Thin Crust Cheese Pizza

This pizza is bomb.

It is seriously the best homemade pizza ever. I found it on Annie's Eats, my favorite food blog of all time. I am such a fan of thin crust pizza and this has become my go-to recipe. I love everything about it.

The perfect, easy to make crust. 

The delicious homemade pizza sauce.

The slightly browned, bubbly cheese.

I also love it as a quick weeknight meal. I make the dough (sometimes a double batch) and sauce in advance and freeze it. Whenever I want a pizza I just thaw out the dough and sauce, grate up some cheese and dinner is on the table with about as much effort as making ramen noodles.

But way, WAY better.

Thin Crust Cheese Pizza
adapted from Annie's Eats

Makes 2 Pizzas

For the crust:
3 c. bread flour
2 tsp. sugar
½ tsp. instant yeast
1 1/3 c. ice water
1 Tbs. vegetable oil
1½ tsp. salt

For the sauce*:
1 (28 oz.) can whole peeled tomatoes, drained
1 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. red wine vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. oregano
¼ tsp. ground black pepper

For topping:
Olive oil, for brushing
½ cup (1 oz.) finely grated Parmesan cheese
2 cups (8 oz.) shredded whole-milk mozzarella

Directions:
To make the dough, combine the flour, sugar, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. With the machine running on low speed, add the ice water until fully incorporated.  Let dough rest for 10 minutes.

Add the oil and salt to the dough.  Process until the dough forms a smooth, tacky ball that clears the sides of the bowl. Remove the dough from the bowl, knead briefly on a lightly oiled work surface, about 1 minute.

Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours and up to 3 days. (After the period of refrigeration, the dough can be wrapped tightly in plastic wrap and frozen for later use.)

To make the sauce, combine all ingredients in a food processor.  Blend until smooth, about 30 seconds. Transfer to a bowl or container and refrigerate until ready to use. (This makes way more sauce than you'll need for the two pizzas, but it freezes well so hang on to it!)

Preheat the oven to 500˚ F.  Remove the pizza dough from the refrigerator and divide in half.  (If you plan to freeze a portion of the dough, this is the time to wrap in plastic, place in a freezer bag and freeze for later use.) Form each half into a ball and place on two lightly oiled 12 inch pizza pans. Spray the dough balls lightly with cookies spray. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.

To assemble the pizza, use your hands to gently stretch the dough to a 12-inch circle. Lightly brush the thicker edge of the disk with olive oil.  Spread ½ cup of the pizza sauce over the dough.  Sprinkle evenly with the grated Parmesan and the shredded mozzarella. Bake until the cheese is bubbling and slightly browned, 10-12 minutes.  Let cool about 5 minutes before slicing and serving.