Through the years I’ve tried several pizza dough recipes. The recipe I’m currently using that I absolutely love is Peter Reinhart’s Sicilian dough recipe. I got the recipe through a free class at Craftsy – Perfect Pizza at Home. I highly recommend this class and since it’s free . . why not take it?
Pizza
I make the Sicilian dough exactly as the recipe is given. It’s a very wet dough and when you first dump it out, you’ll think you’ve messed up. But do the stretch and turn as directed and it turns into the most wonderful, silky, smooth dough ever.
I divide the dough in half and make one pizza and use the other half to make three pans of focaccia, which is perfect served with our eggplant salad.
For the sauce, I brown chopped onions and garlic in a little olive oil, add 2 quart jars of home canned tomatoes, along with the liquid. I cook it down for probably an hour. Add a few basil leaves and a bit of fresh oregano. Most of my tomatoes have been canned with added salt so I don’t add additional salt to the sauce but that may be needed depending on what tomatoes you’re using. Since my home canned tomatoes are a variety of what I found in the garden on any given day, sometimes the sauce needs a little sweet and I add a pinch or two of brown sugar to the sauce if needed.
Since this crust is pre-baked, I mostly use fresh mozzarella cheese. If I’m not using a pre-baked crust, I use the bagged grated cheese because the fresh will burn in the amount of time it takes for the crust to bake.
For toppings, we use all kinds of things — from meatballs to pancetta but if I’m using pepperoni, I always use turkey pepperoni. I find it’s a whole lot less greasy and I really can’t taste much difference from it and regular.
Lee says
Your pizza looks delish! I love onions on a pizza, especially if they’re thinly sliced and get just a touch of crispiness on them. I could eat a pizza with just the sauce, cheese & onion, ummmmm. Back in the late 70s, I worked a 2nd job in a pizza/sandwich shop. Pre-made, semi-baked crusts were used. We repeatedly complimented on our crusts, which I always found to be quite odd. They were good, but sure didn’t compare to fresh-made pizza dough.
Lee says
…should say …repeatedly recieved compliments on…
patti says
is that parchment paper between the crust and pan? i bought a frozen ball of dough from the deli in our local grocery store and am planning to use it with the pizza sauce i made following your suggestions in your post. it is the same dough they use for their “take it and bake it” pizzas. i have limited bandwidth so taking a craftsy class is not in my future, free or not. never thot of baking the crust on its own and then adding toppings.
JudyL says
You should be able to click on the link and download the recipes even without sitting through the videos.
patti says
thank you! i made pizza last nite from your sauce tutorial and pictures and it was really good. for a $.99 ball of dough it turned out much better than i had hoped. this morning i went to the craftsy link, signed up, and downloaded the recipes to try at a future date. also had a light bulb moment, i can go to the library sometime to watch the video if i need. i so appreciate your sharing of info, responses, help, stories, etc. thank you.
Ruth Anne shorter says
Judy, just signed up on craftys.
Linda Steller says
That sounds so yummy!