A Local’s Guide to Pizza Making

Pizza Making Book from Casa Casale in Lahaska

A recent trip to Peddler's Village in Lahaska, PA sparked quite the culinary adventure. It all started at Casa Casale. While perusing through the heavenly Italian specialty store, tasting their many delicious samples, a book in the corner caught our eye. “Pizza. Grill it. Bake it. Love it.”

If you read Bucks Happening, you know we certainly “love it”, but making our own pizza from scratch was uncharted territory. “Why not?” we thought. And so, the book was purchased along with “00” pizza flour and a few helpful tips from the staff at Casa Casale. And so our Bucks County pizza making adventure began…

Next up, we needed a pizza stone. Luckily, a solution was just a few yards away at Cookery Ware in Peddler's Village. A pizza stone is a flat stone or piece of ceramic used to evenly distribute oven heat to pizzas or other baked goods, more or less mimicking the effects of cooking a pizza in a masonry oven. Simply put, it allows our less-than-stellar oven to cook one delicious pizza!

Pizza stone from Cookery Ware in Lahaska

Our next ingredient arrived with a bit of luck. At the annual Heritage Conservancy Farm to Table dinner on August 6, 2011, we received an appropriate parting gift of a couple of basil plants. With fresh basil in hand, we purchased fresh mozzarella, active dry yeast, & all the ingredients necessary to make a homemade tomato sauce from our local grocery store. Want to go 100% local? Try mozzarella made fresh from Altomonte's Deli and tomatoes grown at a local farm, such as Shady Brook in Yardley.

Basil plant received at Heritage Conservancy's Farm to Table

With all the ingredients in hand, it was time to make the pizza. It's hard to say which was more fun- making the pizza or eating it! With cooler months ahead, this is a great activity to share with the family. Experiment with everyone's favorite flavors and start a pizza tradition.

Check out the recipe and how it turned out below.

1. Mix 2/3 cup lukewarm water (between 105 and 115 degrees) with 1.5 teaspoons of active dry yeast, 1/2 teaspoon of sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of salt. Stir and set aside for 5 minutes until mixture bubbles and foams.

2. Stir in 1 cup bread flour and 1 cup all purpose flour with wooden spoon.

3. Sprinkle a clean surface with all-purpose floor and begin to knead the dough for 8 minutes.

4. Wipe a clean, large bowl and coat with non-stick spray or cooking oil. Place the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap and set aside in warm, draft-free place for 1.5 hours.

5. Pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes to get pizza stone up to temperature.

6. Shape the dough into a thick, flattened 14 inch circle, holding its edge and slowly turning it. Dimple dough with fingertips.

7. Add toppings.

8. Bake or grill on pizza stone with lid closed until cheese has melted and is bubbling and the crust's edge is golden brown, 16 to 18 minutes.

9. Cool pizza for 5 minutes and enjoy!