Who doesn’t love a good pizza pie at the end of a long week?
Ordering pizza on Friday nights quickly became a tradition. But as we found ourselves in the middle of a pandemic, we thought, why not try making our own?
Although you can make the dough from scratch, I have to be honest — I haven’t tried that part yet. Instead, I’ve been buying pre-made dough from Longo’s here in Toronto.
On a whim one night, we took 2 tablespoons of my Nonna’s homemade pesto and mixed it in with the tomato sauce. Safe to say, we haven’t looked back. The hint of pesto gives the sauce a layered flavour to the multitude of toppings we like to throw on our pizza.
With this recipe you’ll get 8 slices, which might be the perfect size for a regular family of four. But for me and my fiancé, it’s a perfect dinner for two.
Prep time | 30 mins. (+ a few hours to let the dough rise)
Cook time | 15-20 mins.
Yields | 8 slices
INGREDIENTS
Pizza
(We use pre-made dough)
- Olive oil, drizzled
- 1/2 cup of spicy Calabrese salami, thinly sliced
- 2 sausages, chopped and cooked
- 1 cup of mushrooms, thinly sliced
- 1 cup of green pepper, thinly sliced
- 1 cup of tomato sauce
- 2 tbsp pesto (homemade or store-bought)
- 1 tbsp crushed red pepper
- 1/2 cup of parmesan cheese, grated
- 2 cups of mozzarella cheese, grated
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Place a pizza pan on a rack in the lower third of your oven. Preheat the oven to 475°F for at least 30 minutes, preferably an hour. If the dough was in the freezer, put it in a bowl and let it rise for a few hours. Keep it covered.
2. Prepare your toppings.
Meat/Vegetables: We usually use ground sausage, so we cook it until it’s no longer pink and while that cooks, chop up other ingredients (peppers, mushrooms, onion). We also cut up some Calabrese salami to add some spice to it.
Sauce: About half a cup of tomato sauce would be sufficient for one pizza. Plus, if you want to try adding in some pesto, 2 tablespoons of pesto.
Cheese: We like a lot of cheese, so we add 1 layer of mozzarella on top of the sauce, then add another layer on top of all the remaining toppings. We use about 1 cup of cheese for the whole pizza.
3. Working one ball of dough at a time, take one ball of dough and use a rolling pin (and your hands) to flatten it out on a slightly floured work surface. Treat the dough gently!
4. Use your finger tips to press down and make dents along the surface of the dough to prevent bubbling. Brush the top of the dough with olive oil (to prevent it from getting soggy from the toppings).
5. Spoon on the tomato sauce. Once the tomato sauce is spread throughout the pizza, add the pesto and spread into the tomato sauce from the centre outwards.
6. Sprinkle the crushed red pepper flakes on the tomato sauce base.
7. Add the parmesan cheese on top of the sauce, then sprinkle half of the mozzarella on top of the parmesan.
8. Add the toppings, making sure to cover the entire the pizza. Sprinkle mozzarella on top of the pizza.
9. Put pizza in the oven and set your timer for 10 minutes. At the 10-minute mark, turn the pizza 180° and set the timer again for 10 minutes. Check on your pizza when you have about 5 minutes left to make sure the crust is golden, not burning.
10. When the pizza crust is golden in colour and all toppings are cooked, let the pizza cool for about 5 minutes (it’s going to be very hot coming out of the oven).
8. Once cooled, cut the pizza into an even 8 slices. Enjoy while hot!
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