Although I've made plenty of my own creations, I have never named anything after myself, and I must admit, I'm blushing a little. I would put my name on this pizza any day though. It is literally the most amazing thing I've ever tasted. I am a big pizza-lover.
There are a LOT of pictures in this recipe because I wanted to give you lucky people a "step-by-step" through pics. I am a very visual person and I refuse to make any recipe (online or in a book) if it doesn't have a photo. I know, I should probably loosen that rule up since I'm trying like a bajillion recipes for this blog. In the future, I'd really like to make a video recipe...
Tatiana's Amazing Pizza (makes 2 pizzas, only one is pictured in examples)
1 cup warm (almost hot) tap water
1 tbsp active dry yeast
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour for kneading and rolling the dough
1 tbsp salt
1 tsbp sugar
Step 1: Combine the warm/hot water and the active dry yeast. Stir a little, but let it sit for 10 to 15 min. After it sits, it should look like so:
Step 2: Combine your flour, sugar, and salt. Make a "hole" in the middle of the bowl for the yeast mixture. Add the mixture and stir gently with a spoon.
Step 3: Combine them and then get ready to knead the dough a little. BEFORE you do, have your 1/2 cup flour "ready". Sometimes, if I the dough is really sticky, I ask my little helper (my 9 year old son) to pour 1 tbsp of oil onto my hands while I'm kneading. Also, a big thanks to my son for taking some of these pictures since my hands were all doughy. It should look kinda like a blob at this point:
Step 4: After the dough starts to come together and it's not super sticky anymore, put it back into the bowl and let it rest for ONE HOUR. Cover with a dark hand towel.
Step 5: After it sits, pre-heat your oven to 400. Important: Cut the dough in HALF. This recipe makes two pizzas. I made a cheese which is below, and a veggie, which is at the beginning. Use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into the right shape. Also, poke holes in it with a fork so that the air bubbles don't distort the pizza.
Step 6: Cook the crust at 400 degrees for about 10 minutes.
Step 7: Take it out, add the ingredients and put back into the oven. I usually raise the temp to 450 when I put it back in so it cooks faster. It takes 10-15 minutes to cook depending on how many toppings you have and what type of cheese you use.
Voila. Done.
Last picture is a shout out to the vegan cheese that I use. It's really awesome! Cheese was probably the only thing I felt really sad to give up as a vegan, but this has more than made up for it. It's delicious, and it's much healthier. Loves it!
