The Easiest, Most Delicious Pizza Night In
One of the best kept secrets of 2015 was that honey is, in fact, delicious on pizza. 2016 did a pretty good job of leaking the news, and we began to see that heavenly nectar pop up on many gourmet pizza menus. Now, we’re here to spread the word for anyone left that might not know about this amazing combo, starting with this scrumptious salami and olive pizza. Making homemade pizza can be really, really easy, particularly if you use store-bought dough. Plus, it’s a lot of fun! Gather the family in the kitchen and stretch the dough out together. Take turns with the toppings, or mix it up and only put them on half of the pie if you’ve got one or two plain-cheese lovers in the house. It’s your pizza! Make it however you want. But we’re serious about trying it with honey drizzled on top—don’t skip that part, OK?!
About That Pizza Dough.
If you’ve never made pizza at home, we’re betting that your primary barrier to giving it a try is the dough, right? Well, you don’t have to make it yourself! You can get perfectly good pre-made pizza dough at most grocery stores, but better yet, most pizza places will sell you their dough! So call up your favorite local, neighborhood pizza joint, and see if they sell their dough. It’s such a time saver, and you know the dough will be good because someone built a whole business around it. Sometimes they’ll even sell their tomato sauce, but if not, don’t worry about it. You can always just buy a jar of pizza sauce at the store.
Let’s Talk Toppings!
Once you’ve got your dough and sauce sorted, it’s time for the fun part of this homemade pizza recipe—the super delicious toppings that are probably not on the toppings list at your favorite delivery spot. To counter the sweetness of the honey that we’ll squeeze on to the pizza at the very end, we went for big, savory flavors and a little hit of heat from thin slivers of fresh jalapeño. Here are the toppings you’ll need to make this special pie:
Salami
Mozzarella cheese
Red onion
Castelvetrano olives (use the pitted kind you can find in the olive bar!)
Jalapeño (seeded and cut super thin, this won’t be insanely hot.)
Hello Pizza! We’d Like You to Meet Everything Bagel Seasoning
OK, so this pizza really represents what we love most about homemade pizza—the fact that you get to go absolutely nuts with the toppings! Anything that sounds good, anything you happen to have in the back of the cupboard, and unlike ordering delivery, you don’t have to keep a running tally of how much each additional topping will cost you. Want to sprinkle the remaining half-jar of capers on your pizza? Go for it! Got some anchovies hanging out in the back of your fridge? Lay them on top! To make this particular pizza a little extra fantastic—and to make it just a little more fun to eat the crust—we whipped up a batch of homemade everything bagel seasoning and sprinkled it all over the edges of the pizza. It’s a sneaky way to ensure that you’re excited instead of disappointed when you get to the crust part of each slice. Yes, you can totally buy this yummy spice mix. But it’s also really easy to make at home (and a lot more cost-effective). To make it, just mix together:
Poppy seeds
Onion flakes
Garlic flakes
Sesame seeds
Salt
How to Make Pizza at Home
Alright! Finally we arrive at the main event. And we do mean ‘event’! DIY pizza night is a big deal in our homes. It’s a family affair, a group activity, and a lot of fun. It’s hard to mess up, but here are a few of our best tips for making sure that your homemade pizza turns out perfectly:
Shape the dough using your hands, working carefully and slowly. You can start with a rolling pin, if you’d like, but hands work just fine. Carefully pull it out larger and larger with your (well-floured) hands, until it’s the size and thickness you prefer. This how-to video demonstrating how to stretch pizza dough, will really help if you’re still feeling a little wobbly.
If you have a pizza stone, this is your moment to use it! But if you don’t, don’t let that stop you from making this pizza! A baking sheet will work.
If you do have a pizza stone, definitely pre-heat it! To do so, just put it in the oven as it comes up to temp. And speaking of temp...
500°F is not a typo! For pizza, you want to really crank the heat. A nice, hot oven will help ensure a lovely, crisp crust. If your oven doesn't go up this high, just go to the highest setting you are able to go!
Now That You’re A Pizza-Making Pro, Here Are 4 More Pizza Recipes to Try!
Tools You’ll Need:
Pizza slicer (handy, but not an absolute must)
Pizza Night is Any Night!
Pizza night is any night that we need an easy win—it’s often Friday night, but truly any night can be homemade pizza night when it’s this simple to make. Try this delicious pizza recipe, and let us know how you like it, OK? Share a photo and tag us on Instagram using @themodernproper and #themodernproper so that we can see your stuff! Happy eating!
