Hedden Family Recipes

Pizza

Adapted from the recipe of Irma Rombauer:

Rombauer, Irma S. and Marion Rombauer Becker. 1975. The Joy of Cooking, p. 610. New York: Bobbs-Merrill Company. ISBN 0-02-604570-2

Ingredients:

Pizza crust

1⅓ cups lukewarm water
2¼ tsp. active dried yeast
2 Tbsp. olive oil
4 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt

Pizza toppings

One 15-oz. can tomato sauce plus one 6-oz. can tomato paste, mixed, or the same amount of premixed pizza sauce or any other tomato sauce
Italian seasoning (to taste)
Chopped basil (to taste)
Shredded mozarella cheese: at least 8 oz., no more than 16 oz.
Olives
Chopped vegetables: yellow onion, garlic, eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, bell pepper, hot pepper (if desired), or any other vegetables desired and/or available

Directions:

Warm 1⅓ cups water to lukewarm. Note: it is important not to kill the yeast. If using microwave to warm the water, add the yeast to the water AFTER warming it. Do not overheat water: it should be comfortable to put your finger in the warm water.
Add yeast and 2 Tbsp. olive oil. Mix thoroughly and allow to rest.
Put 4 cups of flour in a large mixing bowl. Add salt, and mix thoroughly. Then, add water, yeast, and olive oil and stir to mix to form a ball of dough.
Knead dough on clean surface for 10 minutes. This can also be done using a mixer with a dough hook.
Brush olive oil on the inside of the large bowl that was used to mix the dough, then put kneaded dough in the bowl. Dampen a clean dish towel and place it over the bowl to cover it. Heat oven just a little: if you stick your hand in it should be pleasantly warm. Then, turn oven off, and put bowl with kneaded pizza dough in oven to rise. Make sure that the oven is off. Set timer for 2 hours. This time can be increased or decreased a little: at least 1½ hours, no more than 2½ hours.
While dough is rising, prepare tomato sauce and chop vegetables, etc.
Brush baking sheet(s) with olive oil. Sprinkle a little corn meal on the baking sheet(s) to keep the dough from sliding around so much on the baking sheet(s).
Once dough has risen, remove from oven.
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Spread out dough on baking sheet(s). Rombauer calls for two 14" pizza pans. I find that this amount of dough can make one 17½"x11½" pizza with a very thick crust or one 17½"x11½" pizza and one 10"x8" pizza with thin crusts. After dough is spread out as desired on baking sheet(s), brush surface of dough with olive oil to keep it from getting soggy.
Spread tomato sauce over pizza dough, sprinkle with Italian seasoning and/or basil.
Put on chopped onion and garlic, then shredded mozarella. Onion and garlic can also be put on top of shredded mozarella, if desired.
Spread other toppings over pizzas.
Once oven is at 400°F, put pizzas in oven and set timer for 25 minutes.
Once pizzas have cooked, remove from oven and allow to cool about 2-3 minutes.