Homemade Pizza

There’s no denying that everyone loves a good pizza—whether it is the regular and classic favorite, pepperoni and mushroom, or the new found breakfast pizza.

My father’s restaurant was the first restaurant in the Oakland county that served pizza. He married my mother, who was from Chicago, and brought a pizza oven home to Michigan along with his new bride. The rest is restaurant history.

I am fortunate enough to have a stone pizza oven in my backyard so we have pizza on the regular, and I am often able to experiment with new flavors. Experimenting with different ingredients can be amazing! What’s not to love? Pizza is a great snack but also a great meal, because you have tons of topping options and most of them are healthy. Thanks to all the fabulous cheese, pizza can also be loaded with protein when meat is added.

So, what are the benefits of using a stone oven when making great pizza? For starters, it will come out nice and brown, and the crust will be exceptionally crispy because the oven temperature is around 450 degrees! My oven is a wood burning stone oven and I preheat it 1 hour before cooking.

Pizza Dough Recipe

Print Recipe

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Yeast 1 small package
Salt 1 tablespoon
Sugar 1 tablespoon
Flour 4 cups
Olive oil 2 tablespoon
Water 1 ½ cup of warm water

Instructions

Place the yeast in warm water, add the sugar and wait until it froths.

When done combine flour, sugar, yeast, salt and mix.

As it is mixing, add water and olive oil until dough starts to form. If the dough is wet add more flour until it becomes a ball.

Flour your bench surface and knead the dough until it is firm.

Place dough in large bowl and rub it down with olive oil and cover it— it’s a good idea to place the dough in a warm area so that it can double in size.

Once it has risen, place the dough on your surface with flour and cut it into small dough balls.

Cover again with olive oil and plastic wrap and let it sit for ½ hour.