Homemade Pizza: Add What You Want To It!

I woke up yesterday knowing it was time to feed my bread starter. I laid in bed wondering what to do with my day and suddenly a fun idea floated across my brain. I asked my son “Do you want to make homemade pizza today?” He looked at me and said “homemade pizza?” I nodded, then said “Yes, we will make the dough from scratch to make individual pizzas, you can make your own, I’ll make mine and Dad will make his.” That was it, I jolted out of bed and started teaching my son the art of bread making. I told him by the time he’s a teenager he is going to be awesome at making his own bread from scratch. If he can do it, so can you.

This homemade pizza recipe is going to be a lengthy one, so let get started…

Ingredients for homemade pizza:

750 grams – water (80 F) plus 50 grams
200 grams – leaven (sourdough starter)
840 grams – white bread flour
150 grams – whole grain wheat flour
10 grams – wheat germ
20 grams – sea salt
White cornmeal for dusting
all purpose flour for dusting
olive oil

You’ll need a pizza baking stone.

Toppings:

Olive oil
pizza sauce (recipe below)
melty cheese of your choice (Mozzarella, cheddar, blue, parmesan or vegan)
kalamata olives (sliced)
asparagus tips
basil
red onion
orange bell pepper (sliced)
mushrooms (sliced)
dates (chopped into 1/2 inch pieces)
pickled jalapeño slices

Directions:

Place a large plastic bowl on a scale and weigh 750 grams of water. Then add 200 grams leaven, 840 grams bread flour, 150 grams whole grain wheat flour, and 10 grams wheat germ to the luke warm water.
Mix thoroughly with a rubber spatula until you no longer see any dry flour bits. Give the bottom of the bowl a good scraping to make sure all flour is incorporated. Add a few drops of water to dough if still a little floury. Cover the bowl with a plastic lid and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
Remove the lid and sprinkle the 20 grams of salt and 50 grams of water to the top of the dough. Mix with rubber spatula by folding the dough onto itself until all salt and water are combined into the dough. The dough will now begin it’s first rise (bulk fermentation). Cover the bowl with a plastic lid and allow to rest for 30 minutes.Dough rises best in warmer temperatures of 80 t0 90 degrees fahrenheit.
Fold the dough every 30 minutes for 3 to 4 hours during bulk fermentaion. To fold, wet one hand with water (this will prevent your hand from sticking) and grab the underside of the dough, stretch it out and fold it over onto itself. Rotate the bowl and repeat this method on the other side. I like to to fold about 4 to 5 times.
After 3 to 4 hours the dough should feel billowy, soft when you dig your hands in and have bubbles within the inside. You will see a 20 to 30 percent increase in the doughs volume. Careful with the dough at this point… handle it gently to avoid pressing the gas out of the dough.
Divide the dough into 5 equal parts, each should weigh 400 grams. Let them rest an additional 30 minutes.
Position a rack to the middle of the oven. Place the pizza baking stone on the rack. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.
Take one of your pizza dough balls (400 grams) and place on a lightly floured surfaced. Shape into a disk, and press 1/2 inch from the edge all around to create a rim. Then continue to pull out into the desired size of your pizza by draping it over the back of your hands, and continue to rotate dough with the back of your hands in a clockwise motion with the aid of your thumbs.
Then take a flat baking sheet or pizza peel and sprinkle it with a gemerous amount of cornmeal then place pizza dough directly on top. This will keep the pizza from sticking and will slide easily onto the pizza stone. If the dough rips, just pinch the dough back together.
Once the dough is ready. Place a tablespoon of olive oil on the inside of the dough and then spread it around the inside circle avoiding the rim.
Pour 1/3 cup of pizza sauce and spread on inside of dough.
Top with 1/3 cup mozzarella cheese, 1/4 cup cheddar cheese, or any cheese of your choice.
Top cheese with olives, asparagus, red onion, orange bell pepper, dates, mushrooms, basil and jalapenos. Or any other ingredients that make you happy.
Shake the baking sheet or pizza peel to make sure pizza is not stuck to it. Then open your oven and carefully slide the pizza onto the pizza baking stone.
Bake in oven for 13 minutes or until crust is golden depending on your oven heat! Remove from oven with pizza peel or a large spatula. Cook each pizza one at a time.
Cut into any shape you want!
Enjoy!