Y’all, if you asked me what my favorite food was as a child, I would tell you pizza.
If you asked me today what my favorite food was….. I would tell you pizza. I’m a very predictable individual ;-)
But I can’t help it: I just love pizza. I could eat it everyday, and would if it weren’t for all the calories!
The Mr. and I have been on the great pizza search since moving to Houston. We must find the best pizza! So far we’ve eaten some good pizza but still have yet to find great pizza….at least our favorite to pizza purchase. Which is where this recipe comes in handy (Did you see that?! Did you see me get all clever and creative with that segue?!)
I think the best pizza is the pizza that caters to your every pizza desire, and the only way to do that is to make it yourself. This is the best pizza in Houston because it's fast and exactly the way we like it (because we make it duh!). Seriously, even though this is homemade, it doesn’t take any time, and I’ll tell you how……
Ingredients:
1 tsp active dry yeast
1.5 cups warm water
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), plus more for drizzling
Directions:
DOUGH (make this before going to work in the morning)
- Sprinkle yeast over water.
- Combine flour & salt in a mixer, then slowly drizzle in EVOO with the mixer on a low speed. Mix in yeast/water mixture just until combined.
- Using your fingers, spread EVOO to coat a separate mixing bowl. Form the dough into a ball, & toss to coat dough ball in EVOO. Cover with a moistened paper towel and place in front of a sunny window and go to work.
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees.
- Lightly drizzle EVOO on a large baking sheet and use your fingers to spread it around. Stretch the dough around to the edges of the baking sheet forming a large rectangle.
- Before decorating your pizza, spread on a thin layer of marinara sauce. When I use homemade marinara, I use this recipe. But I only use that if I already have it on hand; I don’t go out of my way to make it for pizza (I’m lazy folks!). More often, I use Prego (meat flavored); no shame in purchased sauce ladies; no shame!
- Now decorate that pizza! Sprinkle sliced veggies, meats, and of course cheese. This is where you make the pizza your own! Our favorite includes sliced green pepper, sausage, pepperoni, chipotle cheddar by Cabot, and mozzarella :-)
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the cheese is bubbly. We cook ours a little longer because the Mr. likes the peaks of the cheese a little crunchy. Remove from the oven, slice, and dig in!
