Grandma Pizza

When it comes to your basic tomato and cheese pizza, there's still plenty of room for variety - crust style, amount and type of cheese, tomato sauce vs. chopped tomatoes, and seasonings. Whitney picked out this Cook's Country recipe that makes a tasty thin-crust pizza with chopped tomatoes and mozzarella. I've made a few different pizza crust recipes before and found this one easy to make and work with, and it came out of the oven perfectly crisp. Given the time to make it I would probably still prefer my Chicago pizza imitation, but we really enjoyed this one.

Cook's Country Grandma Pizza
   Serves 4
Ingredients
   For the dough
3 tbsp olive oil
3/4 C water
1 1/2 C bread flour
2 1/4 tsp instant or rapid-rise yeast
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
   For the topping
1(28-ounce) can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp dried oregano
1/4 tsp salt
8 oz mozzarella cheese, shredded (2 cups)
1/4 C grated Parmesan cheese
2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

Directions
   Coat rimmed baking sheet with 2 tablespoons oil. Combine water and remaining 1 tablespoon oil in 1-cup liquid measuring cup. Using stand mixer fitted with dough hook, mix flour, yeast, sugar, and salt on low speed until combined. With mixer running, slowly add water mixture and mix until dough comes together, about 1 minute. Increase speed to medium-low and mix until dough is smooth and comes away from sides of bowl, about 10 minutes.
   Transfer dough to greased baking sheet and turn to coat. Stretch dough to 10 by 6-inch rectangle. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in warm place until doubled in size, 1 to 1½ hours. Stretch dough to corners of pan, cover loosely with plastic, and let rise in warm place until slightly puffed, about 45 minutes. (If the dough snaps back when you press it to the corners of the baking sheet, cover it, let it rest for 10 minutes, and try again.) Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 500 degrees.
   Place tomatoes in colander and drain well. Combine drained tomatoes, oil, garlic, oregano, and salt in bowl. Combine mozzarella and Parmesan in second bowl. Sprinkle cheese mixture over dough, leaving ½-inch border around edges. Top with tomato mixture and bake until well browned and bubbling, about 15 minutes. Slide pizza onto wire rack, sprinkle with basil, and let cool for 5 minutes. Serve.