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This the first in a series of cooking your favourite takeout foods yourself.
It's true that it's easy to come home from work and pick up the phone and call for a pizza. Then, after an interminable amount of time when your kids are hungry and fractious, it arrives. It's barely warm, it has a cardboard crust and the anchovies that were supposed to appear on one half only have migrated to the entire pizza. Not only that, but somebody has been driving around the city to get it to you.
On the other hand, you can make your own pizza and have it hot from the oven with the toppings you want in no time at all and nobody had to use a car to deliver it. Making your own pizza dough is easy and it really tastes much better than most delivery pizzas, especially if you usually order from a pizza chain.
You can make the dough recipe given below the day before and just roll it out and put on the toppings when you get home from work, or you can make it all in one day if you are home. If you're really in a rush, you can always buy dough from your grocery store. Another good option in a hurry is building a pizza on top of a soft flatbread.If you want, you can divide the dough and make individual pizzas and everyone gets their own choice of toppings. I once had a birthday party where each child made their own mini pizza and it was a huge success.
The best part of making your own pizza is that the topping possibilities are endless. You can go the traditional tomato, cheese, and pepperoni, or you can make a vegetarian white pizza with caramelized onions, goat cheese, and artichoke hearts. With a little imagination, you can make something really fabulous with whatever fresh ingredients you have on hand.
Once you have rolled out the dough, put it onto a baking pan. You don't need a round pizza pan-you can use a regular baking sheet and have a rectangular pizza. If you are afraid the pizza will stick to the pan, then sprinkle a little cornmeal on the pan before you put the dough onto it. Then, start adding your toppings.
To make a traditional pizza, start with a minimal amount of tomato sauce. If you use too much, it will be too soggy and the crust won't cook properly. Add your cheese layer, and then put any other ingredients on top of that.
Pizza is usually baked at a high temperature for a short time. Heat the oven to 500ºF and cook for about 15 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling.
Pizza Dough
3/4 cup warm water (105°F to 115°F)
1 envelope active dry yeast
2 cups (or more) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3 tbs olive oil
1. Pour 3/4 cup warm water into small bowl; stir in yeast. Let stand until yeast dissolves, about 5 minutes.
2. Brush large bowl lightly with olive oil. Mix 2 cups flour, sugar, and salt in processor. Add yeast mixture and 3 tbs oil; process until dough forms a sticky ball.
3. Transfer to lightly floured surface. Knead dough until smooth, adding more flour by tablespoonfuls if dough is very sticky, about 1 minute.
4. Transfer to prepared bowl; turn dough in bowl to coat with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour. Punch down dough. Can be made a day ahead. Store in airtight container in refrigerator.
5. Roll out dough according to recipe instructions. (Start in center of dough, working outward toward edges but not rolling over them.)
From the March 2007 issue of Bon Appetit
Difficulty level: Easy
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