Bart Smith's 'World Famous' Homemade Pizza Recipe From His Cookbook, Who's Hungry?

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Bart's "World Famous" & Ultra Heavenly, Homemade Pizza

WITH SLICED BELL PEPPERS, MUSHROOMS, PINEAPPLE, (PRE-COOKED) ITALIAN SAUSAGE & (PRE-COOKED) TURKEY PEPPERONI

Recipes From Bart's Cookbook 🕮 Who's Hungry? © by Bart Smith

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Bart's "World Famous" & Ultra Heavenly, Homemade Pizza

RECIPE INTRODUCTION

For me, it all started in 1995. I was working late and craving a pizza about 1:00 A.M. Everything, of course, was closed except the 24-hour grocery store. So, I hopped in my car and drove to the store to see what kind of frozen pizza options I had.

To my surprise, I saw a pizza with what looked like a really nice looking crust from its photo on the box. I hustled home, baked it, ate it and that’s when the idea hit me. Customize MY own homemade pizzas to MY desire using their cheese-only pizza and great crust. The rest is history!

Since then, I’ve shared my artistic pizza creations with others and started a revolution. I’ve become famous just for my delicious pizza alone! So, here is my “world famous” homemade pizza recipe, which could put any home delivery pizza business ... outta business! It’s that good!

EQUIPMENT NEEDED

16" PIZZA MESH PAN — Forget stone pizza pans or any pan without holes in it. Holes in the pan are a must, and the best type of pizza pan to have is a metal mesh pizza pan screen. Why? Because the mesh screen design helps cook the crust to a crunchy golden texture especially in the middle. Other pans leave the crust a little undercooked, even soggy, especially in the middle. So, choose/buy a mesh pizza pan screen like I've got. What's more, I have two (2) of them in case I want to make two pizzas at the same time.
MEDIUM FRYING PAN — (Optional) You'll need this to quickly pre-cook your turkey pepperoni.
LARGE FRYING PAN — (Optional) You'll need this to pre-cook your (mild or sweet) Italian sausage.
SINGLE PLATE — While I'll cut my veggies and pineapple on a cutting board, I prefer to cut and handle my meat separately on a plate which I can wash easily for reuse.
CUTTING BOARD — A plate will do just fine too, but we'll cut mushrooms, bell peppers and pineapple here.

PIZZA TOPPINGS

Can you top your pizza with what you want? NO! I'm kidding! Actually, YES! I have friends/family who top their pizzas with ingredients they like while I top my pizza with what I like.

Well, just so you know, here's exactly how I top my pizza. Give it a try at first. Really! Try it exactly as I've listed it below. THEN, branch off and experiment with your own ingredients.

I know so many people who said they didn't like pineapple or pepperoni, yet, when they tried it (my pizza) my way and the ingredients I chose — look out — they began singing a whole different tune quickly after just ONE BITE! One of absolute satisfaction and joy, to be specific.

THE CRUST

Let me tell you something about pizza crusts — IN ROUGHLY 30+ YEARS — not only have I tried them all, but I've also come to the stern conclusion that I do not have time nor do I care to make my own pizza dough. Ugh, NO! For those who wish to do that, be my guest. For me, I want my pizza NOW not four hours from now. So, to meet my desires, I go for a cheese-only pizza at my local Walmart store, grocery store, you name it.

That said, here are my top choices when it comes to cheese-only pizza crust. Again, if you have a Walmart in your area, you're set. If you don't, any grocery store will offer you a nice selection in cheese-only pizza crusts. Go with a fresh, deli-brand pizza first, and then a frozen brand if that's all you have available to you.

In fact, I once wanted a pizza at 2:00 A.M. and all the stores were closed. Well, I had all the ingredients, just not a pizza shell. So, I drove to a 7-11 down the street from where I live and bought one of their frozen cheese pizzas. Folks, I made magic happen with that 7-11 frozen cheese pizza with all my special toppings, and so can you if you're ever in a pinch like that late at night and you're craving a pizza just like I was.

