This pizza crust recipe is the one that we always use. It's a variation of the recipe found in this book. In fact, instead of writing the recipe down somewhere else, Mom just wrote her changes in the book. It's a lot easier to find the recipe that way than to dig through the recipe box to find a card.
I think we may have tried a couple of other recipes from this book, but pizza is the one that is the most used. Look at what a mess that page is. The rest of the pages in the book are still pretty clean. I couldn't even tell you how many times I've made this one. Sometimes I'm away from home and I want to make pizza. I never remember to keep the recipe in a document on my desktop, and I usually don't want to hunt through old emails for it. So I call Mom, and beg her to send the recipe once more. This one, and the cinnamon roll recipe. Pretty sure that last time I asked for it, she said she'd never send it to me again. But I think she said that the last 3 or 4 times too...
I guess now I'll be able to scroll through the blog to find it...
2 1/2-3 cups all purpose flour
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup warm water
2 Tbsp cooking oil
Make dough, either by hand or in bread machine.
Preheat oven to 425
Form crust. You can use a pizza pan, or a cookie sheet, or a pie tin.
Whatever works for the shape you're after. We usually use 2
rectangular cookie sheets, because when we make pizza, we eat a lot, and
we also want leftovers. It's totally up to you.
The sugar is an addition to the original recipe. My folks have always loved Garcia's pizza, and Mom wanted a way to make it at home. She tried a few recipes to find one that was similar, but no luck. Then she realized that the crust was extra good, because it's a bit sweet. So she started adding sugar to this recipe. And voila! Success. It was just what she was looking for. It doesn't really taste like there's sugar in the crust, it just has a little bit of a tinge of sweet. And I've had Garcia's pizza. It's amazing, and the crust tastes like this crust.
And...from what I read online, Garcia's Pizza is no longer what it used to be (and it has gotten rather pricey...). So if you want to find out what it tasted like back in the day, or if you liked it, and want to make your own at home (or at least a pretty close approximation), this is the recipe for you.
I use a bread machine. It's the lazy way. I've also done it by hand, when I was somewhere that I didn't have a machine. It's pretty similar, it just takes longer to mix and knead to get it smooth. With the machine, you dump everything in, and you're done.
Quick note on the oil...I use regular vegetable oil. I tried sunflower oil once...learn from my mistakes...It was disgusting. Supposed to be healthy, but not a good oil for pizza.
If you're using a bread machine, put in about 2 1/2 cups of the flour, start the machine and let it run for a few minutes, then check it. If the dough looks sticky, slowly add more flour. It should not stick the the sides of the pan, but should form a ball as it is kneaded. If you add too much flour, balance it back out by adding tiny amounts of water. Add everything in small amounts, or you could end up trying to get the right texture for ages, and by then, you've added so much extra flour and water that it's nowhere near what it should be.
I let the dough rise, then start the dough cycle over again to punch it down. I usually let it run for about 5-10 seconds. Then dump the dough and shape into your pizza crust.
You can use a rolling pin and get the crusts super uniform and thin if you'd like. In case you haven't already figured it out, I'm not usually that particular. Yes, I want things to look nice when I am making food for other people, but when I am cooking for myself, I'm not wildly concerned. As long as it tastes good and doesn't look like vomit, I'm happy. Actually, if I'm honest, some of the Indian recipes, and different soups I've tried have sort of resembled vomit. Ok, as long as it tastes good and doesn't make me vomit, I'm happy. :~)
When the crusts come out of the oven, they may be a little puffed. I should probably try stabbing them with a fork before baking. Perhaps that would prevent the uneven thickness. But I kind of like the different thickness. One bite is thin, with a lot of sauce and topping ratio. The next bite is thick, chewy crust. And trust me, this crust is good enough that it's ok to have a large crust to topping ratio. This crust isn't only a topping delivery system. This crust is amazing on it's own. You could take one of those crust rounds and eat it plain, and it would be delicious.
It's nice sometimes to not get too picky about the food we're making. Don't worry if the crust isn't even. Don't worry if sauce is pooling in that low spot. It's going to be wonderful no matter what, so just go with it.
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