Homemade Pizza From Scratch

Sauce:

1 6 oz can of Tomato paste
1 1/2 C water
1/3 C. EVOO
2 cloves of Garlic minced
salt and pepper
1/2 Tb chopped fresh oregano leaves
1/2 Tb chopped fresh Basil leaves
1/2 Tb chopped fresh rosemary leaves
(you can use dried, but you'll have to tweak it to taste)

Mix together all ingredients making sure to dissolve the tomato paste and let sit for a few hours to get a better flavor.  No need to cook it, just spread it on the crust.

Crust:

2 1/4 tsp dry active yeast
1/2 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (110 degrees)

In a large bowl or mixer, dissolve yeast and sugar in the water and let sit for 10 min.

Stir in
1 tsp Salt
2 Tb EVOO
then 2 1/2 C Flour  (for higher elevations, use 3 C)

For mixers, use bread hook and add small amounts of flour intil the dough is no longer sticky.  For old school, Turn out dough onto a well floured surface knead in flour to same effect.

Place the bowl in a well oiled bowl, cover with a warm, damp cloth, and let rise to double (about 1 hour)  I set the over to warm and then turn it off and place the bowl in there.

Punch down dough, and make into a tight ball.  let it sit and loosen for about a minute.

Roll or toss Pizza to fit your pizza stone or pan.  Add sauce and desired toppings.  This one has 4 cheeses.  And we had a smaller Pizza sheet, as my stone broke *sniff*  So the result as a BeauJo's Pizza effect with fantastic crust that doubled for tasty bread sticks.

If there is excess dough, roll and twist to form the crust and use a knife to make small slices around the crust.

Bake in preheated oven at 450  Using a stone, bake immediately.  For a pan, lightly oil the pan and let the dough rise another 15-20 minutes before topping and baking it.

Cook time is about 15-20 min. until the cheese and crust are golden brown.

Stuffed Crescent "Muffins"

 So I will admit I am a huge fan of anything that helps make dinner time quick and easy in our life. I found that Pillsbury is now making unperforated rolls of crescent roll dough. (Available in your refrigerated dough section.) I whipped this together with leftovers from my fridge. This is a pizza-ish version, but I can see myself getting really creative stuffing other things in there too. I already have plans to try out a breakfast version stuffed with fruit. Here's the "recipe":

1. I took a muffin pan and sprayed it with no-stick oil.

2. I then cut out square pieces of the crescent roll dough and lined muffin cups, leaving the corners sticking out the edges. ( I got twelve muffins out of two rolls, but you could probably get more if you cut your dough squares smaller)

3. I then stuffed the dough with a cheese mixture. ( I used a ricotta/mozzarella  mixture similar to what you would use in lasagna)

4. I had some left over cooked hamburger and sausage, so that went in too.

5. We like mushrooms and olives in our house, so a few of those got tossed in.

6. I then gently folded the edges of dough that were sticking up around the edges over, to make a cute little top.

7. Follow baking directions on the crescent roll wrapper, it took mine less than 15 minutes to bake. 

8. I served with leftover spaghetti sauce to dip it in and a salad.

Souper Pepper French Bread Pizzas

My Mom showed my kids how to make this and it is a HUGE family hit:

French Bread cut to make bottom and top halves
1 lb hamburger
1-2 cans cream o' mushroom
sliced bell peppers
Cheese

Brown hamburger, drain
heat back up with soup
spread over each half of french bread
top with peppers and cheese

bake at 350 till cheese is melted

Serve

Grilled Pizza

Man, we had this for dinner tonight and it was soooo yummy!! Since it cooks on the grill, it's perfect for those hot days when you don't want to heat up the house!

Ingredients:

Dough (frozen or homemade. It doesn't matter)

Pizza toppings

Cheese

Once the dough has raised, divide the dough into 4 balls. Roll the dough into a circle about 1/8 inch thick. Repeat until you have 4 rounds. Place one pizza crust on a clean, oiled and preheated grill. Grill pizza crusts for about 1 min or until the bottom is brown. With tongs, gently flip it over and grill for an additional 30 seconds. Remove from grill and repeat with remaining pizzas. Let cool. Top with favorite toppings and return to a preheated grill for about 2-3 minutes. Watch carefully to avoid burning.

For our pizza, I used frozen Rhodes bread dough. I let the dough raise most of the day and divided it into four sections. For our pizzas, we had BBQ Chicken. I spread the crust first with BBQ sauce. Then topped it off with grilled chicken, onion, tomato and Italian cheese. It was delicious and easy. I'm sure any combination of toppings would be great!