The It’s Not DiGoirno…… OR Delivery, It’s Actually Good Pizza Recipe
Easy, Fast, And Everyone Including You Will Love It!
I used to watch cable news incessantly…maybe obsessively. It started with the 9/11 attack and continued until I finally decided that The Food Network was actually a lot more fair and balanced. It also had added benefits. There was an endless array of new recipes to try that for the most part all seemed to get rave reviews from the two food critics that live with me, my two sons.
So thanks Bobby, Paula, Guy, Alton, et al….when we are hungry, we know one of you will have the solution. And one of the most popular solutions to hunger around here is pizza. Unfortunately, the delivery choices are mostly the chains and we don’t even have to discuss DiGoirno do we? But the problem with homemade pizza has always been time and at least for me, lack of consistency….time to knead the dough, time for the dough to rise, and then time to start over when it didn’t seem to do what it was supposed to do.
But, late one night my older son said he was starving and really in the mood for pizza. I said well, go The Food Network and see if you can find a quick and easy pizza dough recipe and we can check it out. Total success! A search for quick and easy turned up Basic Pizza Dough from Emeril:
Basic Pizza Dough
Recipe courtesy Emeril Lagasse, 2004
- Prep Time:
- 10 min
- Inactive Prep Time:
- 1 hr 35 min
- Cook Time:
- —
- Level:
- Easy
- Serves:
- dough for 1 (15-inch) pizza
Ingredients
- 1 cup warm water (105 to 115 degrees F)
- 1 (1/4-ounce) envelope active dry yeast
- 1 teaspoon honey
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Yellow cornmeal, for sprinkling the baking sheet
Directions
In a large bowl, combine the water, yeast, honey, and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil, stirring to combine. Let sit until the mixture is foamy, about 5 minutes.
Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour and the salt, mixing by hand until it is all incorporated and the mixture is smooth. Continue adding the flour, 1/4 cup at a time, working the dough after each addition, until thedough is smooth but still slightly sticky. You might not need all of the flour. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth but still slightly tacky, 3 to 5 minutes.
Oil a large mixing bowl with remaining olive oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turning to coat with the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm place, free from drafts until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
© 2011 Television Food Network, G.P. All Rights Reserve
So you have this easy, perfect dough ( we only let it rise for 1 hour and it comes out the same as 1 1/2 hours) and we have rolled it out thin, St. Louis style, and rolled it out thicker, New York style, and had success both ways. For the sauce, we use an 8 oz can of diced tomatoes,1 small can of tomato paste, 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil, fresh basil, dried oregano, 1 minced garlic clove, salt and pepper, and 1 tablespoon or so of brown suger. Mix it in a saucepan and heat. I am not great on measuring so you might have to modify or your favorite jar of marinara sauce might be an alternative. After the sauce, add mozzarella cheese and the toppings of your choice. Cook at 450 until the cheese melts and the crust is golden brown.
Girlfriends, this is absolutely foolproof pizza crust, easy, fast and so much better than frozen or most carryouts that you may never eat either again….perfect for the traditional red sauce, pepperoni and kids or perfect for adults, no kids and cheese and sauce that kids won’t eat.
It’s a winner…in fact I may have inspired myself into a Valentine’s pizza for my son and me to have tonight.
Umm…what’s wrong with DiGoirno??? LOL At our house, we use Bobli. It’s a tasty crust all ready for cooking so all you have to do is add your own toppings and cook at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. Delicious!
Oh, Yvonne we definitely have our share of DiGoirnos and Bobolis around here but this recipe is so easy and so good it’s worth it!
Thanks for the recipe! My brother used to make pizza from scratch and it used to take hours. I’m definitely going to try this…..and send the recipe along to him! – SerenaK
Let me know how it turns out!
Mmmmmm….Boston pizza! This recipe can’t compete with that but if the choice is the grocery store, Pizza Hut or Dominos this wins by miles. Face down those fears…and add some of your cranberry chocolate cookies just to make sure!
Marianne –
One of my most favorite memories is eating pizza with my Dad in Boston’s North End. However, btw you and me I’ve always had a “fear of making dough” but if this recipe is as simple as you say, and you’ve had good luck with it, I’m ready to face down those fears!