We have been studiously mastering the homemade pizza ever since I had a craving for it a few months ago. That first week we had it for lunch and dinner. It’s really easy and I have put the recipe we have been using at the bottom, though it’s full of store-bought things!

Some great tricks of note that are crucial to the cooking process:

1. Pre-bake the dough after rolling it out, even just for a few minutes; pre-baking makes the dough easier to handle and allows you to load up the toppings (and tomato sauce) without it getting soggy
2. Heat up garlic & olive oil and apply liberally after baking for a few minutes but pre-tomato sauce, it adds a layer of depth, tastiness and crisps up the top nicely!
3. A wooden pizza peel goes a long way in helping you slide the pizza onto the rack! We recommend cooking directly on the wire rack so that it can crisp underneath — we advise putting a baking tray on the rack below to catch drip!
4. Change the temperature at the end of cooking! We cook it in a 425 oven for 10-12 minutes and then blast it up to 500 for the last few minutes, you have to watch closely but it adds a layer of crispiness and removes any sogginess!!!!

As for the recipe, we have been favoring the dough from Whole Foods (you can ask at the pizza station if you don’t see it), which makes two pizzas.

Let the dough “proof” or sit out and double in size for about an hour before cooking. If you buy it frozen, it will need to defrost in the fridge and proof in room temperature but make sure to remove from the plastic bag and put in a bowl with some flour, otherwise it will be a sticky mess!

We use the whole foods mozzarella & pizza blend and the Rao’s homemade tomato sauce is our absolute FAVORITE!! We layer up with vegetables: each pizza with 1/2 a pepper, 1/4 white onion and some mushrooms adn sometimes ham! We use half a large ball of mozzarella on each pizza!

Order of play:

• Pre-heat oven to 425
• Proof dough and roll out
• Put in oven for 2 minutes or until slightly cooked
• Prepare olive oil (a nice hearty glug) and 2 garlic cloves on stove top until sizzling
• Remove dough from oven, layer on olive oil garlic with pasty brush all the way to the edges
• Add three heaping tablespoons of Roa’s
• 1/2 a ball of mozzarella as the base
• Pepper nicely
• Add a layer of vegetables
• Add a hearty, heaping layer of pizza blend cheese, pepper and put in the oven for 10-12 minutes (watch closely!)
• Up the temperature to 500 for the last two minutes of cooking
• ENJOY!!!!!!!