Easy Delicious Homemade Pizza

One of my favorite foods during training cycles and really any other time of the year is pizza. I love pizza. However, I am not a huge fan of the run of the mill chain pizza joints such as Papa Johns, Pizza Hut, or Dominos. For me, they are entirely too salty, have sub par ingredients and usually leave me feeling like crap. Here is a simple recipe I use for making my own homemade pizzas. Everyone I make them for enjoy them more than the above restaurants and I still feel awesome after eating a whole one by myself.

You can use whatever toppings you want obviously, but for a pepperoni pizza here is the macro nutrient break down for one whole pizza:
Calories: 2333
Fat: 80g
Carbs: 273g
Protein: 127g

Take off the pepperonis and you'll drastically reduce your fat and sodium. Some of my favoritre topping combos are:
Pepperoncini and Ham
Bacon and Red Onion
Green Peppers, Onion, and Pepperoni
Ham and Pineapple

A huge part of the taste of the pizza are the ingredients! If you buy cheaper ingredients, expect a cheaper tasting pizza. Even still, one pizza probably cost me about $5 to make. I will list exactly what I use.

Ingredients You Will Need
-1 pack of Martha White Pizza Crust Mix
-Extra Virgin Olive Oil
-2 Cups of Sargento Mozzarella Cheese
-8 oz. of Dei Fratelli Pizza Sauce
-Might need a little bit of flour. See steps below.
-Hot Pepper Flakes (optional)
-Toppings of your choice (again buy quality ingredients)

Tools You Will Need
-12 inch pizza pan (or there abouts, whatever)
-2 Medium sized bowls, preferably at least one metal one.
-1 Fork
-An oven.
-A good attitude and a little patience.
-Some Amos Lee playing in the kitchen.

Steps To Making 2000 Calories of Delicious Pizza

• This step can be the hardest, but gets easier the more you do it. Find a medium sized bowl and a fork to mix your crust in. Open crust mix and pour into the bowl. Pour a 1/2 cup of hot water into the bowl along with ~1 teaspoon of extra virgin olive oil. Mix vigorously (ha! love that word) until it appears to be all stuck together. There are two possible problems at this point you will run into, don't fret both are easy to fix...
• Problem one, you didn't pour enough water. So, your dough is a big dry blob resembling a wet ball of chalk or there are a bunch of pieces in your bowl and it isn't all stuck together. Simply add a little water, little, as in like a teaspoon. Work the water into the dough with your hands. 
• Problem two, your dough is too sticky. If your dough is sticking to your hands and everything else you'll need to add a little flour. You can be generous with it, it really isn't going to hurt anything. I do it over the sink to save clean up time. What you will be doing is using the flour while you knead the dough. 
• So once you have your dough mixed and you will need to knead it for a minute or so to get it pliable and such. The consistency you're looking for is a smooth even texture. Doesn't have to be perfect, its just fuckin pizza.
• In your metal bowl, pour a little more olive oil to cover the bottom of the bowl. Put your dough in it and cover the dough with the olive oil, cover the bowl with a lid.
• You will need to let your dough rise. There are many ways of accomplishing this, all you're wanting to do is let a little heat to the dough. What I do to speed up this process is I use my kitchen sink. Put a drain plug in the sink drain and fill enough hot water in your sink to place your metal bowl (with the dough in it and covered with a plate or something) in the water. Be careful not to let the bowl tip over and the water ruin your dough. Use as hot of water as possible. Which is why we use the metal bowl, conduction... Science is awesome. Let your dough rise for about 20 minutes or so. It'll be noticeably larger and slightly spongy. While your dough is rising, preheat your oven to 475 degrees fahrenheit.
• Next, place your dough in the center of your pizza pan and spread it out. This takes practice to develop your own technique. Basically start by pushing out from the center and evenly spread out from the center to the edges of the pan. Another technique is by putting a bunch of dimbles in the dough with your fingers and then pressing the dough and repeating this process over and over. If you need clarification, leave a comment or email me.
• Once you get your dough pressed on the pan, I personally preheat the dough. This helps get your crust slightly more done than if you put everything on raw dough, it basically avoids having overly soft crust that has no integrity to it. Place the pan in the oven for about 6 minutes on the center rack. The dough should be slightly more yellow when you pull it out and no longer be spongy, it will be easier to spread your sauce.
• Spread your sauce. I will use about 8 ounces to a pizza. Spread it out evenly with a spoon. Not enough sauce will drastically reduce the flavor of the pizza, too much will leave your pizza crust wet. Try using 8 ounces and see how it works for you. 
• Shake some hot pepper flakes if you like a little heat and spicy flavor to your food.
• Cheese! Fuck yes, cheese is awesome. I use about 2 cups per pizza. Again, not too much, not too little. When the cheese is cold, it is okay to see some sauce underneath, when it melts, you will have an even layer of cheese that covers the sauce. Spread it evenly, okay we got that...
• Next, put your toppings on... whatever toppings you like. Be creative, be simple, do what you want because you know what? Its your fucking pizza!
• Now place your oven in the pizza... or uhhh... place your pizza in the oven. You'll bake it for about 8 minutes. Times will vary of course so keep an eye on it. You're wanting some browning around the edges and all of the cheese melted across the pizza. If it looks like it is ready to eat, holy shit, it is probably ready to eat.
• Pull your pizza out and let it cool for about a minute or two, this way your slices won't fall apart from the cheese still cooking. Slice it into whatever sized slices you want and enjoy. 

This whole process takes me about 45-60 minutes to do, because most of it is waiting on the dough to rise and everything to cook. So you have a lot of down time to clean up your shit, that way when you're done eating you can sit your ass down and relax. It might take a couple times to dial the whole dough handling thing, but it really isn't a big deal. You'll eat pizza more often if you learn to make these and they're a whole helluva more healthier for you too. If you like beer! Some great beers that go well with the pizza, I think, are...

 Highland Brewing Companies Oatmeal Porter is a robust beer that is dark with malty and hoppy balance, with a hint of chocolate roasted flavor. Nom nom nom!

 

Red Oak is an old style amber lager that is very smooth and is very unique to any lager I've had. Nom Nom Nom!

New Belgium's 1554 is another brew darker in color. This is probably one of my favorite beers. It is consider a black ale and the original recipe for this beverage was lost during a flood in Fort Collins Colorado in 1997. The brew masters traveled to Belgium to find the recipe again through antiquated scripts... Which is an amazing thing about beer, it is like experiencing history when you can sample some of the old recipes from many, many, many generations ago. Pretty cool. Cheers. Oh, yeah enjoy the pizza!