I tried my hand at homemade pizza this evening.

January 23, 2020 – I tried my hand at homemade pizza this evening.

         The January & February 2020 edition of Cook’s Illustrated Magazine has an in-depth article on making homemade pizza.  In my 45 years of cooking, I have never attempted it.

         I decided yesterday I would try it; I can only fail or succeed.

         It was edible – the crust tasted fabulous and was light brown and crunchy on the bottom. The shredded cheese shoved around the rim made for a nice extra bit of peel off and eat rim crust called ‘frico’. 

         It passed my muster for my first attempt – I thought the crust was too thick – but it was a perfect thick crust if you like thick crust.  I will make less crust and press it out thinner.

         I made the crust yesterday and spread it out in a pie plate, covered it with plastic wrap and popped it into the refrigerator to “rest” until today. Today I plopped the crust into an oiled cast iron skillet to use as the pizza pan. [The Cook’s Illustrated recipe is designed for a cast iron pan pizza.]

         That is really what makes this pizza.  Since Cook’s Illustrated is a serious corporation, I won’t be copying their recipe for you here, [they would hang me if I plagiarized].  You’ll  need to buy a copy of the magazine, or search for their recipe.

         What surprised me about the pizza dough – you mix the dry yeast into the dry flour before you add the warm water.  Interesting.  In dough making I usually proof the yeast in the water and then add it to the dry mixture.

         I cheated on the sauce – was too lazy to make their sauce – I purchased some organic marina sauce and found some pepperoni by Hormel that has two pouches inside with plenty of sliced pepperoni for about two pizzas. [There is an oxymoron for you – organic sauce with nitrate pepperoni.]

         I only made a 9-inch skillet pan pizza – perfect for the two of us.  Oiled the pan, pressed the dough in, did the cheese on the rim, smoothed ½ cup of marina sauce over it keeping it ½ inch from the edges, topped it with shredded cheese and then arranged on the pepperoni slices on top.

         I went with the 425-degree oven on the lowest shelf and 18 minutes later, it came out perfect.  If you need instructions – you can check out the back of the Hormel package – they walk you through this process easily.

         Now I am a convert.  We had been complaining about the soggy crust or the burnt crust or the under or overcooked pizza, or cold and rubbery pizza that comes from the local pizza places whether we pick them up or have them delivered.  This solves that problem.  Scalding hot right out of my oven.

         Mama Mia! I amazed even myself on this one. I’ll plan on this once a month.  Note to self – buy a pizza wheel for next time.