Perfect Pizza Night
There are many different levels of pizza making at home. From frozen pizza, to doctoring up frozen pizzas, to buying pre made crust and topping with your own ingredients, to making your own crust and sauce, all the way to owning a brick pizza oven in your back yard and calling yourself the pizza chef! I will say I do enjoy taking a little extra effort with pizza night to make homemade crust and sauce and use my pizza peel to take the pies in and out of the oven. I also love throwing some pantry extras on a frozen cheese pizza and calling it my own. So I am going to detail the extra version with homemade crust and sauce as well as 2 pizza recipes that are super versatile and feature a few of my favorite Trader Joe’s products. I will highlight where you could take the easier route as well if you want to try the flavors but don’t have a pizza stone, pizza peel or any interest in making your own pizza completely from scratch.
For Basic Cheese Pizza:
Pizza Dough:
Ingredients
2 tsp instant yeast
2.5 cups warm water
3 tbsp honey, sugar or maple syrup
4 tbsp olive oil
5 1/2 cup AP flour
2 tsp salt
Recipe:
Combine the warm water, yeast and sugar in a mixing bowl and let it set until bubbly. Usually about 1-3 minutes.
Then add oil, flour and salt to the bowl and mix. I like to use a dough hook attachment on my mixer and let it go on low for a few minutes then increase the speed to medium for 5 minutes. If you do not have a mixer then combine slowly with a spoon and when it gets to hard to mix, switch to mixing by hand in the bowl for 2-3 minutes and finish by kneading on your counter or table top for 1-2 minutes until you have a sticky but smooth mixture.
I like to divide my dough now into 8 individual pizza portions. This will make a small 4 slice approximately 7-8 inch individual pizza. My kids really enjoy having their own special pizza that they can top themselves and personalize. If you want larger more sharing size pizzas then divide the dough into 6 portions. I then place each portion in an oiled bag. I use my reusable Stasher bags but you could also place each portion onto an oiled sheet tray and cover with plastic wrap. I prefer to refrigerate over night or up to 3 days. But if you want pizza the same day, just allow the dough to rise at room temperature for about 1-2 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen. When they have almost doubled you are good to go.
Hot Tip: A lot of stores like Trader Joe’s have pre made pizza crust so you could skip this step and buy a couple of their Ready to Bake Doughs. They keep for several days in the refrigerator.
When you are ready to bake the dough/make some pizza:
Place a pizza stone in the center of your oven (if you own one) then preheat your oven to 500 F. For best results preheat your oven for at least an hour prior to baking the pizzas. The hotter the oven the better. If you don’t have a pizza stone, use a sheet tray.
Generously flour your work surface and place a round shaped ball of dough down in the center of the floured area. Dust the top generously with flour and then press down with your finger tips on the ball to start to flatten it to a circle. I then pick up the dough and gently start to stretch it transferring it from hand to hand to gently stretch the dough into a circle. You can then place the dough on top of the back of your hands and rotate while gently pulling your hands apart. This is the technique I use for all pizza dough even if I bought ready to bake at the store. It is hard to describe so at the end of the article I will include a short of me making all 3 pizzas and showing how I handle the dough. If you pull too hard and make a hole, just patch it back together. This takes some practice which is why I prefer 8 small pizzas so I can get the hang of handling the dough. If this sounds too complicated to you, just roll the dough out with a rolling pin making sure to rotate and flip the dough as you go.
I like to add my sauce and toppings on the floured surface that I rolled the dough on, then use a metal pizza peel to transfer my pizza to my hot pizza stone. If you do not have a pizza peel, then take out the hot pizza stone and carefully place down your crust and then top as you want. Or assemble the pizza on your sheet tray and then bake off in the 500 F oven. Bake time might vary depending on the size and toppings of your pizzas but I generally find most of my small piazzas take 5-6 minutes.
Easy Pizza Sauce:
Ingredients:
One 15 oz can of crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
2-3 cloves of garlic minced (or for a time saver use frozen garlic or prepared garlic)
1 tsp salt (I prefer herb salt)
2-3 tbsp olive oil
optional extra 2 tsp honey
Recipe:
Add the oil to the pan and saute the garlic for about 30 sec to a minute just until fragrant.
