Pizza dough

We eat pizza on about a weekly rotation. We all love bread and cheese and tomato sauce, so it definitely gets a presence in our diet. Our daughter even requested to eat pizza for her 2nd birthday!

This is my go-to pizza dough recipe over the last year or so (found originally at Chef In Training). It's pretty straightforward and works well for me. If I find a better recipe I'm not opposed to updating, but I'm not actively searching for one. When I make pizza, I often make a couple batches of dough so I can make pizzas to freeze as well. Here's where I originally learned the process for freezing pizzas.

Pizza Dough
yield: dough for 2 pizzas

2 cups warm water
1 Tbsp yeast
1 Tbsp salt
1/4 cup oil
5 cups flour

1. Proof yeast in warm water for a few minutes. Add salt and oil; stir to mix.
2. Add flour and stir well to combine. When it begins to form a sticky dough, pour out onto well-floured surface and knead until smooth, adding flour as needed to keep it more toward smooth than sticky.
3. Return to bowl; cover and let sit for 10-20 minutes.
4. Divide in two. Roll out each ball into a flat circle to fit your pizza pan. If rolled very thin it is possible to make a stuffed crust by placing cheese near the edges and folding in on itself (highly recommended!).
5. Place rolled-out dough onto baking pan (either directly or you can sprinkle some cornmeal onto the pan and place the dough on top).
6. If making to freeze, follow instructions below*
7. If making pizza to eat, generously apply preferred sauce (I just use jarred pasta sauce... easy!) and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle favorite toppings and bake about 10 minutes at 500°F, or until toppings are bubbly and crust is beginning to brown.

*To prepare pizzas to freeze and cook at a later date:

1. After rolling out the dough and placing it on pizza pan (and stuffing crust, if desired), bake for about 6 minutes at 500°F.
2. Let cool, and if needed, transfer to a surface suitable for freezing. Then generously apply preferred sauce and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle favorite toppings now or before cooking at a later date.
3. Place in freezer and allow to freeze solid, at least several hours. Transfer to a large ziplock bag or other (preferably air-tight) packaging. 
4. To cook from frozen, simply remove pizza from packaging, place on pizza pan, and bake at 500°F for 12-18 minutes, or until toppings are bubbly and crust is beginning to brown.

Ideas for pizza toppings

mozzarella cheese

pepperoni

sausage

ham

canadian bacon

bell peppers

tomatoes

onions

artichoke hearts

olives

mushrooms

spinach

pineapple

salami

chicken

eggplant

zucchini

pepperoncinis

alfredo sauce

Summer YUM!

Last summer, while traveling with Thomas, we made a dish I fell in love with while we were in Southern California visiting his sister.

We made it again this past Monday... enjoy!

Fruit Pizza

"Pizza Crust":
1/2 c butter
3/4 c sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cream of tartar
1 3/4 c flour

1) soften butter. Cream together with sugar and egg.
2) add other ingredients. Mix well.
3) roll out to desired shape and place on baking dish of your choice
4) bake for 10 minutes at 350* F. (We used our pizza stone and the crust stuck to it pretty badly; you might try greasing your baking dish!)

"Pizza Sauce":
8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 c sugar
2 Tbsp pineapple juice (from can used in topping below) and/or 1 Tbsp vanilla (optional)

1) whisk all ingredients together. This will work best if the cream cheese is allowed to sit out for a while on the counter till soft
2) spread onto "Pizza Crust" after it has cooled down (otherwise it will drip off...!)

Fruit Pizza Toppings:
sliced bananas (one for one pizza)
sliced kiwi (we used 2)
sliced strawberries
pineapple (most of a can)
Other ideas: berries, mandarin orange slices, grapes, peaches, ....

1) slice into bite-sized pieces
2) arrange on your fruit pizza

Fruit Pizza Glaze:
Juice from 20-oz can of pineapple
1 Tbsp cornstarch

1) cook on stovetop until clear; stir often
2) cool slightly and drizzle over fruit on fruit pizza

oxox

Culinary Creativity

Lately, for some reason, I've had the desire to experiment a little more than usual with my cooking.

Sometimes, I am called upon to use my resources to help celebrate a special occasion:

The frosting on the above cake was created using the recipe found here. I ended up using more like 3 cups of powdered sugar. I separated a bit out and put it in a bag to write the words on the cake; to the rest I added approximately 1/4 cup of cocoa powder. It turned out so deliciously chocolatey...!

On Tuesday night, I was in the mood for Chinese food. Lacking the funds to go out, I decided to see what I could whip up. Having inherited a couple cans of pineapple over the weekend, I thought I'd try to figure out how to make some sweet and sour sauce. I need to perfect the recipe before I post it, but I can tell you that my sauce was made up of pineapple chunks & juice, vinegar, flour, sugar, and water. The sauce was paired with chicken pieces that I breaded and fried, and I rounded out the meal with some fried rice! Yum.

And now for tonight's masterpiece!

When Thomas and I got together today and began planning out our evening, pizza was the dinner buzzword. We set out to go to my apartment with a block of cheddar cheese. With few topping options, here's what we came up with:

Bacon Pizza

Dough Ingredients:

2 tsp active dry yeast
1 cup warm water
~ 1 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
3 cups flour
2 Tbsp olive oil

Begin by dissolving the yeast in the warm water (warm, not lukewarm, not hot) with the sugar. I normally add less sugar, but tonight I added about a tablespoon and the dough turned out better than it ever has before. Let stand a few minutes. The yeast will begin to bubble & grow.


Next, mix the salt in with the flour in a medium-sized mixing bowl. Add the olive oil and yeast mixture. Stir.


Knead until smooth on a lightly floured surface. You may want to remove any rings or bracelets before doing so in order to avoid plastering your jewelry with pizza dough. Add more flour if your dough is sticky. Afterward, put dough back into mixing bowl. It's best to cover the bowl and let your dough rise in a warm place for a couple hours; however, if you are short on time, let your dough rise while you prepare your toppings and you should be fine.



Topping Ingredients:

Pizza sauce - we used Ragu pizza sauce in a jar. You can use any sort of bottled or canned pasta or pizza sauce.
Cheddar cheese, shredded
Bacon

Thoroughly cook your bacon.


In honor of the upcoming Valentine's Day: a heart-shaped piece of bacon!


When you're ready to assemble your pizza, begin by punching down the dough in its bowl. Remove it from the bowl and stretch/roll it out to fit your baking dish of choice. We used a pizza pan; you can use a cookie-sheet or whatever baking utensils you have on hand.

Then, spread your sauce onto your dough. Notice another heart:


Next, add your cheese and bacon (or other toppings).


Stick your beautiful creation in the oven at 450 degrees Fahrenheit for 10 to 15 minutes and here's what you'll get:


Be careful when removing your pizza from the pan. Slice it up with a pizza cutter and enjoy!

oxox