Homemade Pizza

The craving started after watching "Ever Wondered About Food". A whole episode on pizza. Pizza, Domino's, Papa John's.

The best part for me was when they showed how a genuine Napoletana pizza - nothing but ingredients native and exclusively sourced in France. Strict rules on how strict the pizza dough should be. They have an entire organization devoted to making sure the tradition is kept alive. Wow.

I was not a pizza-lover - well, until I got a taste of New York pizza. I never tried NY pizza in my previous travels. To me, they were all the same. Pizza in the Philippines is the same as pizza anywhere else. I was dead wrong.

In a trip back in 2009, my colleagues from the office wanted to try the local pizza in a NY pizzeria. Off we went to this small restaurant where they gave us a huge, I think 24", pizza placed on top of a beer pail. Oh.My.God. The pizza was amazing! Did I just say I'm not a pizza lover? Well, consider me a convert!

I was able to finish 2 gigantic slices of this awesome pizza! By the way, I had to fold the pizza slice to make sure it fits in my mouth. And no, you can't eat pizza with fork and knife in NY. I don't think you should even do that in Manila, just weird.

So, back to the day I craved pizza this week. I decided to make my own, at home. Pizza with homemade dough.

Pizza dough recipe from Yummy Magazine January/February 2011 issue

• 2 tsps active dry yeast - I used scant 2 tsps instant active dry yeast
• 3/4 cup lukewarm water
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tbsps oil
• 1/4 tsp salt

Combine all-purpose flour, salt and yeast in a bowl. If you're not using instant yeast, you need to put the yeast first in the lukewarm water and let it proof for about 5-10 minutes.

Add the water, oil and salt.

Mix until well combined.

Transfer to a floured work surface and knead for 5 minutes.

Leave, covered with a kitchen towel, for about 20 minutes (the recipe actually says 10 minutes).

Dough should look like this. Don't forget the towel!

Punch the dough and knead for another 5 minutes.

Flatten the dough using a rolling pin.

Transfer to a pizza pan.

Make your own pizza sauce

I would have loved to make the sauce from scratch (boiled and peeled tomatoes cut into chunks, olive oil, oregano, onion) but I didn't have enough tomatoes at home. So I made one from a tomato sauce pouch.

Add dried oregano and/or basil.

Spread on top of the pizza dough and add all the toppings you want. I used sliced leftover salami (from my sandwich baon stash), olives, green bell pepper, mushrooms and cheese.


Bake in a preheated oven at 375F for 10 minutes. The recipe instructions are for 5 minutes but my oven is cranky and needs extra time. As soon as the cheese has melted and the pizza dough is slightly brown, your pizza is done.



Slice and enjoy!

Pawis rating: 2 of 5 - very easy!