Food is one of the many constants in every culture. Much like language and music, food is something that can bring people regardless of whatever background they come from or beliefs they may have. Food is also a social experience; whether it’s sitting down to eat it with others, making it with others, or both, food is a welcoming experience for everyone of all ages.

Jonah and I have been friends since high school, and making or eating food together is something we instantly connected over and have been doing since. So, naturally, when the opportunity came up to cook for this article, I instantly asked Jonah if he wanted to join me on this culinary adventure, to which he agreed.

 Pizza has always been one of those foods that we always seem to eat, whether it is due to its easy accessibility or low price point, which seemed like the most attractive option to a couple of broke high school students nine times out of ten when someone said they were hungry the first thing out of someone’s mouth was: “Let’s get pizza”. Of course, like any other college student running low on funds, we had had experience cooking frozen pizza so making almost everything from scratch with no prior experience seemed like the logical leap.

We had gone shopping to gather all of the ingredients for our endeavor and in doing so we both became very hungry. So, we decided to make ourselves bruschetta as an appetizer to hold us over until the pizza was ready. 

Bruschetta:

Ingredients

  • 1 tomato
  • 1 onion
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • 1 baguette, sliced 
  • Olive oil
  • Balsamic Vinaigrette
  • Fresh basil

Instructions

  1. Dice tomato and onion
  2. Mix together and add a pinch of salt and pepper; set off to side
  3. Drizzle olive oil on the sliced pieces of baguette
  4. Top baguette pieces with onion and tomato mixture
  5. Drizzle balsamic vinaigrette on top
  6. Garnish with a small piece of fresh basil
  7. Enjoy

After we were full enough to start our culinary journey, we moved on to the next part, which was crafting the perfect dough. Our recipe came courtesy of Jonah’s dad, Mike, who sent us the recipe for a life-changing dough. Neither of us had ever made dough at this scale before,and any previous experience we had came from making bread and not pizza dough.  Nevertheless, with naive and arrogant confidence that we could do anything, we charged forward and began work on the dough.

Mike’s Easy Quick Rise Dough:

Ingredients:

  • 800g Water
  • 5 tsp yeast
  • 2 tsp sugar
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 1000g Flour
  • 5 tsp olive oil

Instructions:

  1. Mix water, yeast, sugar, and salt together in a large mixing bowl and let sit for 5 minutes
  2. Add flour and olive oil to the bowl
  3. Mix for around 5 minutes or until the dough becomes stretchy
  4. Cover the bowl with a towel for 20 minutes and allow the dough to rise
  5. Thoroughly flour a work surface and lay out your dough on it (make sure to use plenty of flour as the dough is quite sticky
  6. Cut dough into 4 equal pieces
  7. Roll out each piece of dough to the desired size and shape (we recommend no more than a 10in pizza as the center will become too thin if you go any bigger)

As the dough was rising, we decided to start working on the sauce. We decided to go with a sauce that had more solid pieces in it because it felt more homemade.  It totally wasn’t because we didn’t have anything to puree the sauce with. Once again, both of us had zero experience making sauce like this. But, that didn’t stop us.  We continued forward into the unknown world of homemade tomato sauce. This recipe yielded enough sauce for 3 10-inch pizzas and dipping sauce for garlic knots.

Speedy Pizza Sauce:

Ingredients

  • 1 (15oz) can of crushed tomatoes
  • 1 (15oz) can of diced tomatoes
  • Fresh basil (to taste)
  • Salt (to taste)
  • Pepper (to taste)
  • Garlic powder (to taste)
  • Dried oregano (to taste)

Instructions:

  1. Mix crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes together in a bowl
  2. Tear or cut up fresh basil and add to bowl
  3. Add the remainder of the seasonings to your liking and stir
  4. This would be the part where if you wanted a smoother sauce you would puree it

Now, it was finally time to start assembling our pizzas. We decided that our first pizza would be a pepperoni pizza with a hot honey drizzle and a mozzarella stuffed crust. This was a pretty bold first pizza to make, but we weren’t here to be conservative. We decided that making the dough and sauce wasn’t enough to make from scratch, so we made our own hot honey as well. It turned out to be much easier than I thought.  It is something I recommend everyone try.