Add the crushed tomatoes and salt. Stir to combine and reduce the heat to medium low. Simmer for 10 minutes. Taste for salt and add honey if you want a touch of sweetness.
Assemble your cheese pizza:
Apply 2 tbsp of sauce to your prepared crust. The secret to good pizza at home is not to put too much sauce or toppings on your pizza which will weigh the pizzas down and prevent the crust from cooking through.
Top with shredded mozzarella cheese. I like to grate my own whole milk mozzarella cheese. I prefer the more solid blocks that are not packaged in water. If the cheese is too wet, I find it weighs the pizza down and again does not allow the crust to cook all the way through. If you have a pizza oven that can get to temperatures over 500 F then you do not need to worry so much about the water content of your cheese.
Drizzle some olive oil and sprinkle salt over the pizza before baking off for about 5-6 minutes.
After you remove the pizza from the oven, top with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese. I like to purchase a block of parmesan then “grate” the whole things by putting it in my food processor.
Cut into slices and enjoy!
Spicy Vegan Pepperoni Pizza:
Ingredients:
pizza dough- either homemade of store bought
pizza sauce- either homemade or store bought
Vegan pepperoni- the one pictured above is from Trader Joe’s. It is by far the best I have ever had but if you do not live near a Trader Joe’s, Field Roast makes one or you can thinly slice some vegan sausages to get a similar effect. Or just use meat pepperoni if you eat meat. The technique with still apply and taste just as good.
Shredded whole milk mozzarella
grated parmesan cheese
olive oil
salt
Harissa Paste or Calabrian Chili Oil (Trader Joe’s does make a version of both of these and my preference is for the Calabrian Chili Oil but sometimes it is easier to find Harissa paste)
Recipe:
It’s pretty simple, roll out your crust using your preferred method, apply sauce in a thin layer, and a thin layer of mozzarella.
Then arrange your vegan pepperoni and top with a little more cheese. We want a bit of cheese on top of the vegan pepperoni. Because vegan pepperoni has less fat it and will need some fat and moisture from the cheese as well as the next ingredient which a generous drizzle of olive oil to help the pepperoni and cheese brown and crisp. Sprinkle with salt.
Bake as before for 5-6 minutes until the crust is browned and cheese is bubbly.
After you remove the pizza from the oven, drizzle or gently dollop a small amount of Calabrian chili oil or Harissa paste to the top of the pizza trying to concentrate it over the vegan pepperoni. This will give the pepperoni that spicy fattiness we love about pepperoni. Then sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese and enjoy!
Balsamic Arugula and Ricotta Pizza:
Ingredients:
pizza dough- homemade of store bought
Olive oil
Trader Joe’s Aglio Olio seasoning blend or copycat recipe listed at the end of this recipe
Whole milk ricotta cheese
Salt
Arugula
parmesan cheese
Recipe:
Prepare your crust. Then apply a layer of olive oil by spreading about 2-3 tsp of oil out the surface of the pizza dough. Then sprinkle with a generous amount of the Aglio Olio seasoning. I would say about 1-2 tsp.
Dollop the ricotta cheese on top of the oil and seasoning mix. Bake off for 5-6 minutes.
While the pizza bakes, assemble the arugula. Toss arugula in a bowl with salt, pepper and olive oil to coat.
Remove the pizza from the oven and top with a pile of the prepared arugula. Drizzle the balsamic glaze all over the top of the pizza and sprinkle again with parmesan cheese. Slice and enjoy.
Hot Tip: I like the place the ricotta in a pattern so that each slice will have a warm dollop of ricotta cheese. It makes the perfect bite with the salad, tangy glaze and salty savory spice mix. This is by far my favorite pizza.
I hope you try at least one of these recipes and embrace the joys of having a pizza night at home. It is more work that the average weeknight dinner but it is a fun and special way to enjoy time with your family, friends, kids or partner. And you can just let your creativity go wild. After all who doesn’t love left over pizza?
Perfect Pizza Night Short
Perfect Pizza night Reel