FIRST CHOICE
WALMART MEDIUM
CHEESE PIZZA

THIN CRUST
CALIFORNIA
PIZZA KITCHEN

STUFFED CRUST
DIGIORNO FIVE
CHEESE PIZZA

LATE-NIGHT
7-11 FROZEN
CHEESE PIZZA

PIZZA TOPPINGS

When it comes to pizza toppings, I know what I like and what I like is a winner 99% of the time with anyone who dines with me. That said, you can still top your pizza with what you want. For me, here's exactly what I put on my pizza and I haven't changed my way of topping my pizza since 1995. That tells you what I put on my pizza is a real winner! Pending your own dietary needs and/or those dining with you, again, top your pizza the way you want. Just so you know and for the record, here's what I put on my pizza:

TURKEY
PEPPERONI

BABY BELLA
MUSHROOMS

BELL PEPPERS
(ALL COLORS)

ONLY FRESH
PINEAPPLE

SEASONING, OIL, SAUCE & CHEESES

When it comes to other pizza seasonings, cheeses and oils, to keep things simple, here's what I use and do with it:

Italian Seasonings — I'll sprinkle some Italian seasonings on the Italian sausage I'll be sautéing. Also, BIG SECRET TIP, I'll also sprinkle Italian seasonings on the individually cut pineapple. This turns your pineapple into an Italian pizza delight you've never experienced before.
Olive Oil — I'll use about 4 tablespoons to sauté the Italian sausage and 2 tablespoons to sauté the pepperoni.
Spaghetti Sauce — After I unbox my cheese pizza, I'll put a 1/4 cup layer of sauce down on the pizza to give it that fresh sauce taste. My favorite? Classico Tomato & Basil Spaghetti Pasta Sauce. Use what you like or have on hand. Any sauce will do, really.
Mozzarella Cheese — I like to sprinkle a handful of mozzarella cheese on the pizza, after I lay down some sauce and before I top the pizza with toppings.
Parmesan Cheese — Not only do I like to sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on my pizza right out of the oven, but I actually sprinkle some on it before I put it in the oven to bake.

DIRECTIONS

SERVINGS / PORTIONS: These directions are based on serving 2 people with average appetites and baking only HALF of a MEDIUM pizza. Personally, I found with stacked ingredients and all, you really do get full eating just a few slices of my pizza. Experiment and double everything if you have 3 or more people eating and you plan on cooking a whole medium pizza.

Now, here are the exact directions you need to learn in order to make the world's greatest pizza. Believe me, it's a lot easier than it looks. Simply read through everything first, get familiar with what needs to be done, then, take each step one at a time. You'll do fine. I've made over 1,000 of these pizzas since 1995. The steps are the same every time! Are you ready? Let's go!

STEP #1
GETTING STARTED

Get all the ingredients out so you can inventory everything and get started!
Preheat the oven to 415°.
Get started with your prep work!

STEP #2
MEAT PREP/COOK

Optionally, if you choose to include sausage and/or pepperoni in your calzone like I do, then here are the steps I take. IF NOT, you can SKIP this section.

Okay, you're still here! Now, here's how I prepare to sauté the pepperoni and Italian sausage so you can do other calzone prep work while your meats cook on medium to low heat.

★ PEPPERONI: Use 10-15 pieces of pepperoni for your calzone. Stack 'em tall and slice in quarters so you have slivers of pepperoni. Place pepperoni slivers in a medium size frying pan (on low heat for 5-10 minutes) with 2 tablespoons of grapeseed oil or olive oil. No Italian seasonings necessary.

STACK 'EM

CUT IN 1/4 SLICES

CREATE A NICE PILE

PLACE IN FRYING PAN

★ SAUSAGE: Use 1-2 LINKS per calzone. How much Italian sausage do you want in your calzone and how many pieces are you going to snack on once cooked? (HAHA) Unless you buy ground Italian sausage which requires no prep work -- just toss it in the frying pan, peel the skin off 1-2 links and slice 'em open so they cook faster in the pan.

Place links in a large frying pan (on medium heat for 10-12 minutes) with 4-5 tablespoons of grapeseed oil or olive oil and sprinkle Italian seasonings in the pan and flip the sausage over and over until evenly cooked. I like to break up the sausage in little chunks (perfect inclusion in your calzone) as the links cook.

SLICE SKIN OPEN

PEEL SKIN OFF

SLICE DOWN MIDDLE

PLACE IN FRYING PAN

★ WATCH BOTH PANS frequently to make sure nothing burns. Flip and toss both sausage and pepperoni often. Turn to low heat if you think they're cooking too fast.

STEP #3
VEGGIES & PINEAPPLE

While the sausage and pepperoni cook on medium to low heat, and you're watching them closely and tossing them often so not to let them burn, start slicing up your veggies. It does help to have someone help you with all these tasks. Sure, you can do this yourself, but it's always nice to enlist the help of the person dining with you if you have company at the table.

