In the Kitchen: Spinato's Litaliana Pizza

I haven't made homemade pizza since I was a kid. It was a twice a year family tradition that took an army to make. I made an attempt a couple of years ago during the summer, but it just turned out to be a time-consuming mess. Wow, I'm really selling this idea aren't I?

When my best friend mentioned she wanted homemade pizza (by mention I mean asked nearly every day), I decided to give it another go. One of my favorite pizzas is from a local pizzeria, Spinato's, so I tried to make it at home. I went, got a pizza pan, and gave it my best shot.

Homemade pizza is relatively easy especially when you embrace "lazy" girl hacks (like I did). Here are my tips and tricks followed by the recipe.

• Use the easiest dough recipe you can, but don't use premade pizza crusts from the grocery (the only exception is Trader Joe's). Use just-add-water packets if you have to, but avoid the premade.
• Using canned tomatoes in the sauce will make it thinner than a pizzeria style sauce. Use tomato sauce or add more tomatoes to achieve the desired thickness.
• Add your desired amount of parmesan cheese to the sauce as you like. Cheese is always a good idea.
• Speaking of cheese, use Galbani mozzarella, and shred it yourself. It melts the best.
• Preheat the oven at least 15 minutes before cooking the pizza to allow the heat to fill the oven completely.
• Par-bake the crust before applying toppings if you plan to use "wet" toppings. "Wet" toppings are things that create excess liquid while they cook such as vegetables or meat (which produces grease). Par-baking the crust will make it stronger and able to withstand the extra weight of numerous toppings or "wet" toppings.