It is easy to make your own pizza at home from scratch or cheat using pre-made crust . Below are recipes for easy to make pizzas, low fat and no fat pizzas and more ! You'll be surprised about how much better your home made pizza tastes and they will be much healthier since you can control the salt and fat content unlike with frozen and restaurant pizzas.

Basic Pizza Dough

this will make 4 pizzas 11 inches across (27 cm ) in diameter

All great pizza starts with great dough

5 cups plain white flour , 1.5 oz compressed yeast or equivalent dried powdered or granules, pinch of salt, 2 cups of water, 2 tbs of olive oil

1. Dissolve yeast in warm water with salt and olive oil already added . Pour flour into a mound on a clean flat surface and make a hole in the center of it .

2.Add yeast drop by drop into the center of the flour , mix with hands until the liquid is absorbed .Knead dough until it has a smooth texture, then roll into a ball .

3.Sprinkle flour into a dish and place the dough into it, spread some olive oil on the top to prevent a crust from forming .

4.Cover bowl with a dry linen cloth and let rise one hour in a warm place . After 1 hour the dough should have tripled in size .

5. Preheat oven to 450 F.

6. rub four 11 inch pizza pans with olive oil

7. Sprinkle four on a flat working surface

8. Divide dough into 4 lumps and make them into balls, it is better to use your hands rather than a rolling pin .

9. from the middle, smooth out the dough to a thickness of about 1/4 of an inch , make the edges slightly thicker to prevent the toppings from dripping out .

10. Place each pizza on an oiled pizza pan, spead toppings on the pizza and bake in the oven for 8 to 10 minutes depending on ingredients .

Neapoltian Pizza

makes 4 11 inch pizzas

Make the pizza dough with the basic recipe above, for the sauce use 1 clove of garlic, chopped, 2tbs olive oil, 12 ripe plum tomatoes, skinned and halved or one can of chopped plum tomatoes, for the topping use 2 tsp dried oregano, 4 tbs olive oil, salt and ground pepper

1. Make the pizza dough with the basic recipe above.

2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees .

3. Make sauce while dough is rising .heat oil in a pan and fry garlic for a few seconds and add tomatoes, pour some of the excess water out of the canned tomatoes if used .Simmer the sauce, stirring from time to time for 15 minutes, season with salt and pepper .

4. grease each pizza pan with a brush dipped in oil and make crust in manner described above.

5. Spread onto each pizza 2 spoonfuls of the tomato sauce you have made, then sprinkle with oregano . Pour a little olive oil over the top and place in a hot oven 10 to 15 minutes until you sea the edges become golden brown .

Pizza with Mushrooms

14 oz fresh mushrooms, 4 tbs olive oil, 1 clove chopped garlic,1 tbs fresh thyme , 7 fresh basil leaves, 4 tbs grated parmesan cheese, salt and pepper

1. Make dough as described above

2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees .

3. Slice mushrooms and stir fry in oil for 2 minutes, add chopped garlic after 1 minutes. Add basil leaves after removed from stove .

4. Place dough in pans as described above.

5. Place mushroomswith oil over each pizza, sprinkle with fresh thyme, salt and pepper .

6. cover each pizza with a layer of parmesan cheese and pour a little olive oil on top .

7. Bake in a hot oven 10 minutes .

pizza stone

When making pizza at home, it can be baked on a pizza stone in a regular oven to imitate the effect of a brick oven. Another option is grilled pizza, in which the crust is baked directly on a barbecue grill. Greek pizza, like Chicago-style pizza, is baked in a pan rather than directly on the bricks of the pizza oven.

In home-made pizza, there are many variations on the bread used for crust. In some countries, creations such as french bread pizza, pita pizza, bagel pizza, matzo pizza, and tortilla pizza are popular.

