Homemade Pizza

Pizza is one of my favorite foods and making homemade pizza with my five year old is also one of my favorite things to do! She loves to help me in the kitchen and I have found that pizza making can be a fun activity to do with your kids. She normally helps me rollout out the dough, spread the pizza sauce on top and also place the toppings on the pizza. We are living through such a tough time with this pandemic which has caused most of our kids to learn virtually and be isolated from their friends and classmates. I am always looking for fun things to do with her since we have to be home most of the time. Cooking and bonding in the kitchen over the last few months is something that I hope will be a positive memory for her when she looks back at this unprecedented time in our country.

It isn't hard at all to make your own pizza dough. I personally like homemade over the pre baked pizza crusts that you can find in the grocery store. I also like to use bread flour when making pizza dough. I find that bread flour gives the crust a more crispy consistency that I personally enjoy. You can certainly use all purpose flour if you like a softer crust. If you have a pizza stone, you can shape the dough in a circle but I like making my pizza in a rectangle shape and baking it on a cookie sheet. I hope this recipe and the process of pizza making brings you are much joy as it has brought me and my family.

Ingredients Needed to Make the Pizza Dough

2 cups of bread flour plus ¼ cup for rolling out the dough

1 packet of Rapid Rise Yeast

1 ½ teaspoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

¼ teaspoon of FlavorGod Garlic Lover’s Seasoning

2 tablespoons of olive plus additional olive oil for the baking sheet

¾ cup of warm water

Directions to Make the Pizza Dough

1. Combine 1 cup of flour, rapid rise yeast, sugar, salt and FlavorGod Garlic Lovers Seasonings in a large bowl.

2. Add olive oil and warm water and use a wooden spoon to stir really well.

3. Gradually, add another cup of bread flour and stir until the dough starts to form a ball and starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl. You may need to add a little more flour to reach this consistency.

4. In another large bowl, brush the entire bowl with olive. Make sure to get all sides of the bowl.

5. Dust your hands with flour and form your pizza dough into a round ball and transfer it into the bowl brushed with olive oil. Make sure to roll the ball around in the olive oil so the ball is fully coated.

6. Cover the ball with plastic wrap and then cover with a warm kitchen towel. **Sidenote, I put my clean kitchen towel in the dryer for a few minutes and then put it on top of the bowl.**

7. At this time, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

8. Allow the dough to rise for 30 minutes or until it has doubled in size. If it may take longer to double in size, depending on how warm the room is.

9. Once the dough has risen, deflate the dough with a punch and transfer it to a lightly floured surface and knead it about 2 or 3 times.

10. Use a rolling pin (make sure your rolling pin is lightly floured) and roll out until a rectangle shape that will fit your baking sheet.

11. Drizzle olive oil on the bottom of the baking sheet and sprinkle a bit of mozzarella cheese on top of the oil.

12. Transfer dough to the baking sheet and poke a few holes with a fork into the pizza dough.

13. Spread pizza sauce on top of the dough and add freshly grated mozzarella cheese or use rustic cut mozzarella cheese from the grocery store.

14. Add toppings and bake for about 13 to 15 minutes or until the toppings are golden brown.