Back in December I went with my sister Cheryl, my bro-in-law Cameron and my niece and nephew Maia and Dylan over to Matt and Arlie’s house one chilly (by Oakland standards) for yet another awesome meal. And once again, Matt shared with us his dazzling culinary skills. This time, he added pizza to the list of items he excels at – to be specific, wood oven pizza.  And to be even more specific, wood oven pizza from his own wood burning oven that he built in his front yard!  How awesome is that? . I can’t really use “words” to describe how cool it is to bake kick ass pizza right in the front yard.  Watch this video instead.

Just because you don’t have a groovy wood burning oven in your yard doesn’t make you can’t make pizza.

Here is Matt’s recipes for the pizza dough:

Pizza Dough
Mix and set aside:
5 Cups flour
1 tsp yeast (instant)
1 Tbsp sugar (honey)
2 tsp salt

Combine:
2 Tbsp oil
1 3/4 Cup lukewarm water

In a mixer (or by hand), mix all wet and dry ingredients, until dough formed. It should be sticky, but pulling at edge of bowl.

NOTE: The wetter the dough the more holes in the dough so keep dough as wet as you can handle.

Divide into 5 balls and oil them (to prevent them from drying out). Place each ball in tupperware/ziploc and put in fridge.

2 hours before you need them, pull out and let them rise before using dough.

And here is Matt’s pizza sauce recipe in his own words:
Sauce:
Canned whole tomatoes. (I like Muir Glen Organic). Blend up tomatoes. Add liquid from can if sauce needs to be thinned out, but the sauce should thick and not be watery. Dried oregano, onion powder, a little garlic powder, salt, pepper, and red wine vinegar.

Taste for balance. The vinegar should brighten the flavors. The sauce will intensify on the pizza as it cooks.
-Matt

And here are some more photos of pizza day in Matt and Arlie’s front yard.