The Minimalist's Pizza

I am truly a diehard pizza junkie. I embrace it and so should you!  Through my many pizza explorations I have learned one common denominator about most excellent pizza; less is often more.  Making great pizza at home is a lot easier than you might think. This recipe will bring “ooohs” and “aaaahs” from the table.  Don’t let the simple ingredient list fool you. It’s through simplicity that the pure flavors of this pizza will shine!

List of Ingredients - (Serves four to six)

Pizza dough:

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 cup of warm water

2 teaspoon of dry active yeast

1 teaspoon of honey

1 teaspoon of salt

*Optional: See paragraph below.

Toppings:

2 chicken breasts cooked and shredded

1 cup feta cheese

1 cup of thinly slices onion

1 cup of diced bell pepper

1 cup of store bought basil pesto

*Making your own dough is not as hard as you might think.  It's actually kind of fun, but for those of you who don't have time you can cheat with a store bought pizza dough.

To make your pizza dough, take one cup of hot water from your tap at home and add to it the honey.  Stir in the yeast and let sit for 10 minutes. You should see foam on top of the water. That is how you know your yeast is alive and working. In a large bowl combine your flour, salt and yeast solution.  Combine until all the flour is absorbed (you may need to add a little water).  Turn out the dough onto a floured cutting board.  This process is where you develop the chewy crust by kneading the dough; you don’t want to skip this step.  Keep adding flower to the board as needed to keep it from getting too sticky.  After about 5 minutes of continuous kneading place the ball of dough into a lightly oiled bowl.  Cover it with plastic wrap and leave it at room temp. to rise for about an hour.  It should double in size. After rising, take the dough out and cut it in half. Form each half into a round shape and cover each again for another half hour.  Now they are ready to be rolled out for the toppings.

Don’t get hung up on trying to make your pizza perfectly round, trust me, making it rustic will add character.  Part of the fun is letting the pizza choose whatever shape it’s going to be as you stretch it out.  Use the pesto as the sauce and thinly coat the dough, you don’t need much.  Add your toppings and it’s ready to bake. 

I highly suggest investing in a pizza stone and pizza peel, it really makes a difference.  If you don’t have a stone you can place the pizzas on a baking sheet no problem.  Cook the pizza hot and fast at 450 degrees.  They should take 7-10 minutes. Watch for a perfectly brown crust and you will know they are ready.