Crushed tomatoes and mozzarella/romano
I’ve had some requests for my Friday-night pizza recipe. Simple family rituals like Friday-night pizza night help keep us centered when the ride of life gets wild. And, when we do something we enjoy with regular routine we start to cultivate a sense of time and place. We prepare our body to take cues from our environment and condition ourselves to receive the good stuff.
This is a base recipe to start playing with. It’s a beautiful starter for learning about bread-making and building a confident understanding. It’s very forgiving. I also sometimes use a sourdough starter or use other flours. This basic recipe is meant to be easy. You can whip up the dough in the morning and have it ready for dinner. But if friends invite you over, throw the dough in the fridge covered with a wet towel- it will be just fine tomorrow.
4 cups of flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast
1 1/2-2 cups of water (the water depends on the humidity and the season)
Combine and knead all ingredients. The dough should be soft and tender but not at all tacky or wet.
Let rise.
Pre-heat oven to 450 degrees. Divide dough in two and gently stretch into disks. Dock all over with a fork.
Par bake the disks on a pizza stone ( I also LOVE my cast iron pizza pan)
You just want them about 1/2 baked. Remove from oven and spread a clove of minced garlic and one spoon of mayo all over with a pastry brush ( each). Yep, sounds crazy but I learned it from a friend about 15 years ago and it’s so important! You can use olive oil, it creates a slightly different texture.
Apply sauce, herbs, and topping of your choice. I like pepper jelly, cilantro and mozzarella with sautéed shiitakes. Or crushed tomatoes and mozzarella. Use a hard mozzarella and just cover the sauce with a thin layer of cheese. Then finish with Romano from a micro plane.
Bake in the oven until the cheese is bubbly and starting to brown. Enjoy, with loved ones, on a regular basis.