Margherita Pizza!

My penultimate day of break, my Mom came home from work and said something she almost never does: Let's order a pizza.

Now, don't get me wrong. The DiVenere family loves pizza. I mean, it's pizza. It's just that usually, our pizza comes in the form of DiGiorno, not delivery. So of course, when my mother decided that we should order out, we had no idea where to order from. The debate over which wonderful Chicago pizzeria to call went on half an hour, until I realized... I can make a pizza. From scratch.

And so, with my family still hotly debating in the next room, I found a crust recipe on pinterest and went to work. Here it is!

First, the crust:

While most pizza doughs use yeast, I knew my family had none of it in the house, so I found a frequently repinned and well-rated recipe for a no-yeast dough. It turned out great- thin and crispy. I actually think that based on the consistency, this crust would be great if making a Chicago-style deep dish pizza.

Before Mixing

1. Combine 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, 2 3/4 tsp. baking powder, 1 tsp. salt, in mixing bowl. Toss together. 
2. Add 1 tbsp. olive or canola oil (I used olive) as well as 3/4 to 1 cup of water. 
3. Use a stand mixer with a dough attachment to mix on a medium speed until dough starts climbing hook.
4. After dough is thoroughly mixed (it won't be very sticky), knead on lightly floured surface for three to five minutes.
5. Roll out to desired thickness and place on pizza pan or stone. Someday I'll do a post with a much more thorough description of how to toss pizza dough, but today is not that day.



After Mixing

6. Set aside while you preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit. 

The best part of making your own pizza is that you get to decide on the toppings. We didn't have any sauce in the house, so I decided to go with a Margherita pizza. 

For those who don't know, Margherita is sauceless, using chopped tomatoes in lieu of a sauce, real, whole-milk Mozzarella, and olive oil. When topping the crust:

• Brush a layer of olive oil onto the crust before adding the other toppings. 
  
• Slice and then chop the mozzarella so that the cheese is evenly distributed.
• Seed and chop your tomatoes. Do this by halving and then squeezing the tomato over a small bowl to catch the juice and seeds. Distribute evenly along crust.
• Add Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper to taste. 
• Place pizza in oven, bake for 15-20 minutes, or until edges are crispy and cheese is completely melted. 

When it's done, you'll have a beautiful, delicious pizza that looks gorgeous, like this: 

It was delicious, and took less than 45 minutes when it was all said and done. And, what's more, it tasted a million times better than your standard 30-minutes-or-less pizzas. Had we had it in the house, I would recommend drizzling balsamic vinegar after taking it out of the oven. I will definitely be making this again.

Now, I'm back in Winona, back in my own kitchen, and able to make sure I stick to a schedule. I'll be posting again on Thursday with a new, fancy twist on grilled cheese. If you have any suggestions for recipes or tecniques to try, please don't hesitate to comment below or email me at dontexpectmiraclesblog@gmail.com. Thanks for reading!