Veggie Pizza

When I am back at home in New York, my boyfriend and I really enjoy making homemade pizza together, and we always get our dough from the local pizza place. When I moved to DC, I realized I was going to have to find another way to get my pizza dough, since I'm sure Jumbo Slice wouldn't be able to cater to my needs. Back in college, my roommate Julianne was extraordinary at creating pizza masterpieces with a batch of Stop & Shop pizza dough, so my DC roommate Danielle and I traveled to our local grocery store, but were unable to find any pizza dough. Thankfully, I had another great college roommate - Ashley - to help me, and her fiance had the PERFECT recipe for homemade pizza dough! Easy to make, and absolutely delicious, this recipe makes for 3 servings of pizza dough, which you can easily store in your freezer to use at your leisure! I like to make the dough on a Sunday afternoon when I have about 15 minutes spare time.

To make the dough, you will need:

• 5 cups bread flour
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 packet of yeast (about 2 tablespoons)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 3/4 cups room temperature water

What to do for the dough:

Incorporate all the ingredients into a large bowl and let it rest for 5 minutes. Then, knead the dough for about five minutes until it develops a fluffy, dough-like consistency. If you feel that your dough is too damp and sticky, add bread flour by the tablespoon until you get the consistency you are looking for. 

Then, oil up 3 zip-lock sandwich bags, separate the dough into 3 equal-sized sections, and put each section into its own bag. You can throw them all into the freezer if you aren't making pizza until later on in the week. If you plan on using one that day, just put it in the fridge for 3-5 hours. Take the dough out of the bag and place it in a bowl on your counter for 45 minutes prior to cooking so that it can rise.

Now... the fun part - putting together the actual pizza!! Clean off an area of counter space and wipe it clean to use for rolling out the dough. Spread a thin layer of all-purpose flour over your work area. Add another thin layer of flour to whatever you will be cooking your pizza on (pizza stone or baking sheet). This will prevent the pizza from sticking to the pan.

What you will need:

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup tomato sauce (this amount can vary depending on personal preferences)
• 1 clove garlic
• Dry Italian seasoning herbs (choose depending on personal preferences)
• 1 bag shredded mozzarella cheese (or more if you like cheesy pizza!)
• Vegetables and other toppings of your choice

Preheat oven to 425°F. Now place your pizza dough on the counter and spread it out with your fingertips until it is the shape you desire. Then, place it onto the stone or pan. I like to have the dough drape over the edges a bit so I can stuff the crust with cheese. If you choose to do this - sprinkle shredded mozzarella cheese on the surface of the dough, along the edge of the cooking surface. Then fold the dough over so that it covers the cheese, sealing it onto the rest of the dough by pressing the prongs of a fork onto the dough. Top it off by sprinkling a thin layer of garlic powder over the crust.

Once the dough is situated on the cooking surface, spread a thin layer of olive oil on top of the dough. Sprinkle some minced garlic and seasoning herbs atop the olive oil, spread some tomato sauce on, toss a good amount of mozzarella cheese all over the surface, and you are ready to add toppings!

Toppings are entirely up to the chef. For this meal, I chose to use chopped red onion, fresh spinach, tomatoes, chopped yellow peppers, and fresh parsley sprigs. You can add mushrooms, meats, clams... anything really!

Once you're all set with the toppings, transfer the pizza to the oven for approximately 12-15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden. Two minutes before the pizza is ready to be taken out of the oven, transfer it to the bottom shelf of the oven so that it gets a nice, crispy crust. After taking the pizza out, let cool for 5 minutes prior to slicing. Once it is cooled, divide it up in slices and you're ready to eat!