Pizza From Scratch

How to make the best pizza from scratch at home using fresh ingredients. Optionally, you can follow along and make the sauce and mozzarella cheese from scratch too. Full walkthrough on blueskitchen65 on YouTube. https://youtu.be/zgRp2r7zqKw?feature=shared

Ingredients:

Crust- Flour, 1 packet or 2 TBSP of dry yeast, Salt, Oregano (some people use 1 tsp of sugar but I don't).

Mozzarella- 2 liters of unpasteurized or raw milk, white distilled vinegar, salt.

Tomato Sauce- 7 tomatoes, 1 carrot, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 onion, 5-6 basil leaves, 1 tube of tomato paste (use the whole tube) olive oil, dill, oregano, salt, pepper

Extra ingredients- parmesan, chili flakes (optional)

Add 1 cup of warm (not hot, not cold) water into a mixing bowl.

Gently mix 2 teaspoons of active dry yeast into the warm water.

Let the yeast become frothy in the water for about 10 minutes.

Measure and place 3 cups or 700 ml of flour into the bowl.

Season with 1 tsp oregano, 1 tsp salt, and a pinch of pepper.

Mix all the ingredients into a dough (preferably with an electric mixer)

Sprinkle flour onto a flat surface so the dough does not stick to the surface, place the dough on top, sprinkle a little flour on top of the dough so your hands do not stick.

Knead the bread for 10 minutes. (Kneading consists of rolling and folding the dough on top of itself. Check the attached video for technique)

Roll the dough into a ball.

Brush olive oil around a mixing bowl, place the ball of dough inside the bowl, lightly brush olive oil on top of the dough, and cover the bowl with a wet cloth.

Leave to the side for 1 hour.

(Optional: If you would like to make your own fresh mozzarella and/ or marinara sauce, follow steps 2 and 3. If not, skip to step 4.)

Note: To make your own mozzarella you must use raw unpasteurized milk.

Pour 2 liters of raw unpasteurized milk into a pot and cook on low heat. (Milk should be hot, but not too hot to touch.)

While stirring, add 1 cup of distilled white vinegar.

Stop stirring for 1 minute when you see the milk start to curd (clump up.)

After about a minute, gather the curds with your spoon and place onto a metal strainer on top of a bowl.

Press out the liquid from the cheese and fold.

Try to squeeze and stretch the cheese until it starts tearing.

Form back into a ball and place back in the hot water.

Repeat the squeezing and stretching then placing back into the hot water process until your cheese is done.

Lastly, shape the cheese into a ball, place in cold water, and place in the refrigerator until you are ready to use.

Slice 7 tomatoes, 1 onion, and 1 peeled carrot into thick chunks.

Place the vegetables, basil leaves, and 4 peeled cloves of garlic onto a tray covered with baking paper or foil.

Toast them for 10-15 minutes at 280C or 350F.

While they are toasting, cut fresh dill into very small pieces to use for seasoning.

After 10-15 minutes, remove the tray from the oven and blend everything until you get a tomato sauce consistency. Sauce should have a reddish orange color at this point.

Pour the sauce onto a cold pan and heat up.

Add a full tube of tomato paste to the sauce and stir.

Season to taste with the dill, oregano, salt, and pepper.

Mix thoroughly and your sauce is done.

Set to the side to cool to room temp. (You can keep any extra marinara sauce for another recipe.)

Shred the mozzarella and place into a bowl.

Using about half of the dough for thick crust and 1/3 for thin, shape the pizza dough on a lightly floured tray covered with a baking sheet.

Shape into a pizza crust.

Using a ladle, pour the sauce around the pizza crust and cover the center of the crust.

Sprinkle the mozzarella over the sauce.

Add toppings of your choice. (I just use pepperoni)

Cook on 250C or 475F for 10-15 mins.

Enjoy your meal!