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Pizza. Oh, how I love thee. There's just something about bread, melty cheese, and endless varieties of toppings that just make me happy. Now I LOVE bread (you know those people who eat raw cookie dough when making cookies, when I make bread I eat the raw bread dough... seriously), but I am not a fan of deep dish pizzas. too.much.crust. In fact, they irk me. Pizza to me is all about the cheese and toppings. I started making my own pizza at home a couple of years ago, you know, buying the pre-made crust, the pre-made sauce, add the toppings and cheese, and viola pizza is served. Now I prefer to make my own crust and sauce. Even though it's all about the cheese and toppings, you need to have an awesome base to start with. That's like a beautiful woman or a handsome man having no personality or being an idiot or being a bitch, if your crust sucks than your cheese and toppings aren't going to get you far in life (unless someone just wants to use you for your cheese and toppings... I digress...). I promise it is really easy too. You need to have iron skillets or oven proof skillets.

Dough (makes 2 individual pizzas or 1 big one):
ingredients:
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 1/8 teaspoons highly active yeast
1/2 cup warm water
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups flour

directions:

combine the sugar, yeast, and water in a bowl. not going to lie, I don't take the temperature of the "warm" water, I go by how it feels. you don't want the water to be too hot or the water will kill the yeast, but you don't want the water to be too cold or the yeast will not be activated (yeast is alive). mix and let it sit for about 10 minutes, it will be nice and foamy at the top. add in the salt and olive oil. add the flour a little at a time (1/2 cup or so) and mix. once I get to about 1 cup mixed in, I dump the mixture onto a lightly floured surface (my countertop) and mix the rest by hand. knead for 8 minutes. oil the countertop and the top of the dough and place a damp towel over it, let rise for 2 hours. after 2 hours punch the dough down, split it in half, cover, and let rise another 2 hours.

Sauce:

the sauce is super easy to make! all you need is good quality crushed tomatoes (I used San Marzano), salt, red pepper flakes, basil, and garlic powder. the tomatoes you use is important because the better quality, the less you have to do to it. I take out as much sauce as I think I will be using and mix in the unmeasured spices. I say you can never have too much basil or red pepper flakes.

directions:

place your skillet in the oven and preheat it on high broiler. roll out your dough to the desired thickness and size (remember it needs to fit in your skillet). roll the outer edge over. take the skillet out and place the dough in it. top with sauce, toppings (this time I used onions and green bell peppers), and cheese (I used mozzarella pearls and asiago). place on the middle rack in the oven and cook for 6 - 7 minutes on high broil. take out and turn the stove-top on between medium and high and cook the pizza for 2 - 3 minutes. watch very carefully so the pizza doesn't burn on the bottom. this way, to me, gets a perfect crust on top and bottom, but still is chewy.
It is the perfect portion for my selfish self (I guess I'm not that selfish, I made Ben his own too).