I’ve always loved to cook, as you can see from some of the cooking/food-related posts I’ve made in the past… but I’ve never really tried my hand at baking. I don’t know what it is… maybe it’s the supplies we got from Gourmet Warehouse so I actually have the tools/pans/etc that I need to bake, or what… but I’ve been on a real cooking/baking kick lately. So bear with me as my blog swings between cooking posts, baking posts, Twilight, and surfing this week (I’m heading to Tofino for the long weekend). Haha.

As you can see, my blog has no real direction or niche. I can’t pick just one topic. Hope you don’t mind

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So, adventures in pizza making! In university I used to make homemade pizza quite a bit, but due to being a starving, broke student, I never really had the good ingredients I wanted to use to make it. One of my favourite foods in the whole world is pizza… so this weekend I figured… hey, why not?

First a disclaimer: Everyone has their own kind of pizza that they like. Personally, I like a thick, spicy sauce… with a medium-thin crust (not too thin, but not a deep dish crust either), and light on the cheese with lots of toppings and herbs. I tried to make this kind of pizza. I don’t recommend the recipes if you prefer a different kind. Recipes after the break in the comments section!

Making the Pizza Dough, based on a Mario Batali recipe

The secret to this fabulous pizza dough is white wine, and honey. It really makes a huge difference. Your first steps are to mix together the yeast, water, honey, salt, and olive oil.

Use good ingredients. I like to use a proper ’00′ pizza-specific flour (NOT a pizza mix, those are no good), good olive oil, a decent white wine, and good honey. Why this particular honey? Well, my uncle actually makes this honey himself on his farm near Fort St. John! It’s called Rose Prairie Honey. It’s REALLY delicious. He always sends us a batch every year.

You’ll also notice the pizza stone. This is key to a good pizza as well. It keeps the crust crispy but moist. I have a ceramic one but any kind of pizza stone works well. If you don’t have  a pizza stone, any tray will work fine. Knead the dough till firm but pliable and set it aside to rise. (Excuse Allan’s hairy hands in the photo… haha!)

Making the Pizza Sauce, my secret recipe that I adapted from an Italian pizza book

Again, good quality ingredients are key for a good pizza sauce. I like to use Italian tomatoes and tomato paste… perhaps I’m crazy but it seems to make it taste more authentic. I also like to use real chunks of tomatoes… home grown is best but not necessary. The secret here is the fennel seed. It really makes it taste good. Again, high quality parmesan (Parmigiano Reggiano) is important. If you have a mortar and pestle it makes it easier to mix together the spices.

Saute the onion, garlic and celery together in the olive oil. Combine the ingredients for the pizza sauce, follow the recipe below. Make sure you add the fresh herbs at the end, only when you are ready to use the sauce so that they don’t wilt.

Putting your pizza together

Now that the dough has risen, you can roll it out thin and place it on a lightly floured pizza stone. Spread the pizza sauce on thickly.

Put all your ingredients on top! We used thinly sliced tomatoes from the garden. I like a mix of homegrown heirloom tomatoes. We also used some pineapple, and chorizo salami from Granville Island, sliced up like pepperoni. DELICIOUS! Chop or tear up some fresh basil and grate with parmesan over when serving. We tried some variations, even using fresh mozzarella (Bocconcini) which was also good.

We gobbled up about 3 different pizzas and called it a night. I’m really happy with how they turned out. Savoury, full of flavour, crispy, and a mild spice. Yum! Let me know if you try the recipe and tell me what you think! Let me know if you have any questions!