My fantastic husband loves to experiment in the kitchen, which is actually a good thing because I really don’t like to cook.
In the nearly 3 years that we’ve been married, he’s finally perfected homemade pizza dough!
Here’s a little back story…
We got married on a Saturday morning right before lunch. That evening, we ventured out for our first meal as a married couple. We were spending the night in the RiverMarket District in Downtown Little Rock, so we decided to take a walk to find someplace nearby to eat. It didn’t take long to find Iriana’s Pizza on East Markham. The pizza was absolutely delicious!
Each year, on our anniversary, we’ve gone back to Iriana’s. This next year will be different, unfortunately, since we no longer live in Arkansas. Now, we’re on a mission to find a local pizza joint in OKC to attempt to carry on the tradition.
In the meantime, Rob has made various versions of homemade pizza. Here are some of his past projects:
These are (unbaked) “Cheesy Logs” and “Pizza Boats”.
Another version of Rob’s Pizza Boats. (Also unbaked) Note the expert placement of the GIANT pepperonis!
He kind of went pizza crazy with this experiment (yet again, unbaked). Pizza Boats, cheesy logs and pizza casseroles! All extremely delicious, but the dough just wasn’t quite right…
Until tonight…
Take a look at this example of baked deliciousness!
Makes you salivate, doesn’t it!!! It tastes even better than it looks!
Here’s Rob’s Perfect Pizza recipe:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups milk
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 oz highly active yeast
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
A jar of your favorite pizza sauce
garlic powder
black pepper
diced onion
chopped green bell pepper
Shredded pizza cheese
Pepperoni or other meat toppings
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees.
In a large measuring cup, heat milk for about a minute until luke warm. Add the tbsp of sugar and yeast and stir until well mixed. Let stand for 10 minutes. In a mixing bowl, combine flour, salt and extra virgin olive oil. Then, add yeast mixture. Stir with a wooden spoon. Keep coating dough with extra virgin olive oil until your are able to work with it in your hands. Roll dough into a ball and leave in mixing bowl, covered with a towel for roughly 10 minutes.
Grease large pizza pan with olive oil. Knead dough for 10 minutes, using olive oil and flour as needed to prevent stickiness to your hands and to the pan. Spread out thinly over the pizza pan coating lightly with flour and rolling the edges for a crust. Next, spoon pizza sauce over the dough, coating evenly and not too thick. Then, sprinkle a little garlic powder and black pepper over the sauce. Add diced onions, chopped green bell peppers (and other vegetables, if desired), cheese and meat toppings. Be careful, if you add too much sauce, cheese and toppings, the crust will not cook properly and be doughy on the bottom.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Pizza is done when the cheese and crust turn golden brown.
Enjoy!!
If you have a good pizza dough recipe or if you have a suggestion on a great local pizza place, feel free to leave a comment.
Until next time…
Happy Blogging!