Food.
Pizza is probably the easiest meal you can make and have
everyone you are feeding be full and happy at the end, including picky children. When most people think about pizza, they
think about ordering it from a local joint.
The local places are often delicious, but they wont give you the all the
variety you want. If you make a pizza at
home it could be done quicker than it takes to pick up the phone and order it
from Vito.
All you need is some store made dough, an oven, pizza stone
(optional, but it helps), pizza peel (also optional) your favorite toppings, and some imagination. The combinations are endless.
Here are some tips to make your pizza.
- Save time and buy the dough. Most food stores or even pizza places sell raw dough. Trader Joe’s has three types of dough; herb, regular and wheat.
- Pre bake the crust before putting on the toppings. This steps allows the dough to get cooked just enough before the toppings get added. Brush the top with some olive oil and let it bake until it gets lightly browned on both the bottom and top. This prevents any of the toppings from burning and the cheese gets the perfect amount of melty and lightly browned.
- When forming the shape, flour your surface with flour or cornmeal. Cornmeal really works best and also allows for easy transfer between counter top (using a pizza peel) and pizza stone.
- If you dont have a pizza peel, use a cutting board topped with cornmeal. The flexible plastic cutting boards work the best.
- Pizza stones get your crust really crunchy and aren’t expensive at all. Investing a little over twenty dollars is worth it since you will be saving money not getting pizza delivered to your home.
- Let your pizza stone get really hot before using it for the pizza. I usually have the oven at about 500 degrees when making pizzas.
- Start with the dough chilled, it makes it a little easier to work with. Do not worry about making a perfect circle or square!
- Don’t be afraid to try new pizza topping combinations. Pizzas don’t have to have tomato sauce and mozzarella all the time. Fig, blue cheese and pear is a delicious combination.
For more specific steps, go here. This guy really got detailed in his steps.
Here are a few of my favorite combinations. I made these three combos for a New Year’s
dinner and they were delicious.
Fig Butter, Gyuere, Arugula
Using the pre baked crust, spread on a thin layer of fig
butter and slices of gruyere. Put into
the oven on the pizza stone until the cheese is melted ot your preference. Top with arugula that has been tossed lightly
with olive oil and salt/pepper. YUM! Insert into watering mouth.
Pear, Mozzarella, Gorgonzola, Balsamic Glaze
Using the pre-baked crust, layer thin slices of pear,
shredded or sliced mozzarella cheese and crumbled gorgonzola. Bake in the over until cheese has melted to
your liking. Drizzle with balsamic
glaze and serve. The balsamic glaze can be bought, but all you have to do is
put balsamic vinegar into a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until it has
reduced about a half. It will coat the back of spoon when it is ready. You can store it in the fridge to use for
other recipes as well. Sooooo good!
Meat Lovers Pizza
This one took a bit more prep work, but my husband
requires meat with his meals, such a man.
You can use any meat you want, just make sure they are cooked prior to
usage as a topping. This pizza had
pancetta, spicy turkey sausage and chopped turkey pepperoni.
Take the pre baked crust, layer with a thin amount of
basil pesto, layer parmesan and mozzarella cheese and then top with the meats
of your choice.
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