Recently I came across a recipe for pan pizza that (1) branded itself as “foolproof”, and (2) promised to taste the way Pizza Hut used to taste in the nostalgia-tinged remembrances of our collective childhood. So I decided to make it.

Of course, I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand — I used all-purpose flour instead of bread flour, and active dry yeast instead of instant yeast, and regular salt instead of kosher salt, and shredded mozzarella from a bag instead of grated off a block. Oh, and our oven only goes to 525 degrees instead of 550 as the recipe specifies. And my kitchen is too cold for anything to rise as well as it needs to. But you can’t put a word like “foolproof” on your recipe without expecting some challenge.

Here was my result:

Two perfect pan pizzas. I’ll be darned. It was foolproof after all.

Next time I’ll give it probably about 18 minutes in the oven instead of 15 (accounting for being 25 degrees colder than specified) to get the crust a little crisper on the bottom, but it was pretty much spot-on. It was saucy and cheesy, with a crisp-bottom and an airy, chewy crust. It was time intensive but much less laborious than my regular pizza recipe, and so I think that this will become my go-to (assuming I can consistently remember to start the dough the night before). And best of all, the kids ate it… which is always a win in my books!