★ BELL PEPPERS: Per calzone, wash then slice four (4-6) small slices of peppers per color. So, red, green, yellow and/or orange. Whatever you have. You don't need that many. Then, set aside.

★ MUSHROOMS: Per HALF a medium pizza, wash then slice two (2) mushrooms then set aside. You should wind up with about 6-8 mushroom slices for topping your pizza.

★ PINEAPPLE: Per calzone, cut 10-12 "thin" slices of pineapple that are about 1" in length each. You'll spread these around inside your calzone per layer then sprinkle Italian seasonings on each pineapple slice before you add a new layer on top or close up your calzone and bake away! Once sliced up, set aside.

CUT THE TOP OFF

CUT OFF 1" WORTH

SLICE OUT THE CORE

CUT AGAIN LIKE THIS

CUT THE SKIN OFF

CUT INTO PIECES

CUT INTO THIN SLICES

SET ASIDE

STEP #4
PIZZA CRUST

Remove the pizza from the box and cut it in half. For 2 people, this is plenty of pizza for both of you. That's been my experience. Need more? Cook the whole pizza! ;-) The amount of ingredients is the real filler, along with any beverages, keep that in mind.

★ CRUST: Place half of the pizza pie on your mesh pizza screen pan and start preparing it. The other half of the pizza can be wrapped up with plastic wrap and kept in the fridge for up to 7 days. Enjoy the other half later that week or this weekend.

1/2 PIZZA FEEDS 2 PEOPLE

COOK WITH 1/2 TODAY

EAT THE OTHER 1/2
LATER THAT WEEK

★ SAUCE: Pour 1/4 to 1/2 cup of spaghetti sauce on the pizza and spread evenly with a tablespoon.

ADD A LAYER OF SAUCE
FOR EXTRA FLAVORING

SPREAD IT AROUND &
ADD MORE IF NEEDED

NOW YOU'RE SET TO ADD
EXTRA MOZZARELLA CHEESE

★ MOZZARELLA CHEESE: Sprinkle 1/4 cup of mozzarella cheese on top of the sauce you just spread onto your pizza. This little bit of extra cheese really revs up the cheese factor of your pizza.

In fact, once I didn't have any Mozzarella cheese on hand, only Mexican cheese for tacos and burritos. Well, I gave it a shot and just sprinkled a little on top. Presto! Tasted great!

STEP #5
DRAIN THE GREASE

Before I place the cooked meat inside the calzone, I need to drain the grease from each frying pan used to sauté my meats. Here's how that's done:

★ PEPPERONI: Drain the bulk of the grease by tilting the pepperoni pan at a 45-90° angle against the inside edge of your sink to drain the bulk of the grease. Let the grease slide out while you keep the pepperoni in the pan pressed up against the inside sink wall. Then, place the "hot" pepperoni (temperature-wise) on a plate with a paper towel and pat down the pepperoni further removing any grease. I like my calzone devoid of any grease if you can tell.

DRAIN THE GREASE FROM YOUR
PAN WHEN IT'S DONE COOKING

HOLD THE PAN AT 45-90°
AGAINST THE SINK WALL

CAREFULLY DRAIN ANY OIL THAT
WANTS TO LEAK OUT OF THE PAN

PLACE PEPPERONI ON A
PAPER TOWEL ON A PLATE

PAT DOWN PAPER TOWEL TO
FURTHER SOAK UP GREASE

LOOK AT THE GREASE THAT
WON'T BE ON YOUR CALZONE

★ SAUSAGE: Repeat the same steps to drain the grease from the sausage pan after it's done cooking. Drain the bulk of the grease by tilting the sausage pan at a 45-90° angle against the inside edge of your sink to drain the bulk of the grease. Then, place the "hot" sausage (temperature-wise) on a plate with a paper towel and pat down the sausage further removing any grease.

DRAIN THE GREASE FROM YOUR PAN WHEN IT'S DONE COOKING

HOLD THE PAN AT 45-90°
AGAINST THE SINK WALL

CAREFULLY DRAIN ANY OIL THAT
WANTS TO LEAK OUT OF THE PAN

PLACE SAUSAGE ON A
PAPER TOWEL ON A PLATE

PAT DOWN PAPER TOWEL TO
FURTHER SOAK UP GREASE

LOOK AT THE GREASE THAT WON'T BE ON YOUR CALZONE

★ FEEL FREE TO SAMPLE any pepperoni or sausage. You deserve a quick appetizer of sorts!

