Pizza really is the perfect food—protein, dairy, vegetables, carbs. Let's think of it as a balanced meal because then we can justify having it at minimum, once a week.
My mom made the best pizza crust of all time. It was crunchy on the outside, chewy and light on the inside and never burned. It took me years to follow in her footsteps on pizza crust creation...but I finally got it! She told me when she first made pizza in rural Missouri in the 1950s, it was thought of as an "exotic" food from Italy. It's hard to even imagine pizza not being available like it is now.
I wish mom could have heard my husband say "wow, this is as good as your mom's!"
I'll cut to the chase—the crust secret is a bit of soy flour. It creates the crisp and ups the protein content.
MOM'S PIZZA CRUST RECIPE
Makes 2 pizzas
1 cup warm water
1 tablespoon yeast
1 teaspoon sugar or honey
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
White flour
Wheat flour
Soy flour
Heat 1 cup of water to 110 degrees. Don't be afraid to get the water hot. Place water in a large bowl. Add yeast and sugar and gently whisk just to mix. Wait until you see the yeast bubbling up before you add the salt and olive oil. If your yeast is fresh, this should not take more than five minutes. If it doesn't bubble up, you probably did not get the water hot enough (bummer...but start over or the whole project will be a flop).
Add about a 1/4-1/2 cup each of soy and wheat flour and mix. Then mix in enough white flour to make a semi-sticky dough (probably 1-2 more cups). Knead the dough. Keep adding flour until the dough is a fleshy, fat baby consistency and not completely sticky. Oil the bowl with olive oil and roll the dough around in the bowl, covering it in oil. Cover the bowl with a towel and set somewhere warm for a bit (30 minutes, 2 hours—your call).
Oil the pizza pan(s) generously. Roll out that dough and do your thing with sauce and toppings. Bake at 425 degrees for 10 minutes. Take out and add the cheese of choice, bake 10 more minutes.
Having had pizza today is no excuse not to have pizza tomorrow.
