Family Pizza Night

Some days can be long and stressful. Dinner comes around in our house, we try take this meal time to chill and connect. On days like this we would usually do pizza, movie night. I figured I wasn’t up for the regular ordered pizza. Why can’t we make our own? In our house we can. This night is going to be some fun bonding time doing a project with the family.

Fried Pepperoni with Three Cheese

Anytime I make scratch pizza I use my husband’s recipes. He has been some form of pizza cook for 15 years. He has worked with wood fire ovens, stone ovens, and grills. He keeps his dough traditional, light and fluffy, with a slightly crispy crust. There is not much to this dough. It’s a simple recipe but like most yeast dough's it does require some patience. We are a house of everything scratch made, this time however I didn’t have all the ingredients to make a scratch sauce. We went with a jazzed up can sauce. I added some Italian seasoning and tons of garlic to give it some deeper flavor profiles.

Dough Recipe
10 Grams       Sugar
10 Grams       Salt
10 Grams       Yeast
900 Grams     All Purpose Flour
400-500         Grams Water, warm around 95 degrees

1. Add yeast, sugar and 1/4 of the water (100 grams) to bowl. Whisk with a fork and allow mixture to become foamy.
2. Add flour and salt start to mix with dough hook.
3. Slowly add in rest of water until dough form and is slightly sticky. 
4. Allow dough to knead in mixer until it is smooth yet sticky. About 15 minutes.
5. Use dough as desired. Freeze for later up to two weeks. 

Printable Dough Recipes
Make Dough

• Allow to rest until the dough has doubled in size. You know the dough is ready when you press your finger in slightly and it bounces back.  
• Punch the dough down to deflate, releasing extra air from the fermenting yeast.

Portion Dough

5 ounces = 10” personal size pizza

10 ounces = 12” medium pizza

12 ounces = 14” large pizza

Use a sharp knife or what us bakers call a bench knife. Cut dough into pieces depending on the size of your pies. Do not tear the dough it will cause over working and breaking in the final product.

Roll into balls and allow the dough to rest.

It will rise again slightly but not as much as the first rise.

After dough has risen lightly press into a circle. Start from the center out pressing and spinning to get a nice round. Try and leave a thicker edge, this will create a crust and keep all your topping in during cooking.

Pressed and Topped Dough

Lightly dust a sheet pan with cornmeal or flour (which my burn a little so replace every new pizza) to prevent sticking. Bake at 425°F until crust in light golden brown. The crust will be firm to the center and the cheese will bubble and lightly brown.

When done allow to cool slightly before cutting. 

Toppings

Cheeses: I like to use mozzarella, but feel free to use any cheese you like. I will say when using orange cheeses, you can over cook them before the pizza is even done.   

Meat: Cut up meat to match the size of your pizza. My son wanted his big huge pieces, like I told him though, they just slid right off the cheese.

Sauce: Homemade or canned is just fine. I have also done cream sauces or just oil and garlic for a fun twist.

Vegetarian Jack fruit with BBQ Sauce

Left-over Dough: You can freeze a par baked crust or dough for later use.

Garlic Cheese Bread

This night I chose to use my extra dough for garlic cheese bread.

1. You press out the dough like your pizza just slightly thicker without a rim.
2. Brush with melted butter and garlic.
3. Top with any cheese and bake at 425°F for 15-20 Minutes
4. Cheese will be fully melted, and crust will be golden brown on the bottom.
5. Serve with extra pizza sauce or anything you my like. 

Have fun mixing and matching you pizza night. Take time with the family and enjoy life one slice at a time.