STEP #6
ADD TOPPINGS

Start topping your pizza in this order:

★ 1/2 PEPPERONI: Sprinkle 1/2 your pepperoni evenly across your pizza.

★ 1/2 SAUSAGE: Sprinkle 1/2 your sausage evenly across your pizza on top of the pepperoni.

★ BELL PEPPERS: Place your sliced peppers evenly across your pizza on top of the meat.

★ MUSHROOMS: Place your sliced mushrooms evenly across your pizza on top of the peppers.

ADD 1/2 YOUR PEPPERONI

ADD 1/2 YOUR SAUSAGE

ADD VEGGIES & PINEAPPLE

★ PINEAPPLE: Place your sliced pineapple evenly across your pizza then sprinkle Italian seasonings lightly over each pineapple slice. These two items will then "make love in the oven" and turn your pizza into something from another world like you've never had before!

ADD ITALIAN SEASONINGS TO
EACH INDIVIDUAL PINEAPPLE

IT'S OKAY IF SOME GETS ON
OTHER PARTS OF THE PIZZA

WHEN THIS IS DONE, IT'S
TIME FOR THE NEXT STEP

★ ADD REMAINING 1/2 SAUSAGE + PEPPERONI: With all your ingredients on your pizza, place the remaining pepperoni and sausage evenly across your pizza on top of all those ingredients.

★ ADD MOZZARELLA CHEESE: Sprinkle a little bit over your entire pizza.

★ ADD PARMESAN CHEESE: Sprinkle a little bit over your entire pizza.

ADD REMAINING PEPPERONI

ADD REMAINING SAUSAGE

ADD MOZZARELLA CHEESE
+ PARMESAN CHEESE

STEP #7
BAKE YOUR PIZZA

Time to slide that pizza in the oven!

★ Earlier, I told you to preheat your oven at 415°. You did that, right? Good. Now, slide your pizza in the oven for 15 minutes and on the top rack. Use a timer to time your pizza baking time so you can pull it out when the buzzer sounds!

★ Also, place a sheet of tinfoil under the pizza on the bottom rack. This helps catch any liquids or melting cheese from falling to the bottom of your oven. Helps prevent a mess for you to clean up later.

PIZZA GOES ON TOP RACK &
TIN FOIL ON THE BOTTOM

WHEN DONE, PLACE PIZZA PAN ON TIN FOIL & FOLD CORNERS TO PAN

PULL OUT YOUR PIZZA & LOOK
AT YOUR DECADENT CREATION

★ When it's time to pull the pizza out of the oven, (#1) place it on the tin foil and (#2) wrap the corners of the tin foil to the pizza pan.

★ Now, pull it out and place it on a surface where you can place a hot pizza pan. My counter top can handle hot pots and pans. Yours may or may not, so be careful

★ Time to cut your pizza into slices. I use a large knife and not the circular pizza cutting wheel. I do this because I cut DOWN on my pizza not across the pan pushing ingredients away from me. Plus, the knife serves well when serving a slice onto a plate.

HERE'S HOW I CUT
MY PIZZA INTO SLICES

AS YOU CUT, YOU CAN ALSO DISTRIBUTE SLICES EASILY

A LARGE KNIFE HELPS SERVE
PIZZA SLICES ONTO A PLATE

STEP #8
LET'S EAT!!!!!

Time to chow down on this amazing pizza you just made!

★ If you've served your first few slices, TURN THE OVEN OFF and place the rest of your pizza back in the oven so it stays warm for your next slice. When you're ready for another slice, even though the oven is OFF, it's still warm and waiting for you to munch down on that next slice!

PLACE PIZZA BACK IN THE OVEN
TO KEEP WARM WHILE YOU EAT

WHEN READY, TAKE IT OUT
& CUT UP ANOTHER SLICE

DINE AWAY! DOESN'T THAT JUST LOOK LIKE THE BEST PIZZA?

FEAST YOUR EYES ON MY
PAST PIZZA CREATIONS

Here's a gallery of photographs I took of some of my past pizza creations. Take a gander and get hungry to make your own!

BART SMITH'S
"WORLD FAMOUS"
PIZZA

Knowing how to make the world's greatest pizza is a skill and a talent you will love to acquire and the sooner the better! I know for me, life just wouldn't be the same if I didn't whip up one of my pizzas on a weekly basis. Now that you know my secret recipe for the world's greatest pizza, see if you don't start making it — as often as you can!