Ben’s Home Cooking - Western Menu

Western Menu

Pizza

Pizza is surprisingly inexpensive to make from scratch. It only takes 6 ounces of Mozzarella cheese to top a 16 inch pizza. Toppings only require a little bit of each item, or the pizza becomes a mound that sags under its own weight when you pick it up.

1½ pounds Roma Tomatoes
3 or more cloves Garlic
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1 Tablespoon Basil
1 teaspoon Oregano
½ teaspoon ground Black Pepper
Salt to taste
3 cups Flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 packet dry Yeast
1 cup warm Water
6 ounces grated Mozzarella Cheese
¼ cup grated Parmesan Cheese
Start with ¼ cup each of whatever other toppings you want; they add up really fast.

The sauce

The tomatoes should be peeled and this is actually quite easy. Boil enough water to cover the tomatoes and remove from heat. Add the tomatoes to the freshly boiled water and leave to sit for 1 minute. Remove the tomatoes from the hot water and plunge into cold water. Let tomatoes sit in the cold water for 1 minute. If the tomatoes have not been gentically modified, they will now be easy to peel with your fingers. After the tomatoes are peeled, purée them in a blender.

Mince the garlic and sauté it in the olive oil without browning it until its aroma is released. Add puréed tomatoes, basil, oregano, and black pepper. Add salt to taste. Simmer for as long as you like, it will only get better. You may need to add a little bit of water from time to time, but since it’s pizza sauce you want it to be thick.

The crust

The next step is to make the dough for the crust. Pizza crust is yeast bread plain and simple. You can use these instructions for making loaves of bread too. Mix 2 cups of the flour together with 1 teaspoon salt and the yeast. Add the warm water and stir well. Gradually stir in more of the flour until the dough becomes too thick to stir anymore.

Put the dough on a heavily floured board and knead it. There is an art to kneading bread dough. Shape the dough into a ball. Press into the ball with the heels of your hands, making it roll forward and altering its shape. Then pull on the dough with your fingertips, rolling it back to its starting position. Do this 3 times, then rotate the dough one quarter turn. Fold the log of dough in half crosswise, to make it more ball-like. Repeat this process for about 10 minutes and keep working in more flour as you go.

The dough will gradually become less sticky and more elastic. When the surface of the dough is no longer sticky when not covered with flour, rub it down with some olive oil, put it in a clean oiled bowl, and cover it with plastic wrap. Leave the dough in a warm place, about 80 degrees Fahrenheit, for about 1 hour. During this time it will rise. If the dough rises too much it will collapse and its texture will be ruined. Test the rising process for doneness by pressing your fingertips into the dough. When the impression they make ceases to spring back, the dough has risen as much as it should.

Now you punch your fist into the dough as many times as it takes to knock all the gas out of it and make it small again. If you’re making loaves of bread you should repeat this rising and punching down process one more time, but with pizza crust this is optional. Shape the dough into a ball and allow it to rest for 10 minutes before pressing it out into a 16 inch pizza pan.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Let the pizza crust rise for about 15 minutes before putting it in the oven. In order to have a crust that isn’t soggy, you must bake the crust half way before putting on the toppings. Bake the crust for 10 minutes, then remove it from oven and put on the sauce and toppings.

Finishing it up

Spread the sauce over the crust, you will probably have more than you need, so don’t feel compelled to use it all. Sprinkle on the cheese and whatever other toppings you like. Toppings add up really fast, so start out slow. Some vegetables dry out during baking. You can remedy this by sprinkling a little bit of cheese over them. If you’re going to use Italian sausage, pan fry it and drain the fat before putting it on the pizza.

Return the pizza to the oven and bake it until the cheese starts to bubble, about 10–15 minutes. The pizza will need to cool for a while before you eat it, or you’ll burn your mouth.