Best Pizza Dough Evs

I used to think that you couldn't make pizza at home as good as at a pizza joint, but am glad to admit that I was totally wrong.  I think the things that make all the difference are:

 

A) cooking on a stone at a very high temperature 

B) homemade dough and sauce 

C) quality mozzarella, the kind you have to tear into chunks yourself (but don't worry--I make it all the time with pre-shredded mozzarella and it tastes great)

D) (if you really want to put it over the top) veggies and herbs from your own garden--fresh basil is THE BEST, and dry basil will do, but if you don't have either, don't make pizza.

In fact, if you always use the freshest ingredients possible, you're own house will become your very favorite pizzeria.

The "deep dish" stone: before

Deep dish: after

This is the yummy "grownup" pizza I
made with tomato, Canadian bacon, and
oregano from our windowsill herbs.
If you want to have meat on your pizza,
Canadian bacon is the healthiest choice.

I love it that my husband doesn't like pineapple
on pizza . . . because that means MORE FOR ME.
I have pizza greed.

I had an all-wood pizza peel for not quite two years--it split into two pieces and I limped along with that for another year, awkwardly using both halves until I finally bought a metal one with a wooden handle--I've been using it for EIGHT years now.  I also use it for artisan bread, for grilling pizza, and for spatula-ing up other big things on the grill.  

I've tried so many different recipes for pizza dough, but I always come back to this one from my friend Jessica: it's the easiest and the yummiest, and honey is a MUST.  I make pizza at least twice a month, and this recipe can't be beat.  Use olive oil and as little flour as possible for a soft crust.  I usually make three thick crusts instead of four regular crusts.

Here are some step-by-step photos I took of the kids' cheese pizza.

Complement this recipe with Best Pizza Sauce (and topping) Ever.

Best Pizza Sauce (and topping) Ever

You can't go wrong with fresh basil.  And fresh mozzarella.  And homemade pizza sauce.  Mmmm.  No wonder I make pizza so often--just writing this is making me hungry.  I love this sauce because it is easy, cheap, and packed with flavor.  (Use Best Pizza Dough with this recipe--the tomatoes can drain while the dough is rising).

*You really do need to let the tomatoes drain in a fine mesh strainer after you puree them--then the sauce is nice and thick.  When I don't have fresh basil, I use liberal amounts of dried basil in the sauce.

I made yummy "grownup" pizza tonight,
with ham, tomato, and fresh oregano

Flakiest Pie Crust

Homemade apple pie is my very favorite food in the world.

This is more fragile than Never-Fail Pie Crust (which I recommend if you are a beginner--it's the recipe I used all through my college years).  The finished product here is so beautiful, flaky, and delicious I can hardly stand to write about it.

The key to any good pastry is to handle the dough as little as possible.  You want gluten (stringy strands of protein) in your breads, which is why you knead bread dough so much.  But since you want a flaky, airy pie crust  (not rubbery or tough) you don't want gluten to form.  That's why you use ice water, and why a food processor can do the job better than a pastry cutter--you won't be handling the dough as much, therefore it won't warm up, therefore little gluten will form.

I got this recipe from Every Day FOOD magazine (that Reader's Digest-sized Martha Stewart cooking mag) and it was photographed and explained so well that I was sold before I even took a bite.  So I tried to be as good about taking pictures for you.

After the dough comes together, form a ball, wrap in plastic,
then flatten into a 1-inch disk and chill for at least one hour

This is my best pie-crust tip ever: before you roll out the chilled
dough, indent the edges with your knuckles--it makes it so cracks
don't form and you end up with one big, round, pretty pie crust

See?

Another tip: carefully roll the dough around your rolling pin,
then unroll it over your pie dish--it makes transferring the
dough from counter top to pie pan a cinch.

I didn't take pictures of the actual apples.  I used my peeler/corer/slicer to prepare about nine apples.  Most were Pink Ladies, but I think there was a Braeburn and a Fuji in there as well. (People always say to use Granny Smith apples for pie--but they are not my favorite.  Pink Ladies are delicious and crisp, and won't go soggy like a Red Delicious . . . I almost always use three different kinds of apples).  I sprinkle about 2/3 cup of cinnamon sugar over the sliced apples (2 tsp cinnamon to 1 cup of sugar) and coat the apples evenly, then let them sit while I roll out the dough.  You can use a little bit of lemon juice to keep the apples from browning, but I never do. 

I bought this pie top cutter in an Amish village in Missouri--you can
get all kinds of designs online . . . just google "pie top cutter."
It's fun to make a pie that looks so perfect--but it is also a PAIN
to carefully cut out the shapes and remove the stencil.  Fortunately,
this one turned out without cracking the crust. 

Especially for the top, I recommend rolling
up the dough and then transferring.

You don't have to add the "cut-outs"--it looks pretty just like this.

I add the apples because my kids love eating them off the top after
it has baked (some people have a harder time waiting, obviously)

Before I put the dough-apples on top, I brush the whole crust with ice water, using a pastry brush.  It helps the apples stick.  I didn't use an egg wash on this particular pie--just the water.  Then I very lightly sprinkled cinnamon-sugar over the top before placing the pie in the oven.  Here are some tips for the tops of your pies:

My husband was strictly a chocolate dessert kind of guy before he met me.  I love chocolate, too, but nothing really beats a made-from-scratch pie.  He recently told me, in a reluctant-but-satisfied tone of voice, "I hate to admit it, Bec, but I think I like your apple pie just as much as chocolate cream pie."

I have arrived.

