Pizza Pizza
Tonight is make your own pizza night, a family favorite. There’s a twist, though. Normally I will heat up a pizza stone in my oven or sometimes on my grill to cook the pizzas. Tonight, we are doing it at my sister’s house because she’s the one with a pizza oven.

All of the dudes in our lives are either on business trips or off at school. So, my daughter, sister, and I are having a girls’ night. We are making our own pizza because I want to see if I need a backyard pizza oven like my sister has.

For years my husband and I have dreamed that it would be great if we had a wood-fired oven in our backyard. We could make bread, roast meats, and, yes, make fantastic pizzas. My husband would love to build it, as he is always up for a project.

But, here’s the thing. Making pizza, or anything else in a wood-fired oven is a process. As awesome and beautiful as a brick oven would be, you have to be the kind of person who will really use it. You must have an hours-long plan not only for getting it hot but also for when the pizza making is over and you let the oven cool.

It would be a waste of time, energy, and resources not to throw other things in there like some gorgeous sourdough bread or some succulent roasted chicken and potatoes. It’s potentially a two-day process at least. Which, if you have the time, is a great way to spend your days. But, it’s just not practical for most of us. And now that my household is rapidly shrinking, I don’t have the mouths required to consume all the oven-roasted bounty.

My sister has a gas-fired tabletop pizza oven that I am thinking is the better solution. So, tonight I’m going to test drive it. Below is the recipe for my Go-To Pizza Dough. (Can’t go wrong with Bobby Flay!) I am curious to see how the pizzas turn out and what the flavor is like without the smoke of the wood. Though, you can get ovens that will use both.

Go-To Pizza Dough Recipe
Adapted from Bobby Flay and the Food Network
Yields 2 14-inch pizza crusts

Ingredients
3-1/2 to 4 cups King Arthur bread flour, plus more for rolling
1 teaspoon sugar
1 envelope instant dry yeast
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1-1/2 cups water, 110º F
2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 2 teaspoons

Directions
Mix the dough
Combine the bread flour, sugar, yeast, and kosher salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and combine. While the mixer is running, add the water and 2 tablespoons of the oil and beat until the dough forms into a ball.

Note: If the dough is too sticky to knead, add additional flour, 1 tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together in a solid ball. If the dough is too dry, add additional water, 1 tablespoon at a time until you get to a good kneading consistency.

Knead the dough
Scrape the dough onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead it into a smooth, firm ball. It should be soft and supple with no crumbles or flakes.

Allow the dough to rise
Grease a large bowl with the remaining 2 teaspoons of olive oil, add the dough, cover the bowl with a plastic wrap or a damp towel and place it in a warm area until it doubles in size (about 1 hour).

Shape the crust
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and divide it into 2 equal pieces. Cover each with a clean kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 10 minutes. Then shape your pizza crusts as desired. Here is a great video from Emeril Lagasse on how to shape a round pizza dough.