by Cathey Newhouse

Created on: September 22, 2010

Don’t like soggy bottoms? Homemade yeast pizzas have a very strong tendency to be a flat yeast roll with pizza toppings or a deep dish pizza. There’s a process that can make crust crispier, firmer and better for crispy crust lovers.

Pizza dough is very simple to make (but the ready-made should give the same results.) It requires 1 package of active dry yeast, 1 cup of warm water (105 to 115 degrees a thermometer helps in getting this right,) 1 teaspoon of sugar, 1 teaspoon of salt and 2 tablespoons of olive oil (olive oil can make a big difference, but vegetable oil can also be used) and 2 ½ cups of any variation of all purpose, wheat or bread flour. Half all purpose and half whole wheat flour works nicely. It helps against carbohydrate guilt.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water. Stir in the remaining ingredients; beat vigorously for about 20 strokes until it comes together. Work the dough into a ball (it will not be pretty,) put about a tablespoon of olive oil into the bowl and roll the ball around until it is well covered. Cover the bowl with a clean terry kitchen towel. Let the dough rest in the covered bowl on the top of the stove and the preheating oven for five minutes. Grease a 14 inch pizza pan with about a tablespoon of olive oil.

Put olive oil on hands and work the dough by stretching and pulling into the olive oiled 14 inch pizza pan and prick the dough with a fork. Blind bake the dough in the 425 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Remove the pan and dough from the oven with oven mitts. With a cooling rack in one hand and the pizza pan in the other, flip the dough onto the cooling rack and then back onto the bottom of the pizza pan. Don’t think about sauce. This is where soggy bottoms can be created. 

Immediately put some of the cheese across the top of the pizza which will melt and seal the pizza. Now, working on the pizza crust on top of the bottom of the pizza pan-layer your ingredients such as, hamburger, sausage, mozzarella, Italian cheese mix, mushrooms, onions, fresh rosemary or basil, or dried Italian seasonings, pepperoni, fresh minced garlic, or garlic powder, etc. Finish it with more cheese and parmesan cheese.

Now, think about the sauce. Use no more than ½ a cup of your favorite Italian sauce buy dropping tablespoons of the sauce randomly over the pizza so some will be in each bite. Stand back and admire this beautiful work of art. 

Cover it with a terry cloth kitchen towel (even for a couple of hours) until ready to put it into a preheated 425 degree oven and on to a preheated pizza stone. Carefully slide it onto the preheated pizza stone. (Though it’s not been tried, it could probably be baked on the bottom of the pizza pan—since the cheese/sauce process is what is important for no soggy bottoms.)

Bake the pizza for 20 to 25 minutes until the cheese is bubbly and the crust is golden. Now slide the pizza (using a spatula and oven mitts) back onto the bottom of the pizza pan.

WAIT! About 10 minutes, slice and ENJOY!

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