Pizza! April's Ugly Recipe is Gooey

Something I've started loving to make? Homemade pizza. Don't get me wrong, going out for pizza is good too. But figuring out how to make a really great crust, and topping it with everything your heart desires (without having to pay extra for a single topping), well you just can't beat it.

Something else that's wonderful about homemade pizza? You can make it pretty ugly and it still tastes amazing. And I don't just mean aesthetically ugly (let's be honest... no perfectly round pies are coming from me). You can top it with leftovers, with veggies that are just on the cusp of going bad, you can even use a combination of flours (for example, rice flours are awesome because they are so fine and tender)! Plus, whether it's the dead of winter and you're using herbs you've dried, or the peak of harvest season and those herbs are fresh out of the ground, it's gonna be good. In other words, pizza celebrates all the values we hold at Ugly Food of the North - delicious food, sustainable habits, and none of it will end up going to waste!

Dough makes 2 medium pies.

Ingredients:

Dough:

3 cups flour (we used North Dakota wheat!)

1 teaspoon honey

2 teaspoons dry active yeast

1 teaspoon salt

1 and 1/4 cups water (or a little more if you're using heavier flour like whole wheat)

Toppings:

Veggies, meat, cheese, and sauce of your choosing! For this pie we've got an avocado sauce, shredded chicken, peppers, onions, spinach, and goat cheese with a few crumbles of parmesan to top her off. Don't be afraid to experiment with combinations like sweet potatoes, onions, and fennel, or brussels sprouts, pancetta, and a balsamic glaze. Or go simple with San Marzano tomatoes blended with salt and pepper, under a bed of mozzarella, and a few leaves of basil.

Directions:

To make the dough: Stir water, yeast, and honey together. Let sit until bubbly (about 5-7 minutes). Slowly add the flour and salt mixture and knead until combined. Let it rest for a few minutes while you prepare those toppings.

It's a pretty simple recipe but make sure that you really work the dough so that there are lovely pockets of air in there and get that oven HOT (just like you).

Cooking the pizza: Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F for an hour with a pizza stone on the middle rack. (Yes this seems long but trust us... you want a really hot oven.) Roll out your dough, top it with your favorites, and slide it on the stone. Bake at 500 for 4 minutes, then switch to broil for 3 min. (to get that cheesy nice and melty and browned). Take out, slice, and enjoy!