Pizza Basics
By Del Sroufe
Friday night used to be Pizza Night in my house and I used to start planning for it on Monday. I don’t have pizza night as often as I used to, but I still get excited about it whenever I schedule one. I would make the pizza crusts and prepare several toppings and let everyone make their own personal pizza.
Yield: 2 pizzas plus some extra cheese sauce
What You’ll Need
Cornmeal for dusting
Whole Wheat Pizza Dough (see recipe below)
Cheese Sauce (see recipe below)
Spicy Breakfast Patties (see recipe below)
Your favorite pizza sauce
Your favorite vegetables (see the list below for popular vegetable toppings for pizza)
Fresh herbs of your choice
How to Make It
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
- For each pizza, dust a 12-inch pizza pan, baking sheet, or heated pizza stone with cornmeal.
- Shape the pizza dough into a round shape, about 12-inches in circumference.
- Top each pizza with your choice of sauce (about ½ cup per pizza) and distribute toppings over the sauce.
Notes
- A common mistake people make with homemade pizza toppings is that they overdo it. Use an easy touch when topping your pizza—about 2–3 cups total.
- If you are using toppings with a high water content like tomatoes, either thinly slice them or finely dice them and don’t go overboard or your pizza will be soggy.
- Chop your vegetables no larger than ½-inch for pizza. Otherwise they will not cook in the short time they will be in the oven.
- Some people like to cook their vegetables before adding them to pizza. This is optional and dependent on your preference.
- If you are adding fresh herbs like basil, consider adding them to the crust before you add the sauce or adding them as the pizza comes out of the oven.
Popular Vegetable Toppings for Pizza
Onions
Bell peppers, red or green
Mushrooms
Fresh tomatoes
Corn
Pickled jalapeño peppers
Fresh herbs—cilantro, basil
Olives
Garlic, fresh or roasted
Spinach
Sun dried tomatoes
Pineapple (don’t shoot the messenger)
Artichoke Hearts
Mung Sprouts
Eggplant
Zucchini