Chasing the Fionist Dream

Once upon a time – okay, last year – we used to order takeout 2-4 times per month, as a treat for ourselves, after the kids were in bed. But every so often, the food would arrive late, cold, soggy, burnt or fallen apart. And it cost between 100-200 shekels for the two of us. In time, we learned to replicate some of our favorite takeout meals. Not only is the food hotter and fresher, it usually is ready faster than had it been delivered and costs at most a third of the price.

We have found that as long as we have the makings for “fake out” in our kitchen at all times, we can easily avoid ordering in. When we run out of cheese…. well… that’s why we buy 3 kg at a time and always have some in our freezer.

Unlike pizza that comes an hour after you order it, homemade pizza is hot and bubbly. And you can be as generous and as creative as you want with the toppings. A friend bought us a pizza stone for our wedding and we started making our own pies soon after. We loved it so much that we have gifted pizza stones to our friends. We also invested in a pizza slicer and use baking sheets to minimize cleanup.

This is the recipe we use for TWO 30 cm diameter pies. (We ❤ leftovers. Feel free to halve this recipe.)

• 2 tablespoon active dry yeast
• 2 teaspoon white sugar
• 1 1/2 cups warm water 
• 4 cups flour (more as needed)
• 4 tablespoons oil
• A shake of salt

1. Preheat your oven and baking stone to 220° C on turbo (fan top and bottom) mode.
2. Mix all of the above together. No rising or real kneading required. (While the dough is super easy, it’s totally legit to use a laffa instead or to pick up ready made dough.)
3. Split the dough into two and spread them out on two lightly floured baking sheets. Flatten them into the shape you want.
4. Add any sauce of your choice – we use slightly watered down tomato paste with some basil, a lot of oregano and some granulated garlic. This summer we’ve been using cuttings from our basil and oregano plants and om nom nom so good 🙂
5. Be generous with your cheese and toppings. (The 27 shekel Shufersal sal brand cheese from the counter is outstanding for this.)
6. Stick it in the oven until the dough is baked and the cheese is bubbly.
7. Find your favorite Netflix show, dig in and enjoy!!

Don’t be discouraged if your pizza is less than glamorous on your first try. It tastes amazing and you’ll be proud of yourself for doing it on your own.  After all, practice makes perfect.

How did your pizza come out? Leave us a comment. We’re curious (and hungry)!