Mike's Rock 'n Roll Pizza
The Sauce:
- 1 28oz can Regular Pastene Kitchen Ready crushed tomatoes (not Chunky Style, not Salt-Free)
- A little olive oil (about 1 tablespoon)
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1.5 teaspoons salt
Heat the oil in a saucepan, add garlic and oregano. Cook a couple minutes until garlic is slightly yellow. Add salt and tomato sauce. Cook and stir for just a few minutes until the mixture is warm, just enough to dissolve the salt and incorporate the flavors into the sauce. Remove from heat. It's ready. Very simple, yet tasty. This simple sauce is the key taste component. The salt makes the tomato flavor pop! This batch of sauce will make 4 pizzas. It can be stored in the refrigerator for one week.
The Dough:
- 1 envelope Fleischmann's Active Dry Yeast
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 3/4 cup luke warm water
- 1-3/4 cups unbleached flour
- 1-1/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon oil
Put the sugar and yeast in a small bowl, add the warm water and mix it briefly so that all the yeast is wet and it's not sticking to the bottom of the bowl. Let stand for 6 minutes.
Meanwhile, measure the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl, stir to mix. After the 6-minute standing period, add the tablespoon of oil and the yeast liquid and mix. First with a wooden spoon, then with your hands. The dough will be sticky on your hands, but that's ok, keep mixing and scraping your fingers until the dough forms one large ball. Knead the dough ball right in the bowl for a minute or less until all the ingredients are combined.
Turn on oven to 300ºF for thirty seconds only, no longer. Put a few drops of oil into a stainless steel bowl, lightly coat the bowl with the oil using a paper towel. Put the doughball into the bowl and roll around to get some of the oil onto its surface. Cover with a towel and put into the oven (which is now off) for 45 minutes.
Put dough onto a floured board and knead it for 2-3 minutes, adding small amounts of flour to the board as needed when the dough gets sticky. Form it into a smooth ball. Once again, turn on the oven for thirty seconds just to warm the air inside. Re-oil the bowl slightly (do not use too much oil, just a few drops) and roll the doughball around in the oil to coat it. Cover with the towel and let it rise again in the warm oven for another 45 minutes.
This amount of dough will make one 16-inch pizza. Recipe can be doubled or tripled for more dough.
Assembly:
Prepare the pan: spray with PAM, tilt it in the sink and throw corn meal onto it, turning it a few times until lightly coated with corn meal.
Put the dough onto a floured board and start forming it into shape. Pick it up a few times to stretch it if needed. Then roll it out with a rolling pin adding small amounts of flour as needed to keep it from sticking to the board (do not use too much flour at this stage or the crust will be powdery). Roll it to fit the pan then place it on the pan. Turn oven on to 475ºF now.
Add two large spoonfuls (about 2/3 cup or so) of sauce and spread evenly (adjust as desired). Add lots of shredded mozzarella cheese and desired toppings.
Put pizza into the oven and set timer for 12 minutes. Check it at 12 minutes, bake longer if needed so that bottom of crust is lightly browned. Note: cooking time may need adjustment as ovens vary.