Pizza

Pizza night at my house!  We had Onion Pineapple Pizza with Cheddar Cheese and  a Cowboy pizza (Sausage, Black Olive and Onion)

Pizza Crust: (I got this recipe from a friend and I tweak it a little bit every time I make it, depending on what kind of toppings I’m putting on or what kind of tastes I’m in the mood for.  This is what I did this time around.)

10 oz. warm water (finger temperature or a little warmer.)

2 1/4 tsp. yeast

1 tsp. sugar

Dissolve the yeast in sugar in the warm water and let it sit until the yeast blooms.

Add: (optional) Here is where you would customize your pizza dough.  Sometimes I load it up with herbs, sometimes I put in a little extra sugar if I’m doing a desert pizza and I want something sweeter… it really depends)

1 garlic clove, crushed

pinch of Garlic Pepper

1 TBSP. Honey

Stir it all together. Then mix it with:

4 cups flour

4 TBSP Oil (I usually use Extra Virgin Olive Oil if we have it, but vegetable oil works as well)

Knead all of this until it’s smooth and stretchy.  I usually just put it in my kitchen aid standing mixer and let the dough hook work on it for a while.  The dough should “clean” the sides of the bowl.  If it’s not doing that you may need to add a little more flour.

Let dough rise until doubled in size.  This is the tough part for me.  I could never get dough to rise until I discovered Oven Proofing.  There’s no going back now.  I highly recommend this method.

Ok, once the dough is doubled in size, roll it out onto your pizza stone/cookie sheet.  I usually get two medium size pizzas out of this recipe.

Roll the edges of the dough and sprinkle the whole thing with a dusting of cornmeal.

Top with your favorite pizza toppings!  This is the fun part.  We like all different kinds of pizza and almost never make two pizzas alike.  Get creative!

Bake at 425 or so (hotter if the crust is thicker) for 15-18 minutes.

What are your favorite pizza topping combinations? 

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