Sunday, February 17, 2013

Pizza at Home


I love pizza, but my husband never did until he ate this pizza! Now he loves it and we enjoy it fairly often.

I love pizza, any kind of  pizza! Fully loaded, pepperoni, sausage, olives, cheese with more cheese, you name it, I like it.

My grandsons also love pizza, so I came up with this way to make great Pizza at Home. Each recipe yields enough dough for 3 personal pan pizzas (recipe is easily doubled) so everyone can mix up their own and top it the way they like it, or 1 large family-style pizza. Perfect for a small family, or for a kids party/sleepover.




RECIPE
Ingredients
2 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup warm water, 95 to 110 degrees (lukewarm, baby bottle warm)
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2-1/2 cups bread flour, approx.
(recipe can be easily doubled)



Method
In medium bowl, stir in yeast, water, sugar, salt, and oil. Mix in enough flour to make a dough that can be kneaded.

Turn dough out onto board and quickly knead for 3 minutes, adding more flour if dough is too sticky to knead.

Place dough in greased bowl and flip dough over in bowl so that dough top is also lightly greased. Cover and let rise into warm, draft-free place until doubled into size, or about 30-45 minutes.


Punch dough down and divide dough into 3 equal parts (the dough should be very stretchy and easy to work with).

To make a personal pizza, grease pizza pan or baking sheet with olive oil and sprinkle with cornmeal (I used a 6 1/2-inch round cast iron skillet).

Press one dough part into your greased pan, pressing down bottom and working up the side of the pan a bit with your fingers.

Put on sauce and desired toppings. Preheat oven to 500-550 degrees (as hot as your oven will go) for 30 minutes. 
Bake pizza on the bottom rack for about 15-20 minutes, or until pizza edges are lightly golden, and cheese is melted.

You can bake all 3 personal pizzas or place the other 2 dough parts in a plastic food storage bag and refrigerate or freeze for later use.

Or make 2 larger pizza's by simply dividing the dough in half.



Pizza Sauce
1 clove garlic, mashed and minced (or garlic powder or dried minced garlic)
1 teaspoon salt
1 can (6 ounces) tomato paste
1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce
1/2 tsp sugar
1/8 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tablespoon olive oil
dash red pepper, optional

Pizza Sauce for Canning here

Method
Combine all ingredients. Makes about 1 1/2 cups.  Store any leftover sauce in the refrigerator, or freeze for use another time.

Option - don't use sauce at all, but brush pizza dough with olive oil and top with petite cut canned tomatoes or fresh tomatoes, fresh chopped basil and mozzarella cheese!

*Cook's Note -  If using a pizza stone, preheat the stone in the oven for at least 30 minutes (up to one hour) before placing your pizza on the stone on the bottom rack.

*Grandmother's Pizza - "Grandmother's" Pizza is the name given to a large sheet pizza, such as this one. In this case the pizza dough (entire dough recipe above) after it has risen, is stretched out (patted out) on a large baking sheet (17 x 11) that has been oiled with olive oil. 

Press dough out as far as you can (it won't fill the whole baking sheet just yet) and let it sit about 30 minutes, then press out more until dough fills entire baking sheet. 

Top with sauce, cheese and your favorite toppings and bake in 450 oven approx. 20 minutes. 

Remove from baking sheet onto cutting board and enjoy!


Also seen on Meal Plan Monday

Enjoy,
Mary

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