Hot Honey:

Ingredients:

  • Honey
  • Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
  • Hot Sauce (We use Sweet Baby Ray’s)

Instructions:

  1. Combine all ingredients in a saucepan and heat on medium-low until combined
  2. Wait for it to cool before bottling

Hot Honey Pepperoni Stuffed Crust Pizza:

Ingredients

  • Pizza dough from the previous recipe rolled out to about 12 inches (we did this to end up with a 10 in pizza)
  • Tomato Sauce from the previous recipe
  • 8 Mozzarella Cheese sticks
  • Shredded Mozzarella
  • Slice Pepperoni
  • Garlic Powder
  • Salt
  • Pepper 
  • Olive Oil

Instructions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 475°F
  2. Outline where you want the crust to be by laying the cheese sticks on the rolled-out dough
  3. Fold the edges of the dough over and then under the cheese sticks making sure it is sealed to prevent any melted cheese from leaking out
  4. Make a layer of tomato sauce in the middle of the pizza
  5. Add shredded mozzarella cheese on top of the sauce to your desired cheesiness
  6. Add pepperoni on top of the cheese to your preference
  7. Brush the crust with olive oil
  8. Sprinkle garlic powder, salt, and pepper on top of the brushed oil
  9.  Bake at 475 for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown
  10. Remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes
  11. Drizzle hot honey over the pizza
  12. Slice and Enjoy

Credit: Ethan Ginsberg

The elation after this pizza came out and tasted fantastic was other worldy. Because of this success, we thought “Why not see how far we can push it?”. So, that’s exactly what we did. For our second pizza, we decided to make a BBQ ranch dill pickle chicken pizza. because why not? While this pizza was also a success, I was not a fan of this one. In my unqualified opinion, some things aren’t meant to be put on a pizza and pickles are one of those things. If you are a big fan of all the ingredients, then you can give it a try for yourself. Just know that you have been warned.

BBQ Ranch Dill Pickle Chicken Pizza:

Ingredients:

  • Dough from previous recipe
  • Sauce from previous recipe
  • Shredded Mozzarella
  • Sliced Grilled Chicken
  • Dried Dill
  • Sliced Dill Pickles
  • BBQ Sauce
  • Ranch Dressing
  • Garlic Powder
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Olive Oil

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 475°F
  2. Roll dough out to about 10-inches
  3. Layer the sauce in the middle, making sure to leave room for the crust
  4. Layer shredded mozzarella cheese to desired cheesiness
  5. Top cheese with desired amount of chicken, dried dill, and pickles
  6. Brush crust with olive oil
  7. Sprinkle garlic powder, salt, and pepper on top of the brushed oil
  8. Bake at 475 for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden brown
  9. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes
  10. Top pizza with BBQ sauce and Ranch dressing
  11. Slice and enjoy

Credit: Jonah Bachelor

After 2 pizzas, we were getting a little pizza fatigue. So, we decided to switch things up and make garlic knots. We were going into this completely blind. We literally had no idea how to actually make garlic knots. I think they ended up coming out pretty well, despite winging it.

Garlic Knots:

Ingredients:

  • Dough from previous recipe
  • A whole head of garlic
  • Olive Oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 475°F
  2. Cover the head of garlic in olive oil, salt, and pepper
  3. Wrap head in tinfoil
  4. Air fry garlic at 400°F until golden brown
  5. Divide dough into as many pieces as there are garlic cloves in the head
  6. Roll the pieces of dough out into long flat lines
  7. Crush a clove of air-fried garlic on each line and spread it out 
  8. Roll each piece of dough back up then roll it back out
  9. Tie each dough line into a knot
  10. Brush each knot with olive oil, salt, and pepper
  11. Top with a handful of shredded mozzarella cheese
  12. Bake at 475°F until golden brown
  13. Let cool for a few minutes before eating

Credit: Jonah Bachelor

After that refreshing change of pace, we were ready to make our final pizza. This one looked like a breeze compared to everything that we had done so far. It was finally time to tackle the vegetable pizza, which was specifically requested for us to make.

Garlic Vegetable White Pizza:

Ingredients:

  • Dough from previous recipe
  • Shredded Mozzarella
  • Garlic
  • Broccoli
  • Black Olives 
  • Slice Bell Pepper
  • Sliced Red Onion
  • Olive Oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Instructions:

  1. Preheat oven to 475°F
  2. Roll pizza out to about 10 inches
  3. Cover middle of pizza with desired amount of shredded mozzarella, making sure to leave room for the crust
  4. Top cheese with desired amount of garlic, broccoli, olives, bell pepper, and onion
  5. Brush crust with olive oil
  6. Top oil with salt and pepper
  7. Bake pizza at 475°F for about 10 minutes or until golden brown
  8. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes
  9. Slice and enjoy

After being filled to the brim with pizza, and spending my afternoon in a way that would make any New York Italian proud, I sat down for a moment of reflection. I experienced a wave of elation that you get when you complete a daunting task. I was super proud of Jonah and me. I thought we would end up with something that resembles pizza but wasn’t quite pizza. But my expectations were blown out of the water. That’s not to say I didn’t believe in us I just was not totally sold on what our ceiling of accomplishment was but I am more than happy to say that I was flat-out wrong.

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