Friday Night Pizza

Homemade pizza with caramelized onions, served on my pottery plates.

Pizza is in my blood! My mom, whose parents came from Sicily and Italy, made pizza often. We had pizza at midnight on New Year's Eve, thick slices of Sicilian style pizza with pepperoni. Or a pizza stuffed with caramelized onions.

I lived in Chicago in the early 1980's and LOVED their deep dish pizza, especially the ones with spinach in the filling. When I moved to Massachusetts, I would bring home frozen spinach stuffed pizzas when I had to travel to Chicago for business.

Far from my mother and the pizzerias of Chicago, every Friday night for the last 20 years or so, we make pizza. It's a thin crust pie, baked on a pizza stone, easy and delicious. Here's what I do:

Pizza Dough

3 cups flour*

1 cup warm water (for proofing the yeast)

1 T honey or sugar

1 T yeast (or one packet)

1/4 cup olive oil

salt

* You can play with the flour by mixing in different kinds of flour. I love King Arthur's Italian-style flour. It's made with a low-protein red winter wheat flour that gives you a tender crust that's easy to shape. I get it at their store in Norwich Vermont, but you can also purchase through their catalogue or on-line. It makes the best pizza crust I've ever had. I've also substituted up to a cup of flour with a cup of whole wheat flour. Or try it the way they do in Chicago; substitute half a cup of cornmeal for a half cup of flour.

Add yeast and honey/sugar to warm water and proof until foamy. In a separate bowl, mix flour and salt. Add yeast mixture and oil. Knead until dough is springy and smooth, about 10 minutes by hand or 8 minutes in a standing mixer. Let rise 1 hour, punch down, and form into pizzas.

This recipe can make two 12-14 inch thin-crust pizza or one 12-14 inch thick crust pizza.

So what can you do for toppings? Your choices are only limited by your imagination, but I usually start by choosing to make either a red or white pizza.

The white pizza is basically just cheese and fresh minced garlic, and maybe some red pepper flakes and herbs for color. Make a clam pizza by adding fresh (or canned) minced clams. Arrange raw shelled shrimp on top before baking and you have a shrimp pizza. Mix a can of crab meat into the cheese and garlic mixture and you have a crab pizza. Saute and slice fresh asparagus with a few peas and you have a spring primavera pizza. You get the idea.

The red pizza starts with sauce which we always make fresh (and uncooked):

1 can diced or whole tomatoes, or 3-4 fresh tomatoes

1-2 cloves garlic

1 T olive oil

salt & pepper

Fresh or dried herbs -- we like basil and oregano

I usually whiz the ingredients in a food processor, because I like a smooth sauce. My husband likes it chunky. Then we add caramelized onions or sauteed peppers, wilted baby spinach or browned mushrooms. You can also add sausage or pepperoni or any leftover meat.

A couple hints about baking your pizza:

Use a pizza stone. We've had ours for 20 years. Heat the oven to 500 with the stone in the oven. Build your pizza on a piece of parchment. It's easier to get it off and on the stone. Use a wooden pizza peel to put the pizza into the oven. Cook for 10 minutes or until the top and bottom look golden brown.

My husband likes to wait 5-10 minutes after the pizza gets out of the oven to eat it. But I like the challenge of eating a burning hot slice of pizza.

Enjoy!