I just made a bunch of ham and what I really wanted was a ham pizza. So, instead of going to the grocery store and purchasing a premade crust, I figured I would try my hand at making one.
Ingredients: (makes 1 medium or 2 small)
2 cups of All Purpose Flour
2 cups of water
1 package of yeast (traditional)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
The first thing you need to do is activate your yeast. I poured my yeast into a little bowl and put 1/4 cup of warm water to dissolve the yeast. Then, I added my teaspoon of sugar. Just leave it for about 10 minutes and it should have expanded and almost doubled in size.
From here, I mix together the flour and salt and the yeast mixture. Then I slowly combine with the rest of the water in stages. I keep mixing until a ball of dough forms. My dough ball here was much more sticky than it probably should have been, but I left it anyway. Just knead it for a few minutes and when you’re ready, let it sit to rise and rest. I put saran wrap on top and left it for about 45 minutes.
After the ball of dough has doubled in size, you can knead it out on a floured surface to the crust shape you like. I didn’t use a pizza tray or anything as I like it kind of rustic, so I just rolled out a thick crust of a random shape on my silicon mat.
After I got my crust ready, I now preheat my oven to 425F and I start decorating my pizza with toppings. I do this rather gently as I’m probably letting it rise again for the second time as I wanted my crust more bread like.
When your pizza is topped with all the goodies you would like, pop it into the oven for about 25 minutes. It comes out delicious, kind of like a pizza bread! 🙂 You could have brushed the crust with butter or oil or even egg wash if you like a prettier crust. I just left mine as is.
Now, after the cooking period, take the pizza out of the oven, and slice it if you want – but you’re ready to enjoy a simple and delicious home made pizza!