(Also, I wish I had the apron that happy housewife is wearing).

Never-Fail Pie Crust

This is not the crust I use anymore (check out my Flakiest Pie Crust recipe), but it was my go-to recipe for years. It's a beginner's crust, and perfect for helping you feel confident about baking pie. It's not a fragile dough and can be re-rolled. With any pie crust or pastry, though, you want to handle the dough as little as possible to prevent the formation of gluten, long strands of protein that are desirable in breads and other "kneaded" foods, but which make your pie crust heavy, tough, and not flaky.

Nanking Cherry Jelly

Old recipe card, do not use
scroll down for new one

This is my very favorite childhood jelly. My dad, who always tours my yard before announcing his arrival when he comes to visit, discovered a few years ago that we have a Nanking cherry tree. A loaded Nanking cherry tree (oops--when I saw it flowering in the spring, I assumed it was another plum tree).

Nanking cherries are small and tart--they are the size of blueberries and have a very small stem. If you have jelly or syrup made from them, you won't be using maple syrup on your pancakes until the last drop drop of Nanking jelly has been devoured. It's that good. And I don't even like regular cherries.



The length of my parents' property is still bordered with about fifteen Nanking cherry trees that my dad has artfully pruned to "bush" size, for easy picking. It's funny how I readily (and wrongly) reminisce that I loved picking cherries as a child, when really I loathed it. My sisters and I would be sent to the side of the house to pick until our buckets were full, and we hated spending our precious July afternoons in such forced labor.

Now that I'm the grown-up, it's easier to see that picking really is the fun and easy part . . . canning the fruit is where the real labor lies: spending your July afternoons indoors, pitting and mashing cherries (with this amazing Food Mill) over a hot stove, is infinitely worse.

 And thanks Mom, for walking me through your fabulous recipe!

It's so worth it.

I'm passing on the tradition of "forcing" my own kids to pick. We don't have fifteen trees (yet), but I hope that they'll be the ones canning some day, looking back with fondness on the July afternoons spent picking, and looking forward to a whole winter (if it lasts that long!) of savoring the fruits of their labors at breakfast time.

Buttermilk Baking Powder Biscuits

These biscuits are part of my husband's favorite breakfast (along with sausage and eggs). I always make them on Father's Day, Allen's birthday, and whenever I am about to make a large purchase.

I joke, I kid.

I replace the "buttermilk" (milk+vinegar) with kefir (Click here for my What is Kefir? post) for pretty much any recipe on this site that calls for buttermilk, because I always have kefir, and it tastes just as good and costs next to nothing when you brew it yourself.

These are extra yummy and flaky when I bake them in my deep-dish pizza stone.

Sourdough version:

I just make the biscuit dough like normal, then mix in my sourdough discard (it was a whole cup for the ones below--it adds a great sourdough flavor, but they still rise as fluffy as ever because I don't omit the baking powder.

Rhubarb Cake

Every single person I have served this to has begged for the recipe.  I had to try it after my friend Marilyn told me that the friends of her kids asked their moms, "I want you to make that rhubarb cake that Tommy's mom makes . . . for my birthday."  This cake is birthday-request-level.  

You probably already have everything you need to make this cake, except maybe RHUBARB . . . but did you know you can buy a rhubarb crown on amazon?  It's pretty cheap, for something that comes back a little bigger and better every year.

Did you know rhubarb is sometimes called "pie plant"?

Toss two cups chopped rhubarb with just enough flour
to coat each piece before you mix it into the batter

The cake is made with shortening, and with the crumble/streusel on top, it's similar to a coffee cake.  But it doesn't dry out like a coffee cake--the bits of rhubarb in the batter ensure a moist crumb.  And, of course, the sweet-tart rhubarb sauce and whipped cream take it over the top.

*One note: I add 3-4 drops of red food coloring to the sauce right before serving.

You're welcome, world.

Italian Wonderpot: a one-pot winner!

Since Cori introduced me to this recipe, it has been a staple in our meal rotation.  And it's so versatile, because you can make substitutions easily and deliciously.  

• I have used fettucine, penne, bowties, and even angel hair as the pasta.  
• I have made it with shrimp, cooked it with canned clams, used with rotisserie chicken, I've prepared it with Italian sausage and with smoked sausage, and I have even *GASP* served it without any meat (though technically, it's cooked in chicken stock: homemade chicken stock instructions below).  
• Speaking of which, you can swap out the stock for vegetable broth and make it vegetarian
• Use nutritional yeast instead of the parmesan and make it vegan
• I have used frozen spinach instead of fresh--you just add it with the broth instead of at the end (and actually, the original recipe called for 8 ounces of frozen spinach)
• You can use fresh garlic or minced from a jar
• You can leave out the red pepper flakes if your kids don't like "hot" spices
• I have used Italian seasoning blend when I've been out of dry basil (a problem in our house)
• Speaking of basil, the photo below has fresh basil in lieu of spinach, because I had neither fresh nor frozen on that day

Once you have made it a few times, you'll be substituting your own favorite ingredients according to your family's tastes.  Every person in my house is excited when I make Italian Wonderpot, and I usually double the chicken stock and the pasta so there's more to go around. 

I make chicken stock in the InstantPot and freeze until I need it--place a rotisserie chicken carcass in your InstantPot, add water until just covered, and pressure cook for 20 minutes.  Pour stock through sieve, let cool, and freeze in a Tupperware container until you need it for Italian Wonderpot.

I am so glad I finally got the motivation to make a recipe card--this is an easy, delicious, satisfying meal  that needs to be shared!