Pizza styles

Neapolitan pizza

Neapolitan pizza : According to the rules proposed by the Associazione vera pizza napoletana, the genuine Neapolitan pizza dough consists of Italian wheat flour (type 0 and/or 00), natural Neapolitan yeast or brewer's yeast, salt and water. For proper results, strong flour with high protein content (as used for bread-making rather than cakes) must be used. The dough must be kneaded by hand or with a low-speed mixer.the dough must be formed by hand without the help of a rolling pin or other mechanical device, and may be no more than 3 mm (1/8 in) thick. The pizza must be baked for 60–90 seconds in a 485 °C

Sicilian pizza

Sicilian-style pizza : Sicilian-style pizza has its toppings baked directly into the crust. An authentic recipe uses neither cheese nor anchovies. Sicilian Pizza in the United States is typically a different variety of product made with a thick crust characterized by a rectangular shape and topped with tomato sauce and cheese (and optional toppings).

White Pizza


White pizza : White pizza (pizza bianca) uses no tomato sauce, often substituting pesto or dairy products such as sour cream. Most commonly, especially on the East Coast of the United States, the toppings consist only of mozzarella and ricotta cheese drizzled with olive oil and spices like fresh basil and garlic. In Rome, the term pizza bianca refers to a type of bread topped with olive oil, salt and, occasionally, rosemary leaves. It's also a Roman style, to top the white pizza with figs, called Pizza e fichi (Pizza with figs)

Greek pizza



Greek pizza is a variation popular in New England; its name comes from it being typical of the style of pizzerias owned by Greek immigrants. It has a thicker, chewier crust and is baked in a pan in the pizza oven, instead of directly on the bricks. Plain olive oil is a common part of the topping, as well as being liberally used to grease the pans and crisp the crust. Variations in other parts of the country include using feta cheese, Kalamata olives, and Greek herbs such as oregano.

Hawaiian pizza

Hawaiian pizza has Canadian Bacon (or sliced ham) and pineapple toppings with Mozzarella cheese. This type of pizza is especially popular in the Western United States, and is also a popular topping combination in Australia, Canada, and Sweden, but notably not in Hawaii. This type is also common within the EU, where it is known as Pizza Hawaii.

Taco pizza



Taco pizza has ingredients usually associated with tacos, such as; lettuce, shredded beef or hamburger, chopped tomatoes, avocados, corn chips, cheddar cheese, sour cream and taco sauce.

Grilled pizza

Grilled pizza was invented in Providence, Rhode Island, uses a fairly thin crust cooked on a grill; the toppings are placed on the baked side after the pizza has cooked for a bit and flipped over

Ingredients

American pizza often has vegetable oil or shortening (often, but not always, olive oil mixed into the dough; this is not as common in Italian recipes (for example, the pizza dough recipe in the influential Italian cookbook Il cucchiaio d'argento does not use oil). This can range from a small amount in relatively lean doughs such as New York-style to a very large amount in some recipes for Chicago-style deep dish. In addition, American pizza (at least thin-crust) is often made with a very high-gluten flour (often 13-14% protein content) of the type also used to make bagels; this type of flour allows the dough to be stretched rather thinly without tearing, similar to strudel or phyllo dough.

Various toppings may be added, most typically:

* Tomato sauce usually replaces the tomato mixture used on Italian-style pizzas, and is usually a fairly heavily seasoned, smooth sauce with a low water content. On some variants without tomatoes, pesto, alfredo and barbecue sauce are also used.
* Cheese, usually mozzarella but also provolone, Cheddar, Parmesan or a blend of other cheeses.
* Herbs and seasonings such as basil, oregano and red pepper.
* Fruits and vegetables such as garlic, artichoke hearts, eggplant, olives, onions, spinach, tomatoes, bell peppers, banana peppers, jalepenos and pineapple.
* Mushrooms.
* Meat, such as sausage (pepperoni (something of an iconic topping on American pizzas), salami or Italian sausage), ham, bacon, ground beef, and chicken, or seafood such as anchovies, tuna, salmon and shrimp.

In some pizza recipes the tomato sauce is omitted (termed "white pizza"), or replaced with another sauce (usually garlic butter, but sauces can also be made with spinach or onions). In the Philadelphia area there are also tomato pies — sauce only, or sauce with ripe Roma tomatoes and spices but no cheese — and upside-down pizzas, i.e., the cheese on the bottom and topped with sauce. Pizza is normally eaten hot (typically at lunch or dinner), but is sometimes eaten as cold leftovers for breakfast.

Pizza recipes