Basil Pancetta Pizza (Mostly) From Scratch

Start with a dough. It's so simple, even I could do it. In fact, we made so much dough that I got a turn to play too. 

Instead of water, we used a can of cheap beer. Apparently you don't want to go for the nicer stuff, because hops can add unwanted bitter flavor. Pour the beer, wait a bit. Do two or three tablespoons of salt, sugar, and yeast. This wasn't an exact recipe. Nate kept saying things like, "Hmm, add another tablespoon of yeast." He's one of those people that just knows how it's supposed to look.

Stir everything and give the mixture a few minutes to process. At this point it already smelled delicious, like the amazing dough it was about to become. After five minutes or so, drizzle some olive oil. 

Stir everything, and start adding flour. I think we added about three cups. It's supposed to look kind of like this:

Flour the cutting board and knead the thing into submission. When it starts getting a smoother surface texture, you have to perform a series of ninja moves that are impossible to properly describe, which ends up with a ball of dough like so:

(Kitchen minion optional.)

We should have thought to take a video. Oh well, that's hindsight! Maybe next time. 

At this point the dough needed to sit and do its special dough magic for about an hour. Rather than fussing around with other ways of covering it, you can just rub a little oil in the bowl you used for mixing, and put the bowl upside down covering the dough. 

While the dough made friends with the inside of the mixing bowl, we took the time to run to the grocery store and decide what toppings to put on this carnival of deliciousness. 

Shopping list:
Pancetta
Soft Buffalo Mozzarella
Shaved Parmesan
Crimini Mushrooms
Fresh Basil and Rosemary

Pancetta is kind of like fancy bacon. Everyone loves bacon, right? While waiting for the dough, we sauteed the pancetta in a skillet with the rosemary until crispy. I'll admit I snitched a piece or two. The pancetta ended up in a small bowl, leaving behind as much grease in the pan as possible. The mushrooms went right into the pan, with a healthy drizzle of balsamic vinegar. Yum!

How do you tell if the dough is ready? You should be able to poke it without the hole bouncing back. Flatten the dough into a roundish shape. Put it on the pizza pan and brush the edges with olive oil.

Add all the toppings. You can make your own sauce. We actually cheated just this once and used stuff out of a can. Pro tip: If you pop the buffalo mozzarella in the freezer beforehand, it will slice much easier. Chiffonade the basil (that means cut it into long thin strips) and sprinkle most of it on top. You can save a little to garnish at the end.

Bake at a pizza-baking temperature for about fifteen minutes. At ten minutes you may feel tempted to yank it out of the oven and devour it prematurely because the entire house will smell like you've died and gone heaven, and heaven is somewhere in Italy. It's worth the wait though, even if you're really hungry. Try to time things perfectly so the crust is slightly crispy without being overdone. It should still be chewy with a slight crunch.

Devour it like you haven't eaten all day! 

Even the dog got a bite.

Don't worry, those last few pieces didn't last long.