Homemade Individual Pizzas

Step 1

(this dough can also be made in a bread maker):

Step 2

Put warm water in a large bowl, add the yeast and let stand for about 7 minutes for the yeast to activate. Don't use hot water or you will ruin the yeast.

Step 3

Whisk in honey and olive oil. Add flour, then the salt and knead until well-combined (use a dough hook on speed 2 if using a mixer). The dough should be sticky.

Step 4

Cover with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place until doubled in volume (45 min to 1 hr at room temp or 25-30 min in a warm 100˚F oven).

Step 5

Combine all sauce ingredients in a small sauce pan.

Step 6

Simmer over medium/low heat until it is reduced by about a third. It needs to thicken or the pizza will be too juicy. If you need to cool sauce to room temp faster, transfer sauce to a bowl and place in a bath of ice water.

Step 7

Generously sprinkle baking pans with cornmeal; this keeps the crust crisper and prevents sticking to the pan. You can also oil pans if you don't have cornmeal.

Step 8

Grease a clean work surface and your hands with olive oil. Transfer dough to oiled surface and cut into three even pieces. Form each piece into an 8" round pizza crust using your hands and transfer to baking pans lined with cornmeal.

Step 9

Spread 1/3 pizza sauce on each pizza leaving a 1/2" border of dough all the way around. Add plenty of mozzarella cheese and any of your favorite toppings; this is where it gets really fun! (See list of toppings above for supreme pizza or Greek Pizza).

Step 10

Bake pizzas at 415 degrees F for 15 minutes or until the crust is crisp and toppings are cooked. Cheese will be melted and turn golden in a few spots.

Step 11

(Tip for the Greek Pizza: once the toppings are on, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. After the pizza comes out of the oven, sprinkle with crumbled feta cheese. It's so good!)