News broke last week about a chef who lost more than 100 pounds while dining on pizza every single day. The caveat? He made his own pizza, including the dough, and topped it with homemade sauce, fresh mozzarella and basil. And yes, of course, he exercised daily.
But since February 9 is National Pizza Day, let's focus on the making your own pizza factor in this equation.
Yes, you could definitely place an order for your favorite delivery pizza, and sit on the couch while you wait for them to bring it to your door.
Alternatively, you could dig in, make your own pizza, and even get a little bit of an upper body workout when you knead the dough.
I shared this recipe last year, with a story of how my friends and I used to go door-to-door in my neighborhood, washing cars to raise money to have a pizza party picnic in a park in the small, upstate New York town I grew up in.
We'd wash just enough cars to pay for a large, rectangular deep-dish pizza from the neighborhood pizza joint. This recipe reminded me of that pie.
Once I published the recipe, friends pointed out that the rectangular, deep dish pizza that cooks in olive oil and has cheese spread right to the edges of the crust might also share some characteristics with classic Detroit-style pizza.
As an aside: Don't have the patience to wait for the dough to rise? Maybe today, just this once, you could buy your favorite premade pizza dough. But try this crust recipe sometime soon - it really is gratifying to make your own.
Recipe Tips:
Make sure you're using fresh yeast. Not sure? Do a quick test with a cup of 80-95 degree water and a teaspoon each of yeast and sugar. If the yeast doesn't start foaming in ten minutes, your yeast is probably expired.
Did I mention water temperature? Also important, and instructions vary wildly across cookbooks and the internet on what the best temp is. My trial and error put the range around 80 to 95 degrees. Too much warmer and the heat kills the yeast. Too cold and it won't activate.
Now about cheese. On a round pie, you leave a nice crust so you have something to hold on to, right? Don't do that with this one. Spread that cheese all the way out to the edges so you get some beautiful, melty, crunchy cheese crust. You'll be glad you did.
Classic Grandma Pizza Pie - recipe adapted from Bon Appetit
The dough
1 envelope active dry yeast (about 21/4 tsp.)
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoons oil, plus more for bowl and baking sheet
2 teaspoons kosher salt
4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for surface
Combine sugar and 11/2 cups warm water (80 to 95 degrees) in a large bowl; stir in the yeast and let stand until yeast starts to foam, about 10 minutes.
Mix in 2 Tbsp. oil. Then combine the salt and 2 cups flour and stir it in. Add another 2 cups flour, one cup at a time. Mix until incorporated and a shaggy dough forms.
Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until soft, smooth, and elastic, about 10-12 minutes. You could use the dough hook on your stand mixer, but why? Kneading dough is cathartic. Plus, your Fitbit will read the activity as additional steps for the day. Win-win!
Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Chill in the refrigerator overnight.
Grease an 18x13" rimmed baking sheet with a generous amount olive oil. Gently and gradually stretch dough until it reaches the edges of baking sheet. (If dough springs back or is stiff to work with, let it rest 10 minutes before continuing. You may need to let it rest more than once.)
Cover dough on baking sheet tightly with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place (but not too warm!--about 70deg is ideal for yeast to grow) until it is puffed and full of air bubbles, 30-40 minutes. We keep my house too cold, so I set the baking sheet on the stove top and turned the oven on to around 300 degrees. The dough got a nice rise.
The sauce
1 28-oz. can whole peeled tomatoes, drained
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Combine tomatoes, tomato paste, garlic, olive oil and basil leaves in a food processor or blender until mostly smooth.
This recipe makes 3 cups, which is enough for two pies. It freezes well.
The pizza
pizza dough
1 1/2 cups fresh tomato sauce
2 1/2 cups grated mozzarella cheese (grate it yourself for better melting)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
as much pepperoni as you like on your pizza (none is also fine!)
optional flaky salt and red pepper flakes
Place a rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 475 degrees.
Once dough has risen on baking sheet, spread the sauce over the dough, then scatter the cheese across the entire pie, all the way up to the edges. Layer on the pepperoni and then bake pie until golden brown and crisp on bottom and sides, approximately 20-30 minutes.