Smitten with Pizza

My husband and I like pizza and we really like making our own. I know that may sound crazy since we have several delicious pizzerias just a stone's throw away, but there's something organic and fun about making your own pizza. Did you know we even had Pizza Week a couple years ago? It was pretty awesome.

Earlier this week it was close to dinner time and we didn't have a plan. I was lounging in a bath upstairs and called down to my husband and suggested we make pizza. He likes getting his hands dirty with flour, and he loves pizza, so it was an easy sell.

The biggest issue was figuring out which crust to use. We like AB's and PW's version (Alton Brown and the Pioneer Woman), but I got The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook for Christmas, so I told him to see if there was a recipe in there for a fast crust—we've made the crust she has online several times and really like it, so I was hoping she'd have something new in the book.

Not only did she have a pizza crust...or two, actually, but there was one specifically for making a fast pie called Rushed Pizza Dough. Sold!

My husband was a little weary about making a dough that didn't call for olive oil, but he followed the directions anyway and put it aside to let the dough rise. But then a funny thing happened. We ended up getting take-out pizza that night. I know... I KNOW! It had been a really long day for  us. We were both tired, my back hurt and we didn't feel like making the pizza; not only that, but the dough honestly didn't look like it was going to amount to much, so after it finished rising, we put it in the fridge and decided to have it another time. So much for rushing that dough!

Well, today around 10:30 am, I had a hankering for pizza (hello, pregnancy craving!), so we took the dough out and let it settle to room temp, then we made it for lunch a little later. I'm honestly glad we waited, because I don't think either of us would've enjoyed it as much as we did today if we had it for dinner the other night. This pizza was DELICIOUS. The crust was thin, chewy, and crunchy, and the toppings we added were just perfect. We used ingredients we had on hand: pesto as the base, with a sprinkle of onions, Italian sausage, sliced mushrooms, sun-dried tomatoes, spinach and fresh mozzarella.

It was seriously good eats. A lot of pizza crusts claim to be "thin crust," but this one actually was. We joked that we wanted a rushed dough and then ended up taking two days to eat it. I'm anxious to try out more of the recipes in that book, along with her more "leisurely" pizza dough.

Rushed Pizza Dough

(from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook, page 104)

yield: one 12-ounce dough (makes 1 thin 12-inch round or 9-by-13-inch loosely rectangular pie

Ingredients:
1/2 cup warm water
1 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
olive oil for coating the bowl

Directions:
Turn your oven on to warm (around 200 degrees) for 5 minutes, then turn it off.

Pour 1/2 cup warm water into a large mixing bowl, sprinkle the yeast over the water, and let it sit for 5 minutes. Add flour, then salt, and mix with a wooden spoon until a rough, craggy mess forms. Turn dough and any loose bits out onto a lightly floured counter, and knead for 5 minutes or until a smooth, elastic dough forms.

Coat inside of mixing bowl with olive oil, place dough back in bowl, and cover with plastic wrap. Place in previously warmed oven, and let it sit for 30 minutes or until doubled. Remove dough from oven. (Preheat oven to cook pizza.)

Turn dough out onto a floured counter, pizza peel, or prepared baking sheet, and let your recipe take it from here.

I really can't wait to make eat this again. I think we may actually make a couple batches of the dough and freeze it for those upcoming nights when we don't feel like cooking. Do you have a favorite pizza crust recipe...or nights when dinner plans don't actually work out and pizza becomes your Plan B? 

*post contains affiliate links for Amazon