I’m always tempted to make my own pizza from scratch, but then I stroll past the pre-made dough in Trader Joe’s and it manages to end up in my cart. I can be a sucker for the easy way out. Well, I finally got the itch bad enough and thanks to Smitten Kitchen, I pulled it off using this recipe. I did make mistakes along the way, but in the end, it was still well worth it.
To start with, I got a late start on making my dough. Deb, from Smitten Kitchen, gives you options for making your dough the night before, the morning-of, or as late as lunchtime the day-of. Well, mine got made around 3pm the day-of. It rose, but would clearly have been better had I given it more time.
I used her instructions for the sauce and it was super tasty. I simply strained a can of whole peeled tomatoes and blended them with some garlic, crushed red pepper and a pinch of sugar.
We topped our pizza with fresh mozzarella, basil and pepperoni which is a must in our house.
This is where my second mistake enters. I have a pizza stone and I typically prep my pizza on the stone. However, I know that everything turns out better when it’s heated in the oven. I tried that this time thinking I’d just slide the prepped pizza onto the hot stone when it’s ready. Yeah, good luck with that. Being that I don’t own a pizza paddle, things got ugly. We eventually maneuvered it onto the stone and once it baked it didn’t look nearly as bad. If any of you have a way around this situation (other than buying a paddle), please share your secret!
The true test, my kids, and it passed with flying colors! Madelyn had a full 2.5 pieces (the same amount that I myself had, mind you) and Jack downed his piece as quickly as he could simply so he could have his dessert. He then turned around and finished off the final piece that was left. My apologies for a shirtless daughter, this little mess gets thrown in the tub immediately following dinner.
Now that I’ve made it once, I know I’ll be doing it more frequently. Trying something new always seems so daunting to me, but then I realize how doable it really is. Not that pizza needs to become all that regular around here, but every once in a while ;)
