The Home-Made Sacramento Pizza

The Sacramento Pizza

So I am HUGE fan of pizza, but there are only a few outstanding pizza options in Sacramento, in my opinion. 1. OneSpeed 2. Hot Italian 3. Luigi's on Broadway - So what's a girl to do when you want to have great pizza but not burn up your wallet? Make your own. I know this sounds daunting at initial concept, but it's surprisingly easy, as I have all those other people (specialty stores) do all the work.

So when I originally started this idea I headed to places like Trader Joes and Whole
Foods to find the best ingredients and tweek as needed in future attempts. So from all the stores I've been to find the best items to make this pizza my little sister Samantha named this the "Sacramento Pizza" as you have to go all over Sacramento for the things you need to make it. 

But it's worth the flavor.

Ingredient List: 

Cornmeal - from anywhere

Dough - pre-made/risen $1.29 from Whole Foods (fluffier), or Trader Joe's (bready-ier) or pre-sized dough from Original Pete's Pizza $1.25

Sauce - Trader Joe's - this is the best (most balanced in flavor - the right amount of salty and sweet) sauce I've been able to find, the one at whole foods isn't well seasoned, and most places are hesitant to sell their sauce - this is the clincher for a pizza place, the flavor is all about the sauce

Cheese - there are 3 different kinds of commonly sued mozzarella and they taste dramatically different 1. Low Moisture - most common, already shredded mozzarella, not nearly as flavorful

* 2. Part Skim Milk - perfect amount of stringy cheesy to soft lush flavor *

3. Whole Milk - traditionally used on Margarita pizzas, lots of moisture, perfect for a simple pizza

Toppings - Pepperoni - Taylor's Market $5.99/lb - well seasoned flavor, crisps well; you'll see pepperoni at Whole Foods this isn't as good it's $12.99/lb and much more like a cured meat than a traditional pepperoni

Veggies - I like my veggies from the farmers market, remember the thinner the slivers the better as large chunks don't cook in the oven in such a short period of time

Cornmeal on the bottom of the parchment paper

Form dough and lay on cornmeal, on parchment paper

So stretch out your dough in a circular shape (I say circular shape as anything close to it works as well, it's about equal thickness all over, not about a perfect circle - this will ensure everything cooks evenly). Then lay your pizza dough on the lightly spread cornmeal, which is atop parchment paper, on a cookie sheet.

Thinly spread pizza sauce, too much sauce makes for a soggy pizza

Lay down slices of mozzarella

After you've finished your crust, spoon a light spread of tomato sauce (there are heavy sauce people, and light sauce people, I'm a light sauce person - where you can taste the sauce, but not so much that it overcomes the rest of the pizza flavors.) Then lay sliced part skim milk mozzarella slices on top of the pizza. The cheese does not need to be shredded as most people assume, it just needs to be even, so if your slices are the same size this method is quicker and works out better (plus is hate grating cheese).

Lay out your toppings accordingly, I love a great pepperoni pizza, but veggie get's top marks as well - this part really is all personal preference. Cook at 425 degrees (oven temps vary, but it's all about hot air circulation) for 15-20 minuets, but watch it for golden crust because it can vary dramatically depending on how good your oven is. When putting in the pizza slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheet, on to the baking racks and use the cookie sheets for a pizza pallet! Parchment paper is your best friend in this instance, because it let's the pizza cook evenly - on all sides vs. attempting to cook though the cookie sheet.

 

Enjoy!