Classic Cheese Pizza with Roasted Tomato Sauce

This homemade pizza uses a traditional, from-scratch and roasted grape tomato sauce to complement a classic mozzarella topping. Serve with a side salad of your choosing and a glass of wine.

Most days, I allow 20-30 minutes to prepare a dinner. But then there are those glorious, cherished days where I plan to spend hours in the kitchen.

For me, making things from scratch is a joy. From the prep, to the stirring, kneading, roasting, blending, scooping and sprinkling that went into making this pizza – not a step was completed without a pinch of love.

The way I see it, the majority of us do not have the time to make everything from scratch, everyday. There’s too much to be done! But if you’ve never attempted, I challenged you to dedicate ONE meal this month to scratch-based cooking.

See it as an adventure. Don’t feel intimidated. Cooking is a process … and there is always room for error at home. From start to finish, envision your time in the kitchen as a labor of love. And when the work is done, take your time at the dinner table. Go slow for just ONE meal. This is how the act eating becomes more than something we “have to do.”

For me at least, this is where community happens: in the kitchen and around the table.

Classic Cheese Pizza with Roasted Tomato Sauce

Sauce recipe adapted from: Naturally Ella | Crust recipe: Lauren Hardy

Ingredients

For the sauce:

• 3 cups grape tomatoes
• 1/4 medium white onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• ¼ cup fresh basil

For the crust:

• 1 1/8 cups warm water
• 3 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1 1/2 tablespoons honey
• 1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon fresh basil, chopped
• 1 3/4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Instructions

1. To make the dough, in a large bowl, combine water, yeast, honey and olive oil. Mix with a spoon, then let sit until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add in 2 1/2 cups flour, salt, garlic powder and dried basil, stirring with a spoon until the dough comes together but is still sticky. Using your hands, form the dough into a ball and work the additional 1/2 cup flour into the dough, kneading it on a floured surface for a few minutes. Rub the same bowl with olive oil then place the dough inside, turning to coat. Cover with a towel and place in a warm place to rise for about 1 1/2 hours.
2. Moving on to the sauce, pre-heat oven to 425˚ F. Place tomatoes, onion, and garlic on a baking tray covered with tin foil. Brush with one tablespoon of olive oil, place in oven and bake for 30 minutes until tomatoes are tender and beginning to brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes.
3. Place roasted tomatoes in a food processor and add in olive oil and basil. Pulse until the everything is well mixed. Set sauce aside while dough is rising.
4. Lower the oven temperature to 375˚ F. After the dough has risen, punch it down and place it back onto a floured pizza stone or baking sheet. Using a roll pin or your hands, form it into your desired shape.
5. Spread the roasted tomato sauce over the dough using a spoon or spatula. (Save extra sauce to use for a next-day pasta dish.) Sprinkle with 1 3/4 cups mozzarella cheese, or more if desired.
6. Bake the pizza for 25 minutes , or until crust and cheese are both golden.