
Directions for pizza
- While dough is resting, prepare rest of ingredients.
- Preheat oven to 450 degree.
- Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Slice shallot in thin slices. Add shallot to skillet and turn heat down to low. Add sugar and a pinch of salt. Sauté shallot until browned and caramelized.
- Brown sausage in skillet, breaking up meat as you cook.
- Once pizza dough has rested and risen, take out of bowl and cut dough in half. (If only making once pizza you can freeze or refrigerate other dough half for later use.)
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out pizza dough (you can also slowly stretch out pizza dough with hands – this takes practice!). Note: your pizza might not be perfectly round, and that is ok! It tastes the same either way!
- Once rolled out to desired size, lay pizza dough on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. If you have a pizza stone or pan use that instead of baking sheet!
- Use a fork to poke holes in the dough, especially around the edges. This lets the air out while it bakes and prevents the dough from bubbling up.
- Add desired amount of pizza sauce on top of dough. Then add cheese (you can always do more or less depending on how much you want!).
- Add sausage, minced garlic, and caramelized onions. If using, sprinkle pizza seasoning on top.
- Brush olive oil around edges of pizza dough. This helps it get golden brown.
- Bake in oven for about 15 minutes until cheese is bubbly and dough is golden brown.
- Let pizza cool for about 3-4 minutes before slicing. Slice 8 slices using a pizza cutter or knife.
- Enjoy!
Tips:
- One pizza makes 8 slices. We always do two pizzas even though it is just the two of us so we have variety and left overs!
- Again, see below for more pizza topping ideas; feel free to use your favorites!
