Je suis une Pizza!

You guys know me, I don't brag much

*pause for laughter*

But I'm a pretty good cook when I set my mind to it. I have lots of roommates so it gives me a good chance to make something and shove it down their throats as test subjects. Lately my big thing has been making pizzas. Last Friday at work I decided I really wanted pizza. And I mean I really wanted pizza.

The problem though is that pizza in Grande Prairie costs way too much, and even the Poverty Pizza joints are too expensive. Back in Brandon, Manitoba, I could get two extra large 'Zas and a 2 litre of soda for 24 bucks. That's a pretty good deal. Also, I could order cappicolo on that pizza, which isn't something you find often here in Canada. At least in my experience. I will say though that those pizzas were of medium to low quality. It obviously isn't some Italian Joe's F'n Amazing Pizza. You're getting what you pay for.

Anyway, pizza is just too damned expensive. Luckily I've always liked making my own. I've never had to deal with making dough because I would always buy the thin crust pizza shell at my local grocery store. It was amazing. It's the best thin crust pizza base I've ever had. But I can't find it anywhere but in my hometown, so for the first time I had to make my own dough.

I found a recipe, bought the ingredients and set out to make me some pizza from scratch.

Here's the recipe I used from Recipes.Robbiehaf.com

.25 oz. pkt. active dry yeast

1/4 tsp. granulated sugar

3/4 cup 110 degree water

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. salt

pizza sauce - of your choice,

as needed shredded cheese - of your choice,

as needed toppings - of your choice,

-Dissolve yeast and sugar in water; allow to rest for 8 minutes.
-In a separate bowl, combine flour and salt.
-Pour yeast mixture over flour mixture and mix well with a heavy spoon.
-Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for 2 minutes.
-Working from the edges to the center, press dough into a 12" circle. We've also found that holding the dough up, off the counter and stretching it works well, too (keep rotating the dough circle as you stretch to keep an even circle forming).
-Place dough on a lightly greased pizza pan and stretch dough to edges.
-Spread sauce over crust and top with cheese and desired toppings.
-Bake in a 500 degree oven for 8-12 minutes, or until edges are golden.

It works pretty darn well actually. Anyone can figure this one out. The nice thing is that because it's a thin crust you don't have let the dough rise or anything. So you don't waste any time waiting around doing nothing.

But it still isn't thin enough. The crust I used to buy was almost a pastry. It was flaky and delicious. Further research is warranted, I suspect I'll have to search high and low for the secret recipe. As far this dough goes though it's okay. It's actually a really good start point, and it's easy as all hell to make. Fifteen to twenty minutes is how long I'd say it takes.

The first pizza I made was okay, but the roommates gave it mixed reviews. I put down the dough, used lots of sauce, a layer of salami, then cheese, then pepperoni, then mushrooms, then mo' cheese.

These are the remnants of my second pizza. I took the rest of it to work for lunch today because I liked it so much I decided not to share the leftovers. I've also hidden it in my desk because I have trust issues when it comes to food.

It got rave reviews from my roommates. This time I skipped making a round pizza (there was too much dough the first time and the round pan was too small) and just flattened out the dough in a cookie sheet. I made it as thin as I could, but it still rose quite a bit. The underside got good and roasted, so it had a satisfying crunch, while still being fluffy on the top.
I did basically the same thing as the first one for toppings, but left out the salami and put more pepperoni in there. The salami I used before was some weird European variety. It seemed that they were out of the regular stuff so I figured “How different can it be?”

Turns out they can be a lot different. Disgustingly different in fact.

So if anyone has any ideas of different ingredients I could use in the crust to improve it or has any pizza making tips, they would be much appreciated.