A pan, an oven, an appetite all you need for pizza
The quest for excellent homemade pizza can sometimes border on obsession. Pizza stones, pizza steels, pizza ovens, rigging your oven to act like a pizza oven, special flours, special blends of flour … it can all be a bit much — enough to prompt the more intimidated among us to just dial up delivery.
But it doesn’t have to be that way. As long as you are OK with not expecting to re-create the pies you might find coming out of a woodburning Neapolitan oven, you can make good pizza at home with normal home kitchen equipment, even more basic than you might think.
The Easiest Pizza You’ll Ever Make
For the crust:
1 tablespoon sugar
2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast OR 1
packet active dry yeast 1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil,
plus more as needed
2 cups lukewarm water
4¾ cups to 5¼ cups flour, plus more
as needed
Semolina or cornmeal, for dusting
the baking sheet For the toppings:
1½ cups tomato puree or strained
tomatoes, such as Pomi brand 1 small clove garlic, minced with a
pinch of salt into a paste Salt, as needed
Sugar, as needed
8 ounces mozzarella, thinly sliced ¼ cup to ½ cup grated ParmigianoReggiano cheese
Fresh basil leaves, optional
For the crust: Combine the sugar, yeast, in sugar a Add large has salt, 4¾ mixing dissolved. oil cups and of bowl, the the lukewarm stirring flour, stirring until water the it flour, in with as needed, a wooden to spoon. form a soft Add dough more that starts to come together in a shaggy mass. Lightly flour your countertop. Turn the dough out there; use your hands to knead it for 7 to 10 minutes, until it becomes minutes. If smooth it starts and getting elastic, very 7 to sticky, 10 sprinkle more flour on your hands, the dough and the counter. The stickiness will also begin to go away as the dough smooths out. Use some oil to grease a large bowl. Transfer the dough to the bowl, cover and place in a draft-free spot to rise until almost doubled in size, 1 to 2 hours, or refrigerate for at least 8 hours. Meanwhile, make the toppings: Stir together the strained tomatoes and garlic in a medium bowl. Taste, and add salt and sugar as needed. At least an hour before baking the pizza, place an inverted baking sheet or a pizza stone, if you own one, in the oven; heat oven to 500 degrees. Lightly flour your countertop again. Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into four equal portions, turning each into a rough ball. Reserve 2 of them for later use, either by placing back in the covered bowl in the refrigerator or loosely wrapped in plastic wrap and sealed in a zip-top bag in the freezer. Cover one portion with plastic wrap while you work with the first one. Use your fingertips to begin flattening out the dough, until it’s about 8 inches in diameter. Hold one hand in the center of the dough to lightly anchor it. Use your other hand to begin stretching the dough on the side farthest from you, rotating the dough in quarter turns so that you are stretching all sides. If the dough resists stretching, let it rest for a few minutes. Aim for a round that’s about 12 inches in diameter. Use semolina (or cornmeal) to dust the surface of a rimless baking sheet or inverted, rimmed baking sheet. Carefully transfer the dough round to the baking sheet. Brush the dough with a bit of oil, if desired. Spread half of the sauce lightly over the surface, leaving about a ¾-inch border around the edge. Add half of the mozzarella and half of the Parmigiano-Reggiano. Slide the dough from the rimless baking sheet onto the inverted baking sheet in the oven. Bake for 13 to 16 minutes or until golden brown, the toppings are hot and bubbly and the cheese is melted. Immediately transfer the pizza to a wire cooling rack (so the bottom of it doesn’t get soggy). Once the toppings have set for a bit (about 5 minutes), slice and serve garnished with fresh basil. Repeat the stretching, topping and baking with the remaining ball of dough. Makes 2 to 4 servings.