After two weeks gorging on delicious New York pizza, I came home to find out that the Daring Baker’s Challenge for October is… Pizza! How appropriate!

I’ve been meaning to do my own pizza dough for ages, finally I’d have a chance to try it. And the challenge was very clear, we had to toss it in the air like a real professional. I was so excited I gathered some friends around and called it a pizza party.

Here’s the link to the dough recipe, from Rosa’s Yummy Yums, who hosted this great challenge. And don’t forget to check all the other daring bakers!

The pizzas were declared a success, but in the end I was a bit sad… I didn’t manage to toss the dough as I should. Not that I was clumsy or anything like that. The dough was simply untossable. It was so soft it started stretching as soon as I held it, and looked like it was going to break apart and open holes if I didn’t place it at once on the baking sheet. I did everything by the book, so I wondered if they had just waited outside for too long.

I didn’t get any photos of the party pizzas either… with all the people waiting to be fed, it seemed a bit rude to whisk them away to be photographed first. So on the next day, I gave it another go. Sadly, the result was the same. Even the dough straight out of the fridge was too soft to toss. I had failed.

It was crispy and tasty all the same, and I did get some shots of my 4-in-one pizza, so it wasn’t a waste. But I’ll keep experimenting with pizza dough recipes and I’ll learn to toss them properly, I’m stubborn that way.

And so you don’t go away from this post empty handed, here’s my super douper recipe for pizza sauce:

Tomato Sauce for Pizzas:

2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
500ml of tomato puree
1 teaspoon of sugar
1 teaspoon of dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste

and my secret ingredient:
2 streaky rashers of bacon

Place the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat.

Chop the garlic and the onion very thinly and add it to the oil.

When the onion starts to soften, add the bacon rashers and let it cook for a few more minutes.

Finally, add the tomato puree, the sugar, salt, pepper and oregano.

Cook for about five minutes over high heat, and then reduce to low, cover, and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Taste it and correct the seasoning if needed.

Discard the bacon rashers and let it cool for a bit before spreading on the pizza dough. Remember, a little goes a long way…

Regarding the toppings, below are some of the combinations I used:

- Bacon and onions
- Fresh mushrooms and corn
- Ham and fresh mushrooms
- Pineapple and parma ham
- Tomatoes, mozzarella di buffala and basil