Piper's Perfect Pizza

My pizza making abilities are legendary (in my own family, at least), and I've decided to share my deep dark secrets with the world. A good pizza, in my house, starts fairly early in the day, a few hours before dinner is scheduled, but this pizza can be ready in about an hour. I like to have all my ingredients on hand and within easy reach, so that I don't have to rush about at the last minute looking for this or that. I also like to have a variety of ingredients so that each family member can pick out exactly what they want. The recipe can be altered in a number of ways, and I'll talk about those as we go. You want a versatile recipe that is hard to mess up. This is it. Ready? Good!

Now, I'm a very off-the-cuff sort of chef. I rarely measure, and even more rarely do I pay really close attention to timing. But I've got this pizza thing down to an art form. My kids get wild when they find out pizza is on the menu, and my husband gets a glimmer in his eye that tells me the pizza is more exciting to him than I am. What can I say? It's good stuff!

You'll want to read through the instructions first, then make your grocery list out with the recipe at hand (recipes at the end of the article). I always make my sauce first, and depending on the time of year will dictate what ingredients I use. I've made fresh sauce with ripe crushed garden tomatoes, garlic, vegetables and spices; and I've used a standard premade sauce. Both are fine to use and will work well for your purposes. Either way, if you are using a ground meat, like Italian sausage, you will want to simmer the cooked crumbled sausage in your sauce so that the flavors meld together nicely.

For your crust, you'll need a big bowl. Now, I make a lot of pizza. I have three sons and a hungry husband, and they eat a lot, and we like leftovers. You can easily halve this recipe for a smaller family, or double it for a party. Dissolve your yeast in warm water (warm, not hot, to the touch). This usually takes about five minutes. Once it is dissolved, add the sugar, oil, and garlic powder and stir well. If your oatmeal (and you can use the quick oats or slow oats, no big difference for our purposes) isn't already ground to a flour, now's the time to do it. Just dump it into the blender dry, and hit liquefy. In about 30 seconds, you should have oat flour.

You can buy oat flour, but trust me on this, its much cheaper to go this route. You can also use whole wheat flour, but it does alter the texture of the pizza dough. We like our dough soft, like the ones you'd find at a pizzaria. Oats do this. If you aren't concerned about the amount of fiber in your diet, you can use all white flour and skip this step entirely.

Add in your oats first. Use your mixer at low setting, and mix just until the dough is mixed. It should be shiny and stretchy. If you are going to hand knead, you need to stir in one cup of white flour and start kneading your dough out, adding the second cup of flour as you go. If you are using your mixer, switch out your blades for the dough hooks (and make sure your mixer is specifically designed for this purpose or you will blow out the motor). Add in all the white flour at once. For a mixer, I knead about 5 minutes. By hand, I knead a little longer, until the dough springs back when I push it in with my finger. One note: do not use all whole wheat or all oat flour unless you know what you are doing.

At this point, the dough is ready to sit. Let it rest in a well-oiled bowl, in a warm place, covered by plastic wrap or a towel. I usually just set it on the stove, over the preheating oven. It should double in size in about 15 minutes (maybe less, if you are using rapid rise yeast).

Once it rises, separate it out into balls and roll each out into a pizza. I spray my rolling pin and my disinfected counter with spray oil - again, olive as a first choice and canola as the second. You can then transfer these rounds onto a greased cookie sheet or a pizza stone. Bake in your 400 degree preheated oven for 5-8 minutes. It will not be done, but it will be drie on the top. Pull it out. Now is the time to dress it.

Hopefully, you've aleady thought about how you'd like to top this delightful pizza. My family prefers either the sauce recipe at the bottom of the article, or a premade sauce such as the kind Hunts or Del Monte makes (the spaghetti sauces, not pizza sauces). But don't limit yourself! Here are some ideas to get you started:

1. Sliced tomatoes, fresh chopped basil and oregano, freshly sliced shredded mozzarella cheese.

2. Cooked chicken in hot wings sauce and sliced red onions, covered with mozzarella (or chicken in barbecue sauce with cheddar).

3. Traditional Italian sausage, pork sausage, or ground beef.

4. Veggies like onions, bell peppers (get the multi colored for a fun dash of color!), olives, etc.

5. Traditional pepperoni or turkey pepperoni (we like the turkey because it gets nice and crisp)

6. Adding pineapple to any of these for an unexpected sweet kick.

7. Or, and this is also a favorite around here, sprinkle with McCormick garlic and herb seasoning, then top with layers of cheese and bake for cheese sticks.

8. Another little hint: any of the above do really well with a blend of shredded mozzarella and cheddar cheeses. You can buy these premixed or you can buy bags of each and sprinkle them on in layers. I do not recommend the fat-free varieties, but the low-moisture reduced fat are fine.

9. Mix browned ground beef with taco seasoning, layer on with diced tomatoes and onions, then cover with a Mexican four cheese blend, taco cheese, or cheddar cheese.

10. One final option that I've not yet tried, but I've heard it adds a wonderful flavor while keeping the heat out of your kitchen -- baking your pizza on an outdoor grill.

Bake your topped pizza until the cheese is melted and bubbly, usually another 10 minutes, and serve hot.

Many people are intimidated by bread baking, and I'm living proof that you don't have to be a kitchen whiz to do it. Yes, I cook, and I enjoy cooking, but I am far from a 4 star chef. If you have some time to spare and can follow a few simple directions, you can make this pizza. And you can make it as easy or complicated as you'd like, by using freshly homemade sauce or premade sauce. You can make it elaborate or simple, with lots of toppings or few. You can even make it healthy or not (heh) by using the whole wheat or oatmeal flour or just using all white flour. You can switch out canola oil for olive. If you don't like garlic powder, you can skip it. You can use any kind of cheese you like. You can do whatever your little heart desires; just remember to have fun!

Pizza Crust

2 c warm water
2 packages active dry yeast (rapid rise or regular is fine)
2 cups oatmeal, whirred in the blender to a flour (or whole wheat flour or white flour)

2 cups white flour
2 tbsp. Olive oil (or canola oil)
1 tbsp. Garlic powder
2 tbsp. Sugar

Pizza sauce (optional)

3 crushed whole tomatoes
2 tbsp. Olive oil (or canola)
½ cup chopped onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 can tomato sauce
1 can tomato paste
2 tsp. Basil
2 tsp. Oregano
1 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Pepper
1 tsp. sugar

Saute onions and garlic in oil just until the onions look clear. Add in tomatoes, paste, and sauce, stirring thoroughly, followed by seasonings. Simmer until ready to use.