Store-bought dough brings homemade pizza into the realm of easy weeknight cooking. To simplify prep even further, we took a cue from rectangular focaccia-like Sicilian pizza and Roman pizza al taglio.
This recipe from our book "Tuesday Nights Mediterranean," which features weeknight-friendly meals from the region, is for a sheet-pan pizza that doesn't require dividing and shaping the dough and can be baked in a single batch without a pizza stone.
We simply stretch the dough toward the edges of the pan, then top it with crushed tomatoes, cheese, salami and fresh sage. To prevent sticking, oil the baking sheet first with cooking spray, then with olive oil. The oil may seem like an excessive amount, but it adds flavor to the bottom crust and helps it crisp.
Though you're not tossing the dough like a pro, it still pays to get your hands a bit dirty to improve the flavor of the toppings. Tearing the mozzarella into irregular shapes and crushing the canned tomatoes by hand produces bits of different sizes that will bake into pleasantly varied textures in the oven.
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Feel free to substitute scamorza cheese or regular (not fresh) mozzarella for the smoked mozzarella, and pepperoni for the genoa salami.
And don't forget to bring the dough to room temperature before beginning the recipe. Cold dough is resistant to stretching and bakes up with a denser crumb. Depending on the temperature of your kitchen, give the dough 30 to 60 minutes to lose its chill.
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