Make Your Own Scratch-Made Pizza

Pizza is a frequent thing on the Farm, be it cooked on the grill in the Summer or baked then broiled on a stone in the oven all the other Seasons long. (The Farmer’s Wife has been after the Farmer for one of those Brick Pizza Ovens for years, but as of yet, the Farm remains Oven-Less.) No matter the time or the toppings, one thing remains the same and is vital for a truly good Pizza, and that is: the dough.

The dough at the Farm starts the day before, with an Italianisk Bigga–that’s what gives the dough it’s flavor and all those bubbles. To make a Bigga, you mix 1/2 tsp dry yeast with 1/2 cup warm water and let sit for five minutes or so. To that add 3/4 cups warm water and 1 and 3/4 cups all purpose flour and mix well. Plop this into a large, oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let sit on the counter for twenty-four hours.

On the day of the Pizza, take your Bigga and add to it one cup warm water and one tablespoon dried yeast. Stir well. To this add three cups flour–but now use that high-gluten bread flour. Either stir, then kneed by hand or use your stand mixer. At the Farm, they start with the mixer fitted with a dough hook, then finish by hand. In fact, the Farmer’s Wife insists on it. She knows, as well as you, that there’s something feeding her soul each time she slaps that dough on the counter, filling the air with a flour-cloud.

Once it looks just right, add a teaspoon or so of salt, and a tablespoon or so of good olive oil. Now, this may make your dough fall apart a bit, but don’t worry, it will find it’s way back to itself again. (The Farmer’s Wife leaves it in the mixer until after the salt and oil are added–and only works with it after it looks like a well-behaved dough once more.)

Once the dough is nice and stretchy and doesn’t tear easily when pulled, it’s rolled into a ball, dusted with flour and left to rise on the counter covered with a kitchen towel and is forgotten about for an hour or two. *

When it starts peeking out at you from under the towel, it’s ready to be cut. Now, at the Farm, each has their own idea about what should be on a Pizza. And, because the Farmer’s Wife sees this as a battle not worth fighting, she divides the dough so that each may make their own. Each dough piece is rolled into another ball, smaller this time, dusted with flour, and left on the counter under that same old towel for another hour or two. This is when the oven is preheated to 500 degrees, with a Pizza stone placed on the center rack.

Now, a Pizza can be topped anyway you like. The Farmer’s Wife has no interest in battling with you over which way is best, but let me tell you how it’s done on the Farm and you may choose for yourself.

For the Sauce, the Farmers wife simply thickens (as in cooks down in a pan) her Sauce–the recipe for that is a story in itself to be told at a later time and date, but for now, just know it is sweet and savory, tomatoey and spicy all in one. Before she discovered how to make the Sauce, the Farmer’s Wife would take tomato paste, thinned with a little water, and to that she would add olive oil, chopped garlic, oregano, thyme, basil, and salt and pepper. And just a splash of hot sauce and a tablespoon (or three) of sugar. That was her pizza sauce, and an acceptable substitute should she not have any of her Sauce on hand.

This is spread on a rolled out, hand tossed, or generally flattened dough. How you make your dough the shape and thickness you want is entirely up to you. At the Farm, the Farmer’s Wife is rather handy with a rolling pin, so she uses that. But to each their own.

Once the Sauce is applied, on goes the cheese. They only use Fresh Mozzarella at the Farm. Sometimes it’s made right there at the Farm from the abundance of Sheep’s Milk, but store-bought works just as well. Right now, the sheep are done giving milk for the year, so store-bought it is!

Here is when the disagreements come in. Jacob stops with just cheese–that’s they way he likes it. The Farmer takes a bit of cup and char pepperoni, buried under even more cheese. Mikaela has hers with any veggies that are available and Hannah likes it the same. Now the Farmer’s Wife gets a bit more complicated. She likes the pepperoni just fine, and veggies work, too, but she chops them, peppers and onions and all, along with some fresh herbs along the oregano and basil variety, and tosses them with some of that good olive oil. This concoction is scattered over her Pizza until all becomes bubbling, cheesy, and good.

Now that you have the Dough, the Sauce, the Cheese, and the Toppings, only one thing is left. And it’s a big one.

A good Pizza needs to be properly baked.

And one of the most important things about baking a pizza on a pizza stone in your oven is to flip the oven onto broil once the pizza goes in. Otherwise, the bottom will cook, but not the top. Because you’ve had your oven heating up for an hour or so, both the top and the bottom will cook nicely. It is the best the Farmer’s Wife can do until the Farmer builds her that Brick Oven.

There have been many parties and general gatherings where Pizzas are made on the Farm, each to their own liking. The Farmer’s Wife finds this to be a great way to involve her guests in the process, ensuring a fun time is had by all.

You should try that, too.

*This will make enough dough for five to six individual pizzas or two large.