We've been trying to cut back on dining out since the economy started circling the drain. With a teenage boy in the house, pizza night has become a fixture over the years. We have sought out and found many excellent pizza joints up and down the east and west coasts, but with an average of $40 a pop (not including wine), we decided to come up with a basic pizza recipe that approximates what we love about this dish: thin crust, tasty sauce and just the right amount of cheese. It is a basic cheese pizza (we're purists), but you can top it with anything you want. The dough takes a little preparation, but it's worth it. The dough recipe is actually double what you need--I freeze half for another day--so if you want just enough for the two pizzas, cut the quantities for the dough portion in half.
Dough (this will make enough for four pizzas)
1 1/2 tablespoons yeast
2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon brown sugar
Put this in a mixing bowl and give the yeast 5 minutes or so to wake up (by the time you finish mixing the flours it should be ready to go).
5 cups unbleached white flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons oil (pref. olive oil, but vegetable oil will do)
Mix the dry stuff together and add to the wet. Incorporate the flours a cup at a time in to the yeast mixture if mixing manually. If you have a mixer with a dough hook, use that and mix all at once. Toward the end of mixing, add a little more water if the dough seems too dry and inelastic; if too wet, add more flour. Take dough out of mixing bowl and knead on a floured counter top until it becomes smooth and pliable. Scrape out the mixing bowl and lightly oil. Then place the dough in the bowl, cover with a cloth and let rise in the warmer part of the kitchen until about doubled in bulk (between 1 and 2 hours).
Sauce (make sauce and cool while the dough rises--enough for two pizzas)
1 - 28oz. can of diced tomatoes (pref. organic)
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon oregano
2 tablespoons red wine (optional)
1 chopped clove of garlic (optional)
Place all sauce ingredients into a blender and blend. Pour contents into a sauce pan and simmer on med. low for 20-30 minutes (stirring often). Take off heat and let cool.
(Once the dough is risen) At this point I divide the dough in half and knead into two rounds--one I put into a plastic bag and stick in the freezer for the next pizza night, the other I divide and knead into two rounds. Let these rounds rise on the counter for about 30 minutes.
While the rounds rise on the counter, set two racks in the middle of the oven and preheat to 500 degrees (see caution below). Take two sheet pans, flip them upside down and oil their backsides (this is the surface on which you will cook the pizzas). Take the rounds and begin to gently stretch them into rectangles. Place the rectangles onto the sheet pans and carefully stretch them out to the edges--you want the dough to be stretched very thin (it will rise in the oven). Then spoon the cooled sauce on the dough.
Cheese (enough for two pizzas)
1 pound mozzarella (shred)
4 tablespoons parmesan
Sprinkle cheeses on the pizzas. Carefully place pizzas in the oven and cook for a total 12-14 minutes, swapping positions halfway through for more even cooking (if you don't, the pizza crust on the bottom rack may over-cook). Caution: 500 degrees is really, really hot, so keep your face away from the oven when you open it and use thick, dry kitchen towels when handling the racks or pizza pans. Also, if your oven is not clean it will smoke.
When the pizzas are out, use a knife to separate pizza from pan and place liberated pizzas on cooling racks (this keeps the crust somewhat crisp). While the process may look daunting, it really doesn't take that much effort and, once preformed a few times, goes quite quick. Two pizzas easily feed our family of three with a few slices left over for the next day. Depending on grocery prices in your area, the total cost per pizza is about $3.
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