Occasional Indulgence: Homemade Pizza

Keeping a healthy diet keeps me looking and feeling great. But we all know that sometimes we get those cravings we just cannot ignore. There are a few things in food that I do not mess with and save it for my occasional cheat days. Pizza is one of those things. One of those glorious, oozy, gooey, cheesy things. I prefer to make my own pizza because of the amazing flavor and I know exactly what is going into it.

OCCASIONAL INDULGENCE: HOMEMADE PIZZA

THE DOUGH

INGREDIENTS:

- 1 1/2 cups warm (NOT HOT) water (between 105-115 degrees)
- 1 packet (2 1/4 teaspoons) active dry yeast
- 3 1/2 cups bread flour*
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. In the bowl of your mixer, pour in the warm water and sprinkle in the yeast over it. Let it sit for 5 minutes to allow the yeast to bloom. If by the end of five minutes your yeast hasn't bloomed, your water may be too hot or too cold, or your yeast was too old and was dead already.
2. With your bowl attached to your mixer with the paddle attachment, add the remaining ingredients with your mixer on slow.
3. Once the ingredients are jus coming together, switch to your dough hook and let the dough kneed on medium speed for 10 minutes.
4. Oil a separate bowl and place the dough ball in that bowl. Cover with a tea towel or plastic wrap and let it sit on the counter for an hour and a half to rise. (You can actually let it rise as long as you want after the initial time for added flavor)
5. Put a pizza stone in your oven if you have it (using this creates a really crispy crust) and preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
6. Punch down the dough and let it mellow for 5 minutes.
7. Cut the dough in half, flour your board, and start rolling out your dough. This recipe makes two approximately 12 inch pizzas.
8. Add the sauce (recipe below), cheese and desired toppings. Place on a transferring dish covered with parchment paper sprinkled with cornmeal on top (the cornmeal helps the pizza from sticking and gives an added crunch to the crust)
9. Bake in the oven for 12-18 minutes, until the cheese is beautiful and bubbly.

*Bread flour has a high gluten content (NO gluten does not mean it's bad) which means that the dough will be nice and chewy. You can use all purpose flour here, but it will not yield nearly the same result. Just a heads up.

THE SAUCE

INGREDIENTS:

- A 28oz can of peeled, whole tomatoes, excess liquid drained and seeds removed**

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar

- 2 garlic cloves, minced

- 1/2 teaspoon sugar

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 1 teaspoon dried oregano

- 6 fresh torn basil leaves

- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Place all ingredients into your food processor and blend until smooth. Use immediately or refrigerate until ready to use.

**To get the seeds out of the tomatoes I just lightly squeeze the tomato in my hand into the sink and they kinda pop open and spray the seeds out. The seeds are important to take out because they will make the sauce bitter and not lovely.