Pizza From Scratch

Pizza is my go to meal, just ask anyone in my family!  With my Artisan dough continually in my refrigerator, it is a 20 minute start to finish family favorite meal.  There is a video of how to make the Artisan dough done January 5 on this blog.  I am going to show you the common pepperoni pizza, but the skies the limit as to the toppings.  I believe a pizza peel and baking stone are a must in making a good pizza. Both of these things can be bought at Bed Bath and Beyond (a good way to use your 20% off coupon!) The key to a good crust is cooking it at a very high temperature for a short time.  Most ovens go up to 500 before the broil setting, this is what I use and I have had good success.  The baking stone is put into the oven when it is preheating so that you are placing the pizza on a hot stone.

Here are the ingredients that I used:  A grapefuit sized piece of Artisan dough (1/4 of the recipe), 1/4 cup pizza sauce, 2 cups mozzarella cheese, 1 cup pepperoni, corn meal to dust the pizza peel, a large pizza peel and a large stone.  Note:  my peel is 13 1/2" X 13 1/1/2" and my stone is 15" X 15"

Before you begin, start heating up your oven to 500 degrees with your baking stone in it.
Flour your hands and the top of the dough.  Break off a grapefruit sized piece of Artisan bread dough.  One recipe of the Artisan bread dough is enough to make 4 pizzas.  Two pizzas is enough to stuff my family of 6.

Shape into a flattened ball and start stretching it out.  I have found it helpful to put the dough over my fists and gently pull it apart as I rotate it around.  I haven't been courageous enough to throw it up in the air yet!

For the last bit of stretching, flour your counter and roll it out.  Roll it out large enough so that it is the size of your peel.

Dust the pizza peel with plenty of cornmeal so that the pizza will be able to slide off onto the stone.  Place the dough onto the peel.  I find that if I flip it over so that the most floured side is face down it helps it slide off better.

At this point, pick up the peel by the handle and shift it back and forth to make sure you have added enough cornmeal so that the dough slides back and forth.  If it doesn't, lift up the dough and add more cornmeal where it is sticking.








Start topping with whatever you choose.

After you have topped your crust, slide into your preheated 500 degree oven onto your hot stone.

My pizza takes anywhere from 7-10 minutes.  I would check it after 7 minutes and keep a good eye on it. When the crust is golden brown, use tongs to slide the pizza out onto a cookie sheet.  You can take the pizza out by lifting the whole stone out, but it is easier to handle by sliding it out onto another sheet.  This is also helpful if you are making more than one pizza because the stone will be ready for another one.

Let it sit for a couple of minutes, slice, and enjoy!